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The Power Trip

Review

The Power Trip

“Looks, money, power, fame.” New York Times bestselling author Jackie Collins has used these keys to everlasting stardom in Hollywood to catapult herself to a successful, international literary career. She is the reigning queen of using the power of words to transport, tease, tell secrets, and take readers on a “power trip” in her latest bestseller.

Collins lives and works in Hollywood, where all things are salacious, sun-drenched and sexy. She indulges the reader with the satisfaction of savoring expensive champagne, lying atop a luxury yacht in an itsy-bitsy bikini, soaking up the sun’s rays before donning a designer dress and rare, one-of-a-kind jewels for dinner. She has set the literary industry standards for gossip and sexcapades between lovers and players.

"THE POWER TRIP is one of Collins’s most dynamic novels, perfect for a long-awaited Hollywood movie based on one of her riveting books, and teeming with power and passion."

THE POWER TRIP is one of Collins’s most dynamic novels, perfect for a long-awaited Hollywood movie based on one of her riveting books, and teeming with power and passion. The tropical locale, the luxurious setting on a gleaming white yacht, the broad scope of sexy characters vs. the raunchy Somalian pirates, and the glitz and glamour of the celebrity lifestyle all beg to be seen on the big screen.

Champagne and sex flow endlessly in this book. Collins has amassed a guest list of lovers and players, politicians and playthings, celebrities and conquerers to join Russian billionaire Aleksandr Kasianenko and his mistress, international supermodel Bianca (no last name necessary; the uber rich and powerful are known worldwide by one name, and, in Bianca’s case, the yacht named for her) on a luxurious trip along the Mexican coast through the Sea of Cortez to celebrate Bianca’s birthday.

The coveted invitations are accepted by six dynamic celebrity couples: Hammond Patterson, a driven, unfaithful Senator and his lovely but unhappy pill-popping wife, Sierra; Cliff Baxter, a charming bachelor with a People Magazine Sexiest Man Alive honor, Oscar and Emmy awards/accolades, and his much younger aspiring actress girlfriend, Lori; Taye Sherwin, a famous black UK footballer and his interior-designer-to-the-stars wife, Ashley; Luca Perez, a male Latin singing sensation and his older English boytoy, Jeromy; and Flynn, a blue-eyed adventurous journalist who women lusted after, and his platonic Asian friend, Xuan.

Aleksandr, Bianca and their guests sail to a tropical getaway, escaping the daily pressures of stardom, agents, publicists and adoring fans, to indulge in themselves and the opulence that surrounds them aboard The Bianca. The stage is set, the servants are attentive to every whim, and the decadence is to die for --- until The Bianca is attacked during the night by Somalian pirates led by a Russian mafia enemy of Alexsandr. Power is the name of the game in this surprising turn of events for the cruising couples.

What the pirates do not count on is the resilience of this stellar guest list. Each of Aleksandr’s guests rose from nothing and has in their repertoire street smarts garnered by years of clawing and sleeping their way to the top of their fields. Collins’s fast-paced hijacking and surprise guest backlash has a unique ending --- one that the paparazzi would love to have captured live. One moment, the rich and famous do not have a care in the world; the next, they are fighting for their lives. The effects of the attempted kidnapping and ransom trauma change the power couples in ways that readers cannot predict.

THE POWER TRIP leaves you sated with memories of the fantasy life. Glitz and glamour are the ultimate mistress, and Collins masterfully shows us how to perfect the pursuit.

Reviewed by Hillary Wagy on February 22, 2013

The Power Trip
by Jackie Collins

  • Publication Date: October 1, 2013
  • Genres: Fiction
  • Mass Market Paperback: 512 pages
  • Publisher: St. Martin's Paperbacks
  • ISBN-10: 0312569831
  • ISBN-13: 9780312569839