The Power Trip
Jackie Collins, 2013
Publisher
512 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780312569839
Summary
A sexy, sun-drenched thriller set on a state-of-the-art luxury yacht off the coast of Cabo San Lucas. The Power Trip—it’s the journey of a lifetime. Take if it you dare…
Come aboard the Bianca’s maiden voyage. Here you’ll meet Aleksandr Kasianenko, a billionaire Russian oligarch, and his sexy supermodel girlfriend, for whom the yacht is named.
Other couples in tow include Hammond Patterson, a driven Senator, and his lovely but unhappy wife, Sierra; Cliff Baxter, a bachelor movie star, and his ex-waitress girlfriend, Lori; Taye Sherwin, a famous black UK footballer, and his interior designer wife, Ashley; Luca Perez, a Latin singing sensation with his older decadent English boyfriend, Jeromy; and Flynn, a maverick journalist, with his Asian renegade female friend, Xuan.
You’ll also meet Russian mobster Sergei Zukov, a man with a grudge against Aleksandr, and Sergei’s Mexican beauty-queen girlfriend, Ina, whose brother, Cruz, is a master pirate with orders to take the Bianca and its illustrious guests for ransom. Ahoy! (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—October 4, 1937
• Where—London, England, UK
• Education—left high school
• Awards—Order of the British Empire (OBE)
• Currently—lives in Los Angeles, California USA
Jacqueline Jill Collins OBE is an English novelist. She is the younger sister of actress Joan Collins. She has written 30-some novels, all of which have appeared on the New York Times bestsellers list.
From Beverly Hills bedrooms to a raunchy prowl along the streets of Hollywood; from glittering rock parties and concerts to stretch limos and the mansions of power brokers—Jackie Collins chronicles the real truth from the inside looking out. Jackie Collins has been called a "raunchy moralist" by the late director Louis Malle and "Hollywood’s own Marcel Proust" by Vanity Fair magazine.
She is known for giving her readers an unrivalled insider’s knowledge of Hollywood and the glamorous lives and loves of the rich, famous, and infamous. “I write about real people in disguise,” she says. "If anything, my characters are toned down—the truth is much more bizarre."
In total, her books have sold over 500 million copies and have been translated into 40 languages. Eight of her novels have been adapted for the screen, either as films or television mini-series.
Early life
Collins was born in 1937 in London, the younger daughter of Elsa Bessant and Joseph William Collins (died 1988), a theatrical agent whose clients included Shirley Bassey, The Beatles and Tom Jones. Collins' South African-born father was Jewish and her British mother was Anglican. A middle child, Collins has an elder sister, actress Joan Collins (b. 1933) and 2 younger brothers, Bill and Joshua.
Collins was expelled from school at age 15 after which she threw her school uniform into the Thames. During this period she reportedly had a brief affair with Marlon Brando, who was 29 at the time.
Like her sister, Collins began appearing in acting roles in a series of British B movies in the 1950s. She also made appearances in the 1960s ITC television series Danger Man and The Saint before giving up an on-screen career. Since then, she has played herself in a few television series, including Minder in 1980.
Early writing career
Collins' first novel, The World Is Full of Married Men, was published in 1968. Romance writer Barbara Cartland called it "nasty, filthy and disgusting." It was banned in Australia and South Africa, but the scandal bolstered sales in the US and the UK. Collins' second novel, The Stud, was published in 1969 and followed the sexually charged affairs of married Fontaine Khaled, who owns a fashionable London nightclub. It also made the bestseller lists.
Her third novel was published in 1971: Sunday Simmons & Charlie Brick, (published under the title The Hollywood Zoo in the UK and then retitled Sinners worldwide in 1984). It was Collins' first novel set in the US and also made the bestseller lists.
Lovehead followed in 1974 (retitled as The Love Killers in 1989). This novel was Collins' first foray into the world of organized crime—a genre that would later prove to be extremely successful for her. The plot concerned the organised murder of women's rights activist and feminist Margaret Lawrence Brown. Three women plan revenge on the mobster responsible, Enzio Bassalino.
Following this, Collins published The World Is Full Of Divorced Women (unrelated to her first novel) in 1975, and then her longest novel, Lovers & Gamblers, in 1977 which told the story of rock/soul superstar Al King.
In the late 1970s, Collins made a foray into writing for the screen. In 1978, she co-wrote the screenplay for the film version of her 1969 novel The Stud, which starred her older sister Joan as the gold-digging adulteress Fontaine Khaled. Following this, Collins wrote the screenplay for the film adaptation of her first novel The World Is Full Of Married Men, which was released in 1979. She also released her seventh novel, The Bitch (a sequel to The Stud), which was also made into a successful film the same year, with Joan Collins reprising the role. Also in 1979, Collins wrote an original screenplay (not based on any of her novels) for the film Yesterday's Hero.
Mid-career books
In the 1980s, Collins and her family moved to Los Angeles on a full-time basis. She described her next novel Chances, published in 1981, as her first "Harold Robbins-type" novel. It was also the first novel to introduce her character, Lucky Santangelo, the "dangerously beautiful" daughter of a one-time gangster Gino Santangelo.
While living in the hills above Sunset Boulevard, Collins collected the knowledge and experience to write her most successful novel, Hollywood Wives, published in 1983. The novel hit the New York Times bestseller list at number one, and went on to sell 15 million copies worldwide. Marketed as a "scandalous expose," the novel placed Collins in a powerful position and made her a celebrity of almost equal status to sister Joan, whose own career had taken an upwards direction with her role in the hit television drama Dynasty. In 1985, Hollywood Wives was also made into a hugely successful television mini-series, produced by Aaron Spelling and starring Candice Bergen, Stefanie Powers, Angie Dickinson, Anthony Hopkins, Suzanne Somers and Rod Steiger.
In 1985 she wrote Lucky (the sequel to Chances), which was followed by Hollywood Husbands in 1986 and Rock Star in 1988.
In 1990, Collins published her third Lucky Santangelo novel, Lady Boss; she also wrote and co-produced the television mini-series Lucky Chances, combining the first two Lucky Santangelo novels. Nicolette Sheridan starred in the lead role along with Sandra Bullock.
In 1992, Collins was widowed when Oscar Lerman, her husband of 26 years, died of cancer. Around this time, she also wrote and produced another mini-series based on her third Lucky Santangelo novel Lady Boss (with Kim Delaney now playing the lead role).
Collins went on to pen several more bestsellers: American Star (1993), Hollywood Kids (1994) and the fourth Santangelo novel, Vendetta: Lucky's Revenge (1996).
In 1998, Collins made a foray into talk-show television with the series Jackie Collins' Hollywood, but this was unsuccessful. She then released a new novel, Thrill (1998), and also wrote a four-part series of mini-novels to be released in a newspaper every six weeks called L.A. Connections, introducing a new heroine, investigative journalist Madison Castelli. The fifth Lucky Santangelo novel, Dangerous Kiss, was published in 1999.
Later works
The 2000s turned out to be Collins' busiest time and she published eight bestsellers, more than any other decade in her career. In 2000, Collins brought back the character of Madison Castelli in a new novel, Lethal Seduction. In 2001 she published Hollywood Wives: The New Generation, which itself was later turned into a television movie starring Farrah Fawcett, Melissa Gilbert and Robin Givens. (Collins was credited as Executive Producer.)
A new Madison Castelli novel, Deadly Embrace, came out in 2002 with Hollywood Divorces in 2003. In 2004, Collins hosted a series of television specials, Jackie Collins Presents, for E! Entertainment Television.
Collins continued with Lovers & Players in 2006 and the sixth Lucky Santangelo novel, Drop Dead Beautiful, in 2007. Her most recent novels include Married Lovers (2008), about the affairs of a female personal trainer named Cameron Paradise. This was followed in 2009 by Poor Little Bitch Girl, which features Bobby Santangelo Stanislopoulos (son of Lucky Santangelo and Dimitri Stanislopoulos) as a major character. The novel contains small cameo appearances by Lucky Santangelo.
In 2010, Paris Connections, a direct-to-DVD movie adapted from Collins' L.A. Connections series of mini-novels was made by Amber Entertainment in association with the UK supermarket chain Tesco. The movie stars Charles Dance, Trudie Styler, and Nicole Steinwedell as Madison Castelli. Collins served as co-producer, and three more Connections movies with the Madison Castelli character are planned.
Although Collins initially said on her official website that there would probably be no more Lucky Santangelo novels after Drop Dead Beautiful, in 2011 she published the seventh book in the series, Goddess of Vengeance. Also according to her official website, she is currently writing a play entitled Jackie Collins' Hollywood Lies.
Collins' 29th novel, titled The Power Trip, was published in 2013. The 2014 Confessions of a Wild Child, serves as a prequel to the popular Santangelo series and chronicles the teenage years of Lucky and her brother Dario.
Jackie Collins was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2013 Birthday Honours for services to fiction and charity. (Adapted from the publisher and Wikipedia. Retrieved 9/24/2013.)
Book Reviews
In Collins’s latest, five couples are invited aboard Russian billionaire Aleksandr Kasianenko’s yacht to celebrate the birthday of his supermodel girlfriend, Bianca.... After the guests spend days lounging and dining in luxury on the Sea of Cortez, the ship is stormed by pirates, leading to a fantastical denouement. Climbing aboard with this sea of extravagant creatures, whose sexual tastes lie on the fringe of raunchy, is abashedly rousing, and what more could one hope for from Collins?
Publishers Weekly
Starting with a bang...a steamy soap opera set on the Sea of Cortez.... [L]ots of romantic drama on the tropical waters, but readers familiar with Collins know to expect plenty of X-rated scenes. They also know to expect brief chapters that keep the story moving...and lots of surprises. Collins more than delivers on all fronts.
Library Journal
Readers come to [Collins'] books expecting sex, glamour, and a glimpse into the lifestyles of the rich and famous, and that’s precisely what her newest delivers.... Tp this romantic intrigue, Collins adds a hijacking plot so that the final act reads like an action movie, complete with high-speed boat chases and Somali pirates. Classic Collins at her best. —Patty Wetli
Booklist
A birthday cruise on the Sea of Cortez with some of the most beautiful people in the world is threatened first by personal intrigues and then by pirates.... Collins returns with an impossibly glamorous cast vacationing on the Bianca, a yacht named for billionaire Russian businessman Aleksandr Kasianenko's mistress.... Collins toggles rapidly between plotlines, keeping the action moving and the sex abundant. Glitzy and exciting.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. The Power Trip takes you on a journey with a group of people—most of them famous and rich. As their journey progresses what shifts do you see in their relationships?
2. In the first half of The Power Trip you meet all the couples who are about to be invited on a fabulous luxury cruise on Alexsandr Kasianko’s fantastic yacht to celebrate his girlfriend, supermodel, Bianca’s 30th birthday. Which couple strikes you as the most likable and why?
3. To what extent do you think Aleksandr’s feelings for Bianca are genuine, beyond loving the fact that she’s a world famous supermodel?
4. How do you feel about the relationship between cheating Senator Hammond Patterson and his lovely wife Sierra, whom he verbally abuses? At what point do you think she should divorce him?
5. Russian mobster, Sergei Zukov has an ax to grind. Is he justified in seeking revenge? Why or why not?
6. Do you think movie star Cliff Baxter’s feelings for his young girlfriend, Lori, are real, or is she just convenient arm-candy?
7. Beautiful and exotic locations are a big part of The Power Trip. While reading the book which scenes made you feel most transported to life on a yacht exploring uninhabited and glorious islands, and what makes that life so appealing?
8. Who is your favorite character in the book and why?
9. Who is your most hated and why?
10. Latin singing star Luca Perez is such a nice guy—too nice?
11. Who do you consider to be the real hero of the book? And would you like to read more about him in a future book?
12. True love. Does it truly exist between Flynn and Sierra? What evidence is there one way or the other?
13. Was your sympathy with the pirates or the passengers, and why?
14. Which character would you most like to spend the night with?
(Questions issued by publisher.)