Never Love a Stranger

Harold Robbins' very first novel is also one of his most powerful. Never Love a Stranger tells the gritty and passionate tale of Francis "Frankie" Kane, from his meager beginnings as an orphan in New York's Hell's Kitchen. From that confused and belittling start, Frank works his way up, choosing the wrong side of the law to make a name for himself. At a young age, he becomes one of the city's most dangerous men, indulging in his passion for power, sex, and the best things in life-whether or not they can be purchased. First published in 1948, the novel began Robbins' prolific career after someone made him a $100 bet that he couldn't write a bestseller. Twenty-six pot-boiling novels later, he proved the power of his words. Never Love a Stranger takes an unflinching look at a New York that's long gone by-exposing life during and after the Great Depression, when the syndicate ruled the city without mercy.