Dreams Die First

“Robbins eroticized commerce, and, at the same time, he commercialized erotica, dashing into a rich new market for dirty books.” —The New Yorker

“Robbins’ dialogue is moving… his people have the warmth of life.” —The New York Times

Taking on the free love hippie culture of the ’60s, Harold Robbins spins a masterful tale of lust, greed, lurid sex and ambition. This classic, which spent almost 30 weeks on The New York Times best sellers list, shows the passion of youth and the power of exposing societal taboo.

Gareth Brendan, a war-weary Vietnam veteran, returns home to California to find that the country he risked his life for changed dramatically during his tour. When he’s unable to find a job, his shady yet powerful uncle hands him a failing underground newspaper to run as a money-laundering front. Gareth quickly realizes he can use the circular as an outlet for the radical ideas he’d formed in Vietnam. To gain an audience, Gareth turns to the golden rule: SEX SELLS—and he transforms the local ad rag into a glossy, full-colored, in-your-face porn magazine never before seen, with cover girls and high-profile interviews every month.

Quickly gaining fame and wealth from his paper, Gareth is rocketed to the highest echelons of society with all its accoutrements along with a vast empire of casinos, clubs, movies, magazines and an entourage of models and pimps who cater to the ultrarich. But Gareth’s success comes at a price—it makes him the target of a ruthless crime syndicate who will stop at nothing to hijack his holdings.

From the author of The New York Times #1 best seller The Carpetbaggers, Dreams Die First continues to transport readers—with an explosive story—to a glittering, dangerous world of decadence, power, S&M, mega-wealth, sexual liberation and New Age sex cults.

About the Author

Harold Robbins (1916–1997) is one of the best-selling American fiction writers of all time, ranking 5th on the World’s Best-Selling Fiction Author List just behind William Shakespeare and Agatha Christie. He wrote over 25 best-selling novels, sold more than 750 million copies in 42 languages and spent over 300 weeks combined on The New York Times best sellers list. His books were adapted into 13 commercially successful films and also television series that garnered numerous Oscar®, Golden Globe® and Primetime Emmy® nominations starring Steve McQueen, Elvis Presley, Laurence Olivier, Bette Davis, Robert Duvall, Tommy Lee Jones and more.

The self-proclaimed “world’s best writer in plain English,” Robbins wrote novels that resonated with audiences due to their graphic depictions of sex, violence, power and drugs, and the multilayered complexities of his characters, as evidenced by his best-selling novels Never Love a Stranger, The Carpetbaggers, Where Love Has Gone, and The Adventurers. He once said in an interview: “People make their own choices every day about what they are willing to do. We don’t have the right to judge them or label them. At least walk in their shoes before you do.”

Robbins’ personal life was as fascinating to the public as his novels. An enthusiastic participant in the social and sexual revolution of the 1960s, Robbins cultivated a “playboy” image and maintained friendships with stars including Frank Sinatra, Clint Eastwood, Tony Bennett, Sammy Davis, Jr., Dino De Laurentiis, Robert Evans, Ringo Starr, Barbara Eden, Lena Horne and Quincy Jones, and was one of the first novelists to be prominently featured in gossip magazines, earning him the title of “The World’s First Rock Star Author.”