In The Betsy, Harold Robbins breaks open the shocking world of the automobile industry. A world of savage ambition, searing passion, and breathtaking fortunes won or lost in a desperate struggle for power! They were two men bound together by their daring, their vision - and their erotic power over women. Angelo Perino rose from an immigrant family to life on the razor's edge, where fast cars and faster women were his for the taking. Loren Hardeman was the patriarch of a giant automobile empire - and of a family sliding into decadence, adultery and destruction. From Detroit to the lavish estates of Grosse Pointe, Miami and the Riviera, they conspired to build the world's most advanced automobile - The Betsy. To do it, they would risk everything they had - and the destinies of the men and women caught in the fire of their dream!

Born as Harold Rubin in New York City, he later claimed to be a Jewish orphan who had been raised in a Catholic boys home. In reality he was the son of well-educated Russian and Polish immigrants. He was reared by his pharmacist father and stepmother in Brooklyn.

His first book, Never Love a Stranger (1948), caused controversy with its graphic sexuality. Publisher Pat Knopf reportedly bought Never Love a Stranger because "it was the first time he had ever read a book where on one page you'd have tears and on the next page you'd have a hard-on".

His 1952 novel, A Stone for Danny Fisher, was adapted into a 1958 motion picture King Creole, which starred Elvis Presley.

He would become arguably the world's bestselling author, publishing over 20 books which were translated into 32 languages and sold over 750 million copies. Among his best-known books is The Carpetbaggers, loosely based on the life of Howard Hughes,taking the reader from New York to California, from the prosperity of the aeronautical industry to the glamor of Hollywood.