The VIPs

Shirley Conran’s classic mega-bestseller Lace is given a hip hop makeover in this steamy, sultry debut novel.

On a hot June day, superstar rapper T.N.T. gathers a group of successful men together. Childhood friends who grew up calling themselves “the V.I.P.s”, these are four very different men—a gay publishing magnate, a playboy attorney, a successful fashion designer, and a recently retired football star—who haven’t seen or spoken to each other in years. At this point in their lives, they have nothing in common. Until T.N.T. greets them with a single, stunning question: “Which one of you bastards is my father?” From this moment, the men’s lives are changed forever, as the intricate, tangled webs of deceit and intrigue that have grown between them are revealed—piece by piece—and the ultimate truth about each of them is exposed in a conclusion that will shock them all.

Based on Lace, the wildly successful novel that invented a genre, The V.I.P.s is a sweeping novel of power and greed, illicit sex and high stakes betrayal, that will hook readers from the first page and leave them wanting more.

SCOTT POULSON-BRYANT was one of the founding editors of Vibe magazine. He has also written for Spin, Rolling Stone, the New York Times, The Source, and Essence. He lives in New York.