Grosse Pointe Pimp Book

Like the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel Middlesex, Mark Steel's first novel
Grosse Pointe Pimp is set in the Beverly Hills of the Midwest, Grosse Pointe, Michigan - a town where beneath the veneer of polite privilege lurks an intricate web of lies and betrayals. With an uncannily keen perspective and stinging wit, Steel exposes a secretive network where ordinary people pay an extraordinary price to satisfy the covert desires of a privileged few in a cliquey community that values wealth and social standing above all else.

The story revolves around Max Lexington, an aging, married billionaire. Drawn by the lure of youth and excitement, he finds himself inextricably attracted to a girl -- a former stripper -- who uses her Hollywood looks and intimate charms to stake a claim on his future that goes well beyond his fortune. Grosse Pointe's power elite, who would ordinarily look down their turned-up noses at such social disgrace, look the other way. The mighty religious community that invokes virtue at every gathering also casts a blind eye at the indiscretion.

But Max's intimidating wealth and power can't prevent the disaster that ensues. Lives spin out of control. And caught in the middle of the tangled web is the billionaire's personal trainer who signs on as a body coach but winds up being much, much more. Seduced by the promise of fortune and security, he advances from trainer to bodyguard to counselor and confidante until -- as Steel describes with striking realism and an undaunted sense of humor -- he ultimately, unwittingly becomes the Grosse Pointe Pimp.