Jackie Collins embraces the multiculturalism of the 1990s in this novel. There are several more ethnic characters of substance in Hollywood Kids than in previous novels. African Americans abound: Quincy and Amber Robbins, Nix, Tyrone, and various nurses and television people, including a news co-anchor and production assistants. They are portrayed as non-eccentric people, not like the Beverly D'Amo-type who afford a comicrelief quality. There is also a Hispanic news anchor, Rosa Alvarez, to add another ethnic element to the mix.

AIDS looms large among the characters' concerns. Condoms and "safe sex" are mentioned so often one might suspect Collins to be on a campaign to neutralize the impact of her previous novels' characters' remorseless sexual promiscuity. Early on, a character, contemplating sex with an attractive but unfamiliar female, thinks "Getting laid is not what it used to be. AIDS was out there now, and casual...