I think this is one of those books that only gets published because the author pays for the printing himself. Yes, it’s bad. Oddly structured and badly written, the author has the audacity to suggest that his book might become a "classic", to become prescribed reading in future university courses on prostitution. Mmmm, maybe in a psychology course on the pathological mind of the would-be male pimp!

In summary, the author relays his experiences over 10 years as an escort agency operator in Sydney, Australia. A former policeman, he is the type of guy who secretly wanted to be a pimp but, in criminal parlance, “didn’t have the dash” to do so until the law changed in New South Wales and sex work became decriminalised. When that happened in 1994, Wade was free to start his agency without legal repercussions. He called the agency Glamours, he says, because it was a totally new concept in prostitution – the high-class call girl. Of course anyone who has worked in the sex industry for any time in Australia knows that "glamour" is industry slang for a very attractive sex-worker. "Stunner" is another.

The book puts forth Wade’s idiosyncratic convictions about what men want and how he set out to give it to them, for a big price, through his escort agency. What he thinks they want is an immaculately groomed woman who will play submissive in her general behaviour (lighting his cigarette, pouring his drink) but take control sexually.

Men, he thinks, want "glamours". The "glamour concept" translates as something between a 1940’s Hollywood and 1980’s Corporate Woman style with a menu of rather tired sexual antics. It didn’t seem very revolutionary to me. On the contrary it sounded very much like an old American movie I saw once ….

According to Wade, his "glamours" had to be well dressed, preferably designer outfits and hats; stockings and manicured nails were compulsory. The sexual activities were supposed to include such tired fare as French Maid role-play and the fire-and-ice oral technique*. Both of these, says Wade, will blow a man’s mind.

There is a lot of talk about millionaires and how much money they are prepared to spend on "a top courtesan", and Wade’s declared intention throughout is to show the world how a legal high-class escort is in fact a very empowered woman able to command huge fees and interact with the world’s most powerful men.

One starts to discern a foul contradiction though when reading this book because, while the author calls "his glamours" empowered, his account of the business and his dealings with the women who worked for him reveal a man who clearly wants to control every detail. Like most escort operators, Wade was beset with the inevitable problems which arise when the escorts, who are doing most of the work, realise that they can still see their regular clients without giving 50% of the fee to the agency owner.

And speaking of the 50/50 cut, Wade tries to explain why an escort agency’s percentage must be so much greater than those normally charged by agencies (like modelling agency fees which are in the range of 20-30%). He says he realised he would have to charge at least 50% because of the high cost of advertising!

A good third of the book relates the problems he had with "glamours" who, he says, ripped him off and tried to steal his business. He was prepared to go to great lengths to discover and persecute escorts who dared to see regulars without telling the agency, including using private detectives and taking his workers to court for "breach of contract". I was left with the impression that he had more than the usual number of these "rip offs", indicating perhaps that he didn’t inspire a lot of loyalty.

Strangely positioned a couple of chapters in the reader finds a rather clinically toned section about prostate cancer and the devastating effects that it can have on the male sexual function. Wade admits that he suffered from this problem and after surgery acquired a condition called "retrograde ejaculation", which can cause painful and/or unsatisfactory orgasms. The author seems then to be confessing his own sexual dysfunction and longing for youthful sexual prowess in order to relate his empathy for the millionaire clients of "his glamours" – mere mortal men, once powerful builders of financial empires, in their afternoon years wanting to feel like the virile studs they once were in the arms of a tittilating "glamour". Yes, it’s a fantasy – Wade’s, and no doubt many others. What a gold mine of male sexual pyschology!

But not, I think, an academic thesis on the sex industry.

Review by Candi Forrest

• Fire and Ice technique: A hot beverage in the mouth, followed by ice or menthol to create a contrasting hot then cold feel on the cock