Gigolo: Inside the Secret World of the Super Rich

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I enjoyed this book very much, it is exciting and bold. The only problem is, I got very attached to the story, so naturally, after I was finished, I still wanted more. Jim Perkins aka Ben Foster has spoken about his life as a gigolo. Picture: Neil Didsbury (Image: Archant) Through my eyes, his wife must have known Ben was up to no-good, but I doubted she ever thought he was a gigolo based on the amount of sex they seemed to have. A reader can see that he was being used, even if he did get paid well for services provided, to them he was disposable, a replacement was highly likely at any moment for his bunch of fake friends. It's actually not a bad read for "this kind of thing" with a bit of politics,bit of social history,the odd observation on society and an in-depth introduction to massage thrown in for good measure which I found very interesting and hadn't expected.

Personally I wasn't convinced that it's not at least partly a very entertaining piece of fiction but I don't really care and the "entertaining" bit is what I look for in a book and it was certainly that. With a small inheritance from his gran, Ben qualifies as a masseur and is introduced to the mysterious ‘committee’ – a group of society women with one thing in they adore sex and don’t mind paying for it. Mr Perkins said: "I need the money to support my family. It is for a select few people who I will never name and shame. Again another stark contrast with the loving but plain sex life Ben shares with his inexperienced wife. I enjoyed this book very much, it is exciting and bold. The only problem is, I got very attached to the story, so naturally after I was finished, I still wanted more.

The more I read, the less I believed, though: for someone who portrays himself (or is portrayed by his ghost-writer... or should that be author?) as an innocent, naive, working-class lad with little education or savoir faire, not only is he self-reflective throughout this narrative, but he's also pretty spot-on in his analyses of class, economic disparities and social inequalities. Ben Foster’s true life story explores the extravagance of old and new wealth in today’s Britain and reveals how the super rich can find no way to relieve their boredom other than with multiple partners and through sex lives that grow ever more kinky and erotic. He said while the core story of the book is true, he admitted that some details had been "embellished" by the ghost writer to make it more entertaining - particularly that he was married at the time. Ben’s good looks and polite albeit innocent manners name the women hire him for his services but healing through the massages they receive isn’t the only thing these rich and bored upper crust women want from Ben. But there is a poignant sting in the tale too, because nothing lasts forever. The funny thing is even while Ben is giving Olympic gold medal-standard performances, you still worry about his welfare. And the fact that there is a financial crash on the horizon only sharpens the feeling of fear and trembling.

It also grossed me out he never used condoms and how many women he had oral sex with. This book does not skimp on details of his exploits. I guess my nurse brain was constantly cycling herpes, chlamydia, HIV! And nobody asked him if he was clean. Ewe. Just ewe.Ben was a nice man, doing for others, getting by week-to-week, trying to improve his and his families lifestyle, he got caught up in all the glitz and glamour -the façade- the easy money. It seems like it took him a while to see behind the masks, but he got there. With his dark hair, blue eyes and robust appendage the ladies dub Big Ben, the shy, self-effacing care worker is offered a position as a masseur at a luxury spa and is drawn into a world of private jets, Parisian sex clubs, state secrets, lines of cocaine and orgies in country houses with a Who’s Who of celebrities, actresses, top models, MPs and the international super rich. Married, and a father of three, Ben Foster was struggling to make ends meet, even after working two different jobs. He had inherited some money from his late grandmother and used it to go to school, and become a certified massage specialist, but it wasn’t easy getting clients. When he inherits a sizeable windfall from his gran, Ben decides to qualify as a masseur. Soon he is introduced to the mysterious ‘committee’ – a group of female socialites with one thing in common: they adore sex and don’t mind paying for it.

Going from being loving husband and father of three to a man that should have been ashamed to call himself a husband and father.

The author paints a vivid picture of the world the rich and famous live in and the stark contrast with Ben’s world is powerful. The Committee”, women with titles and/or money, make him over, a la My Fair Lady. Ben goes along with it all, because the money is good, it’s fun and he does want his children to have advantages and education. They replaced me for a younger model, from what I gather. Everything was under their rule," Mr Perkins said.

Until the day he met “The Committee” in the Great Room at a large manor house, Ben had been an average guy. He was a worker- a fisherman, a road paver, a carer. But when he marries and has children he realizes that he wants the best for them. He gets his masseuse certification and his life changes. Ben doesn’t describe himself in much detail but from the way women reacted to him, I picture him as tall, well built and good-looking. Ben does share more of his internal life with us, and he comes across as positive, sincere, caring and someone who is adept at examining life. Ben Foster works double shifts for minimum wage at a care home for boys with learning disabilities. With a young wife and three children under the age of five, he is ground down by poverty and debt. Fact or fiction? Whichever, this is an unputdownable read as nice, married, father-of-three Ben Foster inadvertently falls into the life of a male 'escort' and sex worker.Ben Foster’s true life story explores the overt extravagance of old and new wealth in today’s Britain. It reveals how the wealthy share a secret unimagined by working people: that they are easily bored and relieve their boredom with multiple partners and through sex that becomes ever more kinky and erotic. Jim Perkins, 44 from Bradwell has spoken about his life as a gigolo. Picture: Neil Didsbury (Image: Archant) You get a picture of the hardships he faces to make ends meet on a minimum wage job and when you meet his only paying customer who definitely exploits him by paying him very little for his services, especially considering the wealth he lives in. He takes a few classes in yoga massage and he is turned from Ben Foster - nice guy, but ordinary guy, with unexciting job, and nice wife – into “Big Ben”, world-class stud, mingling (and more) with A-listers. This is a classic fairy-tale that happens to be real. It’s probably every man’s dream, at one time or another. So by total chance, one day Ben meets his clients’ mum and the “committee: a circle of her rich and bored friends.