Review: Wanting more...
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 03 10, 2012
One day, Claire, the main character in "Doctor's Orders", receives a black, embossed invitation that announces her appointment with "The Doctor". Unenthused about her current living situation (unemployed and still at home with her parents and much-favoured brother), Claire elects to make the consultation, even though she has no idea who this doctor is, why he's interested in `helping' her, or even how he knows her. (And we never find out.) I suspect Cox is trying to create a sense of mystery and intrigue, as well as illustrate Claire's level of desperation. All well and good, but it's the lack of this information that concerns me.If there's one thing about erotica, it's that the stories are often built upon flimsy premises. For example, a guy walks into a car dealership and it turns out his saleswoman is a dominatrix. Coincidentally, he's always wanted to be a submissive. Et voila. Their relationship is off and running. It's a stretch, but as readers of erotica we accept these staged and far-fetched first encounters. We need them. How else is the remaining story to be told successfully? But the point is that the characters actually meet. There might be only one meeting before the passion explodes off the page, but it exists.Cox's book needs this sort of first encounter prior to the invitation's arrival. It doesn't have to be much, only a paragraph or two that introduces or just hints at the doctor. Perhaps an accidental run-in with a striking man, or a stranger showing her interest at the bar, school, work, etc. Perhaps rumours of the doctor's existence. But I believe there should be something. As a reader, these facts would make the story all the more believable. Having only read this particular book, perhaps these questions are answered in other books featuring the doctor and Claire, but I'd much rather have them answered here.