Book Review: PIVOT by L. C. Barlow

PIVOT by L.C. Barlow (Kindle Edition, Oct 2019 by Rare Bird Books) 235 pages. ASIN # B077ZM64JMN http://lcbarlow.org/   

Summary on the Goodreads website . . . . .

From the age of seven, Jack Harper is raised by the leader of a mystical cult, Cyrus Harper. Through Cyrus, Jack receives a full education in all usual subjects—economics, literature, mathematics, history—as well as one unique skill useful to a person in Cyrus's position: assassination. With the help of Roland James, a man incapable of dying, Cyrus hones Jack into the perfect weapon to use against all who oppose him.

It is not long, however, before Jack discovers that Cyrus and Roland are not the only ones living in Cyrus’s mansion. There, too, exists a mysterious creature in the depths of the house with supposed immortal magic. According to Roland, this creature is responsible for all the miraculous things Jack has witnessed throughout her childhood, including Roland’s resurrection. The creature, potent and powerful, only weakens in the presence of Cyrus’s red velvet box—a dark, enchanted tool that grants Cyrus his invincibility and ensures his reign.

Lonely and terrified by her life in the cult, under Cyrus's never-ending watch, Jack desperately pursues the mysterious being. When they finally meet, her world is turned upside down, as he offers her more than she could have ever expected—the possibility of escape and her own secret, magical power.

 

My Four-Star Review on the Goodreads website . . . . .

     Chapter One includes the kind of hook that was hard to resist, and sure to draw more readers in: a seven-year old is taught to kill, to cruelly bleed out a victim. From that point forward, I was fully engaged and concerned for the main character - - that poor little seven-year old.

     Jack's real last name is never revealed. Cyrus Harper, the diabolical cult leader and head of a school for young assassins, adopts Jack at the age of seven.Cyrus becomes the mentor, the trusted one, who leads Jack on a journey into the dark side of murder and chaos until Jack begins to doubt but wisely conceals that. 

     If you're disturbed by animal cruelty, child abuse, and children being taught to do inhuman things, then read this cautiously. 

     The first person narration seems much too adult and knowledgable for a seven-year old, and almost took me out of the story. However, after learning that this is a planned trilogy it was easier to accept that PIVOT is a chronicle told by an older Jack. 

     PIVOT proceeds from that first murder through the next ten years of Jack's life, focusing on three distinct ages. The first ten percent of the novel deals with that early learning period at the age of seven. The first third of the novel is fleshed out with Jack's age ten experiences, including several that would play a significant role in the latter period (at the age of seventeen) which comprises the remaining two-thirds of the novel. 

     It's the first person narration that makes the difference, and makes this novel work so well. Without that, it would be difficult to clearly reveal the human side of Jack and PIVOT might read as just a highly violent, unemotional fictional autobiography. It's through Jack's inner thoughts and reactions that we see the heart of the story and feel empathy for Jack and the other young victims.

     Of note was the absence of any tell-tale details that would identify the gender of Jack. Not until the mid-point of the novel, when Jack is seventeen years old, is it revealed that she is female. By that point readers are acclimated to the world of Jack and it doesn't make a bit of difference. If Goodreads hadn't revealed this in the final paragraph of their summary, I would have left that detail out of my review to avoid spoilers. It surprised me, as I admit I made the usual assumptions about Jack's gender.

     There's also very little revealed here about Jack's life before Cyrus. We don't learn anything about her past until the middle of the book, and then it's not much.

     Barlow does a commendable job with character development, and shows readers enough of the mental workings and philosophy of the less admirable characters to make them more than one-dimensional. PIVOT ends on a satisfactory note and leaves open many possibilities for the next novel as Jack explores the mystical abilities she's been gifted with.