Book Review: PERISH by L. C. Barlow

PERISH by L.C. Barlow (e-book from California Coldblood Books/Rare Bird Books, October 2020) Book Two of the Jack Harper trilogy. www.rarebirdbooks.com  www.californiacoldblood.com   www.lcbarlow.org  ISBN #978-1644281376 

Summary on the Goodreads website . . . . .

Jack Harper is a dangerous woman, capable of death and resurrection. Raised and utilized by Cyrus, the leader of a mystical religion, she was once a fearless and brilliant weapon against all who blasphemed. Now, having destroyed Cyrus, Jack is free to be more.

While starting anew, Jack begins receiving letters from children trapped in Infinitum who beg for rescue, and she soon discovers that Cyrus's cult is alive and thriving, with tendrils branching across the world. One of these tendrils leads Jack to Patrick, a man who speaks of a contraption that "bleaches anything white." Yet another tendril stretches beyond death, where the Builder and Jack's brother, Alex, reside. Jack must now seek to permanently destroy the following she once escaped by fixing her sights on a higher target--the infamous demonic Builder, who once supplied Cyrus with overwhelming power.

Potential aid arrives from an unusual source when Jack encounters Jonathon Roth and his kill-for-hire outfit. Combined, they hope to become an unstoppable force, but only the future will tell. Jack may be falling into her old acolyte ways, and Roth may have found in Jack the very thing that made Cyrus so powerful--his own magical being.

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

Pivot, the first book in the Jack Harper trilogy, hooked me from the very first chapter with an engaging premise: a seven-year old girl taught to kill at a school for young assassins. The novel, with a revealing narration by an older and wiser adult Jack Harper, covered the first ten years of Jack’s life under the tutelage of a mystical cult leader with terroristic designs to bring the world to chaos. How she uncovers the unsavory motives of the group and breaks free of her brainwashing, resurrects the more noble “ferrics”, and assists in taking down the organization form the bulk of the novel. 

Perish, the middle book, slows things down by covering a transitional and shorter period in Jack’s life (17-18 years old), but doesn’t let up on the action and suspense. 

“The fire curled itself around the house like an affectionate beast.” The first chapters pick up where Pivot left off, with the destruction of the compound of The Infintum in Basille, Louisiana and Jack’s leaving for parts unknown. 

     During her exit in cult leader Cyrus’ former sports car, Jack learns a valuable use of her ability to resurrect after a collision with a boy on a bicycle. She shoots the crippled biker and then uses her power to bring him back to life, before driving 400 miles to New York City with no mission and no money. “I felt trapped in the memory of the mangled boy, like a flailing ant caught in honey.”

Jack soon learns to survive in NYC by utilizing her fighting/killing skills to steal money. Cyrus is viewed as a missing person by the news media, as word of the compound’s destruction makes the nightly news broadcasts.

Before long Jack settles into an apartment, and begins to receive letters from several young girls trapped in other Infinitum compounds and seeking her help. The remainder of Perish deals with Jack’s new mission to free those poor girls and bring the remains of Infinitum down. It’s a fast-paced build-up to the eventual confrontation with the demonic presence behind it all, The Builder, which will occur in the final novel. 

Along the way Jack befriends a drug-addled socialite who will inherit a shady pharmaceutical and research lab connected to The Infintum. She is captured then released after becoming a reluctant accomplice to a criminal outfit of hit-men who offer to help her complete her mission as long as she cooperates and assists them. 

  Author Barlow does an admirable job of world-building, developing the mystical realm in which Jack operates and fleshing out the details of the diabolical Infinitum organization further. Jack also explores the mystical abilities she’s been gifted with, learns how to use them to accomplish her purpose, while becoming a slave/servant to yet another criminal enterprise.

More importantly, Barlow reveals the innermost thoughts of Harper while developing the character further. What began as a story of uncertainty and doubt in her abilities ends with a stronger, bolder and more confident young woman. Jack Harper is a character worth following. 

I received an advance copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.