Pure

by Jo Perry

"Faultlessly imagined and beautifully written, this is one of the best novels I've read all year." –Timothy Hallinan, author of the acclaimed Simeon Grist seriesCaught in a pincer movement between the sudden death of Evelyn (her favourite aunt) and the Corona virus, Ascher Lieb finds herself unexpectedly locked down in her aunt’s retirement community with only Evelyn’s grief-stricken dog Freddie for company.As the world tumbles down into a pandemic shaped rabbit-hole Ascher is wracked with guilt that her aunt was buried without the Jewish burial rights of purification.In order to atone for this dereliction of familial duty, Ascher – in her own words ‘a profane, unobservant, atheist Jew, frequent liar and grieving loser’ –volunteers to become the newest member of Valley Haverim Chevra Kadisha, a Jewish burial society on-call twenty-four-seven during lockdown and performing Mitzvot at no cost to the bereaved.What follows is a journey through the insanity of lockdown in Los Angeles as Ascher attempts to bring peace to a troubled soul, and perhaps in the end redemption for herself.In the hands of a lesser-writer a novel set in the time of covid could lead to a cliché ridden trope-fest, but instead with the skill and grace we’ve come to expect from Jo Perry she has delivered a book that is wise and beautiful and uplifting.Praise for Pure"Pure is an immersive, twisting and turning metaphysical murder mystery set in the L.A. of 2020 with its Covid lockdowns, conspiracy theories and ethnic hatreds. Highly recommended." –Seth Lynch, author of the 3rd Republic mysteries.Perry’s mysteries never fail to mesmerize...With Pure she’s outdone herself..." –Jeffrey Siger, author of the celebrated Chief Inspector Andreas Kaldis novels"Jo Perry's Pure is a beautiful story you will savor. Ascher's journey, a fusion of dark and light and mystifying gray, is compelling all along the way. Set against the backdrop of Covid, Pure poignantly explores solitude in a way that transcends this pandemic and makes us think about the loneliness we carry through our lives. Ghosts may be the loneliness of our hearts, or they be the chaperones of our destiny; the spiritual inhabits Perry's novel as she deftly camouflages mystery against themes of grief, guilt, love and reconciliation. The mystery will get under your skin, for sure, but the humanity of this novel will resonate far beyond the page." –Steven Cooper, journalist and author of the Gus Parker and Alex Wills series.

280 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 28, 2021

About the author

"...wickedly entertaining, hardboiled supernatural deftness."--Gary Phillips

"Wonderful, original, hilarious and brilliant..."
--Eric Idle

Jo Perry is the author of THE WORLD ENTIRE, PURE (June, 2021) chosen as one of Independent Fiction Alliance's BEST TRULY INDEPENDENT BOOKS OF 2022; EVERYTHING HAPPENS (novella) and DEAD IS BETTER, DEAD IS BEST, DEAD IS GOOD, and DEAD IS BEAUTIFUL, dark comic mysteries published by Fahrenheit Press. Perry's short stories have appeared in Pulp Modern, Retreats from Oblivion, anthologies and Fahrenheit Press's Fahrenzine series. Her short story, "The Kick the Bucket Tour," was a distinguished story in Best Mystery Stories of 2019 (Lethem/Penzler)/


Perry earned a Ph.D. in English, taught college literature and writing, produced and wrote episodic television, and has published articles, book reviews, and poetry.


Perry was the first woman invited to speak at the venerable Men of Mystery event in southern California. Her short story, "The Kick The Bucket Tour," made the 2018 Distinguished Mystery Stories list in Best American Mystery Stories.
She lives in Los Angeles with her husband, novelist Thomas Perry and two rescue dogs.

website: www.authorjoperry.com Twitter: @JoPerryAuthor
Listen to the podcast of Nancie Claire's interview on SPEAKING OF MYSTERIES: http://www.speakingofmysteries.com/po...

Reviews

[Hobart · Rating 4 out of 5]

This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader.
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Doctor Christiansen waited a moment after the final shudder and wheeze. "She's gone," he said and to make sure I understood, and added, "I and everyone here at Sunny Morning Elder Care Living are deeply sorry for your loss."

Well, my aunt wasn't "gone." She was right there, her small, cold hand in mine."

WHAT'S PURE ABOUT?
Ascher Lieb, arrives at her dying aunt's bedside too late to say goodbye, she's not going to wake up again. But she's present when they turn off the ventilator keeping her lungs working. Ascher returns to her aunt's apartment to check on her dog and go through her belongings just in time for the facility to be quarantined with her in it.

This is the early days of COVID-19 in Los Angeles, and no one is playing around. Ascher has to present herself twice daily for temperature/symptom checks, where she's given some food to supplement the groceries her aunt had left behind—which Ascher supplements, in turn by frequent use of delivery apps. With most of the U.S. now out of lockdown—or anything resembling it—it might be hard to remember the early days—sanitizing everything, masks, gloves, shutting yourself away from everyone you can. A lonely, isolating, claustrophobic existence—made the worse for Ascher as she's alone in someone else's house with few of her own possessions, just a dog who doesn't understand why his owner isn't coming home.

And I'm going on far too long—how do I summarize this? Gross over-simplification:
Ascher volunteers briefly at a Jewish Burial Society. She's convinced there's something suspicious about the death of one of the people she attends to. Driven by impulses and emotions she's not sure she can identify, Ascher seeks to discover this woman's identity and learn what caused her death.

Ascher also has to come to terms with her aunt's death (which opens a can of worms about other deaths in her family, too), dodge the officials at her aunt's facility while she's breaking quarantine, try to hew close to COVID restrictions, deal with a bunch of personal issues arising from her being quarantined away from her apartment/roommate, cope with the dumpster fire that was 2020, and...there's a possible (probable?) supernatural element, too. That sounds like a lot going on—and it is—but it never feels that way. At least for the reader—Ascher feels it.

"EVERYTHING ELSE"
The mystery at the core of this novel is a pretty good one—and Ascher's not a sleuth by any means, her attempts at being an amateur sleuth are as amateur as they come. It's worth reading Pure for this aspect alone.

But for me, it was the least interesting part of the novel. Everything else going on (except maybe the stuff with her roommate) was much more interesting and worthy of reflection. For one: Ascher's reaction to death—her aunt's and others—have shaped her more than she realizes. Her coming to grips with it, her seeing how death has affected important choices she's made throughout her life—and seeing what she does with these realizations? That's what separates Pure from other mystery novels.

SO, WHAT DID I THINK ABOUT PURE?
This is a great novel, an immersive read—I had a hard time putting the book down, and a harder time not thinking about it when I had put it down. And I was on vacation when I read this—I had plenty of things to do, see and think about when I wasn't reading. If I only had routine day-to-day things to think about, I'm not sure I'd have been able to focus on work/home life instead of the book.

The characters who aren't Ascher are interesting enough—and there's a couple I can think of that I would've liked to spend more time with. But that's not possible in this book—Spring of 2020 was not a time to meet people and spend a lot of time with them. But your appreciation for this book is going to come down to what you think of Ascher and her actions.

This is a mystery novel about something—it's more than a whodunit (assuming there was something for a "who" to have "dun"). It, like pretty much everything Perry writes, is about death and how we deal with it as humans (and one neurotic Mini-Pinscher). THere's more to chew on, too, but that'd be telling...

It's trite to say "this moved me." But it did, and I can't think of a better way to phrase it, so trite it is. Pure is the best thing I've read by Perry—it's not the most entertaining, but it's the best, and will likely stay with me in more detail than the rest. You won't be sorry if you pick this up. You may regret not doing so. So, why take the chance?

[Brian · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent book, a wonderful story to read, also very educational. Sad, happy, lost and then hopefully found, I hope the main character , Ascher , finishes her To-Do list and realizes she was Pure all along. Read the book and you will know what I mean. Oh yeah! A ghost story, a mystery and maybe a love story in book 2.

[L.F. Robertson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It's a mystery, but more than that a journey for the main character, Ascher, dealing with the death of her beloved aunt in the early days of the COVID pandemic, in a wonderfully atmospheric Los Angeles. It's the first novel I've read set in that year, and it captures the strangeness of it, the anxiety, the ghost-town feeling everywhere. There's more than a bit of the supernatural in it, as well as a study of sorts about death and how we cope with our feelings of loss and guilt.

[Leslie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jo Perry captures the sense of isolation, alienation, and profound loneliness that many experienced during the pandemic--along with elements of Covid that were frightening, ridiculous, or both. Set in Southern California, which becomes not just the setting but almost a character, in a time of civil unrest, racism, antisemitism, fearfulness, and anxiety, PURE explores grief in a way that is as wise, beautiful, and redemptive as it is edgy and raw.

[Kelly]

Did not finish

[Jen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jo Perry is a marvelous author. Her books are full of wisdom, heart, and brilliant insight into what it means to be human. She meditates death but her beautiful soul, which shines through breathtaking prose, somehow uses it to make you feel more alive. She wrestles with grief and sorrow and from it, gives us hope and love. Her Charlie and Rose series is my favorite, so when I got this, I waited a few weeks to read it, knowing I'd want to savor it. She's a poet as much as she is an author.

I also loved how she captured the surreal days of Covid lockdown, from Uber Eats and latte binges and somehow, made it a ghost story too. Fahrenheit Press publishes some of the most talented writers working today. If you're tried of the whitewashed, personality-less big box publications of the big houses, start with Jo, and keep on reading.

I finished this book with a full heart, some tears, and hope for more from Jo.