Draw You in Vol 1: Collectors Item by Jasper Bark – Book Review

Bark deploys some jaw-dropping textual conceits, alongside some absolutely pitch perfect classic horror setpieces, to build a sense of dread on several levels. That feeling only escalates as the narrative builds to the Volume One climax, leaving this reader hungry to dive immediately into Volume Two.

Draw You in Volume One: Collectors Item by Jasper Bark – Book Review

Disclaimer: Jasper is a friend, and I am currently co-hosting a podcast with him. So, take this review with that in mind, but also this; my review policy is I only write about things I a) finish and b) enjoy.

Draw You In Volume One: Collectors Item stars Linda, an indie comic book artist who, as the book opens, is occupying a space that feels very 2024: some early critical and commercial success, but an increasing precarity and a nagging feeling that time is running out – or even that the moment has already passed.

Bark delivers all of this with his customary flair and skill,

Weaving Linda’s backstory in with his Comicon appearance a chance encounter with an old editor friend. From there, we learn of forgotten comic book artist R. L. Carver… at which point, shit gets weird.

As the novel unfolds, Bark follows Linda down a terrifying and seemingly bottomless rabbit hole, as she’s forced to confront an apparently impossible situation; either her memories of the world are fundamentally incorrect or false, or reality itself has shifted around her, erasing people that only she can now remember.

It’s a perfect premise for a writer of Bark’s talents,

Especially as he then starts to weave in elements suggesting this phenomenon is somehow connected with art; as the narrative unfolds, and we meet a cast of increasingly eccentric characters (woven in with appearances from some real-life comic book legends). Bark deploys some jaw-dropping textual conceits, alongside some absolutely pitch perfect classic horror setpieces, to build a sense of dread on several levels. That feeling only escalates as the narrative builds to the Volume One climax. Leaving this reader hungry to dive immediately into Volume Two.

Draw You In Volume One: Collectors Item is a superb showcase for Bark’s considerable talents as an author; welding pulp pacing and escalation with considerable literary flair. And putting painfully real characters into an increasingly surreal (and dangerous) set of circumstances. It will leave you impatient for Volume Two. So it’s handy that the whole trilogy is already available for immediate consumption. Volume One is a brilliant ride, but it’s also clearly the tip of an iceberg. Can’t wait to see how things develop over the next two books.

KP

Draw You in Volume One: Collectors Item by Jasper Bark

Draw You In Vol.1 – Collector’s Item is the first book in the scariest horror trilogy ever written.

Can you disappear so completely that only one person remembers you existed?

That’s what comics creator Linda Corrigan asks when her editor disappears without a trace. Drawn into an FBI investigation by Agent McPherson, Linda and comics historian Richard Ford unearth a chilling link to the forgotten comic artist R. L. Carver, whose work might just hold the key to a series of mysterious disappearances.

As they explore Carver’s life, they uncover the secret history of horror comics, the misfits, madcaps and macabre masters who forged an industry, frightened a generation and felt the heat of the Federal Government. They also stumble on the shadow history of the United States on a road trip that veers into the nation’s dark underbelly, where forbidden knowledge and forgotten lore await them.

Described as “Kavalier and Clay meets Clive Barker,” it contains stories within stories that explore horror in all its subgenres, from quiet to psychological horror, from hardcore to cosmic horror.

Experience the epic conspiracy thriller that redefines the genre for a new generation.