Book Review - Lucifer Rising by Barbara Fifield

How do cult leaders manage to captivate their followers? How do abusive men manage to keep women under their thumbs? In Lucifer Rising by Barbara Fifield, reporter Elsa Eldridge finds out first hand how one can be ensnared by those with self-serving & devious intentions. Fifield has put forth an interesting perspective – are cult leaders really Ludifer in disguise? (The old Saturday night live character Church Lady comes to mind, saying, “Is it Satan?”) Are men who use, manipulate and abuse women really God’s fallen angels cursed to be the scourge of the Earth? While it is amusing to think that bad men in this world are really Lucifer in human form, as someone who has survived an abusive relationship, I’m not willing to let abusers off the hook that easily. Because of my own personal experience and from working with women and children who have suffered abuse, the main character Elsa was hard to believe. One of the reasons abusers are able to keep their victims under their thrall is because they reduce the victims self esteem to nothing. Elsa has a very healthy amount of self esteem yet even after she walks away from Tyrell (the manipulative so-called “cult” leader), files a restraining order against him, after months have gone by and he shows up with flowers, a ruby bracelet and wants to buy her dinners… she is right back with him. This is a woman who is self supporting, has her own home, apparently only wants him for sex and what he buys her, and yet we are to believe she can’t break away from him? Women who free themselves from abusive situations do not generally go back for trinkets, especially when they are supporting themselves just fine, also most women who are being abused emotionally, verbally, etc are turned off sexually by their abuser not the other way around. So it is hard to believe the inconsistency of this story. While I think the premise and some of the characters are interesting overall the story falls short for me and could use more research. The other thing that bothered me about this book was the change in person. It starts out in first person, switches to third then back to first. That was ruined the flow of the story. Overall 2.5 out of five stars.


This book was provided by the author and will be given away to a commenter.