I am a huge Krysten Ritter fan, have been since her Veronica Mars days. (Here you should picture a meme or video clip of Gia asking Logan what he really thinks of her and Veronica dragging him away before he starts something that will end in tragedy, which meme does not appear to exist.) Right now she's famous because of Jessica Jones, of course, in which she plays the Marvel universe's cynical, haunted, alcoholic, superpowered PI. Remember this; it bears on our story later on.

When I saw she wrote a book, a mystery called Bonfire, I was all in. I'm a fan of Ritter's work, I'm a fan of her characters and a lot of the stories she's been in. No reason to think she can write, but no reason to think she can't; she seems like a very smart woman. And the book is about a troubled woman going back to her hometown to figure out a thing that happened in high school, so okay, sure thing!

Oh, I wanted to like this, reader. I want only good things to happen to Krysten Ritter. I want her to be happy and successful. The character is an alcoholic investigator who is haunted by a troubled past, so Jessica Jones herself should be quite comfortable with the characterization. The main character, Abby, is described as plain and awkward, but I still pictured her as Ritter, with that gangly Jessica Jones, "I'm not trying to look gorgeous" thing going on.

But unfortunately, I don't get her. She was bullied horribly in high school, for being awkward, and poor, and from a too-religious family. Now she's a hot-shot lawyer with an environmental defense organization, and she's come back to town to investigate whether the One Big Corporation that keeps the town alive is poisoning the water, though of course what she's really doing is Confronting Her Past.

Except it's not clear what about her past needs confronting. Her ex-best-friend-turned-worst-enemy got mysteriously sick in high school, but it was "proven" that she faked it for attention, then she "ran away" and no one ever heard from her again. For some reason Abby is haunted by this girl, but it makes neither rational sense (which, okay, your high school obsession won't always) nor emotional sense.

Neither does her intense attraction to a guy named Condor who is one of those salt-of-the-earth good guys you find when you go back to your corrupt small town. As soon as she makes eye contact with him she wants to be near him but doesn't let herself, because Reasons, I guess? It also doesn't make sense that she makes nice with her second-biggest high school bully (like, she panics and befriends her instead of expressing her real emotions). Or that she drifts away from her investigation partner. I guess the drinking makes sense, but the beach party where only the members of one graduating class attend doesn't. Once you grow up, even in a small town, you have acquaintances a few years older and younger than you.

The hardest part is that the writing is so close to good, you can feel the wind go by as it misses. The language is neither overly flowery nor workmanlike; it's got a nice level of character and flourish that would be perfect if it was just a bit more deft. I have some highlights that struck me as off, but most of them don't make sense out of context. She refers to high school as "spending years as a bullseye in a field full of arrows." It's so close to being a solid metaphor but maybe because a bullseye can't move, or maybe because a field full of arrows sounds like they're standing still.

Or "how many storage rooms are built out of broken hearts and broken relationships, dead fathers and brothers and wives." That's an interesting thought and image, how much sad, dusty past you find in your average storage business, but "storage room built out of" seems wrong, doesn't it? Like it's filled with composed of, something else. I understand the metaphor, but it sounds wrong to my ears.

At this point, about halfway in, I'm pretty sure I can guess what's going to happen, to the point where I'll be pleased and excited if I'm wrong. (See scare quotes above for hints as to my guesses.) But the fact is that it really feels like I'm reading about someone who is going through the motions of being a disaffected noir detective confronting her past without actually thinking or feeling anything that said noir detective would actually think or feel in the context I'm following.

I'm so sorry, Krysten Ritter. I really do see the bones of something good here. I just think there are a few more drafts, or maybe another novel, between what I'm reading now and a really great detective story (in which you will definitely play the lead role).

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley for review.

Bonfire by Krysten Ritter is a solid debut. While not the most original plot in the world, it's engaging enough to keep you guessing. I love a good mystery, so I hope Krysten continues to write many more books! She'll definitely get better with more writing experience under her belt. I'd like to see a story more original the next time around. ***3.5 stars***

I shouldn’t be surprised to discover that a talented actress is also a talented writer, and honestly I wasn’t. But what did surprise me was how smart the book was—Ritter definitely did her homework and isn’t just coasting on character and atmosphere. A cut above.

Yup, somehow between being kickass in Veronica Mars and Breaking Bad. Then actually kicking ass in Jessica Jones, she managed to write a thriller. (Anyone else feel like they’re slacking off now?)

BONFIRE BY KRYSTEN RITTER
SHORT SUMMARY OF BONFIRE: A WOMAN IS FORCED TO CONFRONT HER PAST WHEN HER HOMETOWN IS FACING CORRUPTION.
I wasn’t really sure what to expect when I started reading this novel. There were no reviews to go off of, since I received it as a galley. I got sucked in so quickly though. I didn’t try to solve or guess what was going on as I read (because any guess I had was incorrect), so I was able to just let myself go and enjoy what was happening. Which was probably good because what was happening was creepy.

This is great thriller if you’re looking for something to curl up with for the evening. I’m so happy that Ritter got the opportunity to write such a great book and I can’t wait to read what she puts out next.

The past is omnipresent in Krysten Ritter's first novel Bonfire. It tells the story of environmental
lawyer Abby Williams who comes back to her home town Barrens to investigate in a possible case of environmental pollution by the company Optimal Plastics. She also brings back memories of her time as a teenager in Barrens, mobbed by a group of girls led by the notorious Kaycee, formerly Abby's best friend. Kaycee, who disappeared after she and her friends had faked being sick due to Optimal's business. Nobody knows where she went to after her scheme was exposed and nobody seems to really care. But Abby was never able to let go of the past and she is sure that there is a connection between Optimal and Kaycee's disappearance. Digging into the past can be dangerous though...

Kristen Ritter is a well known TV show star, celebrated for her performances in Don't Trust the B* in Appartement 23, and Jessica Jones. She is also surprisingly down to earth, if her instagram account is to be believed. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with her dog, knitting, and, apparently, writing books. And in contrast to stars like the Jenner sisters, she does it on her own. Bonfire is a good debut novel with a suspenseful story full of mysteries. I enjoyed Ritter's writing style and the page turner qualities of her first work, even though I must admit that some reveals weren't as surprising as they were probably intended to be. Bonfire is a good debut novel with a likable protagonist. It won't revolutionize the publishing world, but it makes for a few good, entertaining hours.

I was very excited to read this debut book by an actor I enjoy. A mystery with many levels, and side stories. A lot happens of the span of this book. Our main character is going back to her boondocks town in an environmental investigation. She recalls some girls getting sick when she lived there- but were they faking? Is the business that almost everyone has been affected by polluting and endangering citizens? Who can you trust! And who is lying?
For me personally, I enjoyed the book more as I got further into it. It started a bit slow, but picked up quickly and nicely. The more I read, the more I had to keep reading. I loved all the twists and turns, and how things seemed to be one way, but was really another.
A great read, and I am hoping for more from the author!

When I was a teenager, everybody spent a lot of time talking about how much our hometown sucked. “It’s boring, there’s nothing to do.” I thought it was fine. I thought, if your city is boring, it’s because you’re boring. I never understood how a city, a geographical location, could be bad. A place is just a place, it’s the people that make it a bad place to live.

In Barrens, Indiana, the city in Krysten Ritter’s novel, Bonfire, the people are definitely bad. But the town is bad too. It’s actually poisoned.

Abby Williams is a young attorney who escaped her hometown, a typical midwestern town saved from an economic collapse only by Optimal Plastics, the enormous factory that employs almost everybody in Barrens. But now people are getting sick and Abby’s team of lawyers have been brought in to look into pollution from Optimal as a possible cause. While she’s back in town, Abbey’s also investigating the ten-year-old disappearance of Kaycee Mitchell, her one-time friend and, later, high school tormentor.

Bonfire is a dark pseudo-thriller full of alcoholism, illness, sexual abuse, and murder, themes not unfamiliar to the author, who in her other career as an actor has played dark characters on shows like Breaking Bad and Jessica Jones. There’s nothing especially groundbreaking about Bonfire but it is a surprisingly well crafted debut novel full of well-observed character details. It bodes well for Krysten Ritter’s future projects.

This is very readable but I felt some things were set up and not fully taken advantage of except for how they advanced the central mystery of what happened to Kaycee. I do like the idea of Erin Brokovich confronting the fallout of childhood bullying, and would read the next book by this author.

A few more questions below:

1. The narrator has a deep connection to some of the main characters but often feels too much like an outsider. If she was so involved back then why didn't she know more of the secrets? I would have been less surprised if this had uncovered some of her own trauma.
2. I am not satisfied by the explanation for the connection between Optimal and Brady. Since high school? But why?
3. Is there a connection to K's dad or was that a red herring?
4. How did the narrator escape and find success?

Also, poetic license maybe, but there is no toll rode on I-70 in Missouri.

Bonfire will grab you into the story from the beginning. It became a quick read with a great psychological mystery. Some twists and turns surprised me and it was hard to put the book down. I read late into the night with this one!

We meet and get to know the main character, Abby, through her past and current events. She returns to her small home town as an environmental lawyer on a case. It had been years since she had been back there. Seeing and remembering things from her past sometimes overwhelm her. The author created a person with flaws like all of us are.

Until I went to Goodreads to add the book, I never knew the author was the actress from Jessica Jones. This was a great debut novel and hope she has more books in her future plans!

* I was provided an ARC to read from the publisher and NetGalley. It was my decision to read and review this book.

I have a real problem with famous people deciding they need to write fiction. Not that I doubt they can write, but I think their fame gives them a leg up on the people who don’t have their fame.

And sometimes I’m not even sure if they write their own books. This mostly goes for some of the talking heads and pundits who come out with fiction: I think often they have a ghostwriter write their books, and publishers know it will sell more with a ‘name’ on the cover. Not all of them, but I think a few of them fail to let us know they didn’t actually write the book.

So I don’t often read the writings of the famous. Sometimes memoirs, but usually no.

But guess what? I broke my unwritten rule and read Krysten Ritter’s Bonfire. And it was really good. All interviews and media I’ve read lead me to believe that she wrote the book.

(In case you don’t know Ritter, she’s humorous and funny, the star of the Netflix series Marvel’s Jessica Jones, all about a troubled private eye who uses her gifts to find her tormentor. She also starred in the short lived but very funny Don’t Trust the B—- in Apartment 23, where she played a spoiled party girl with a new-to-New-York small town roommate, and has many other actor entries on her resume.)

Bonfire is dark, with a very flawed hero in protagonist Abby Williams. Given the chance to return home and to investigate Optimal Plastics, Abby also get a chance to settle some scores with the people who tormented her through high school. Although she’s escaped and built a successful life in Chicago, the past is always with her, and she is much more vulnerable to it all when she returns home. Her dad, her tormentors, the whole town.



Of course she cracks a bit. And she’s flawed and confused. Ritter does a wonderful job with the dark: A NYT profile article (http://Krysten Ritter Spins Her Own Mystery in Her Debut Novel, ‘Bonfire’ )describes her process, talking about how her life and acting contributed to the Bonfire.

Reading her acknowledgements, her first thank you is to novelist Lauren Oliver. Even before finishing the book and reading this, I was comparing it to Oliver’s book Panic, mostly because of ‘The Game’ in small town America. But Panic is a definite YA book, while Bonfire is all adult. Dealing with an evil corporations and a corrupt town, with aging parents and sexual misconduct, there is little that could be classified as young adult. And the only people who get to flashback to their horrible teenage memories are adults.

As suspense, this book works on many levels. Abby is definitely an unreliable narrator, although she realizes it (everyone sees their youth from their own point of view; when you can question yourself you can grow as an adult). As our protagonist, she’s nearly an anti-hero, but not quite (she has ideals, but going after the big and powerful in her home town does serve her self-interests in some ways), but she is definitely very flawed in dark, disturbing, perfect ways.

I highly recommend this book to anyone looking for something dark and suspenseful. Hints of Ruth Ware (dark), it’s perfect for a cold, wintry weekend full of downtime. Or, if you’re like me, a cold, wintry weekend between activities and work.

Lately, I’ve been trying to pick books leaning towards adult characters. Sadly, there isn’t much variety of adult books that attract me. But one thing that always catches my attention is THRILLERS. If a book is an adult suspense or it’s thriller-y, I’m instantly sold. Which is why I’ve been looking forward to “Bonfire” for quite some time, and I picked it up as soon as it was delivered to my home.

Krysten Ritter can do it all, I don’t know how, but she just can! She can act, she can direct, and she can freaking write!

This story is amazing because while the characters are adults, there’s also that “going back to my old town and remembering high-school times” thing going on. There’s a lot of back and forth with the memories, so we get a glimpse of the characters as YA characters too. I’d say it’s a really great book for those who enjoy YA but want to read characters that are a bit more grown. If you want adult characters with the YA familiarity of a book, then this is the one.

Now, onto the story. Abby Williams used to live in the small town of Barrens, Indiana. She used to be bullied by her childhood “best friend” Kaycee and her mean-girl friends. (Don’t forget this name, Kaycee, as it seems she disappears right after high school but her name will still be very important through the story.) Fast forward 10 years, and now Abby is an environmental lawyer working at a Chicago firm. She’s working a case that brings her back to her small town, in search of a way to bring down Optimum – a high profile town company – for environmental corruption. Abby wants to find more answers than just the Optimum corruption case. Abby wants to know what happened to Kaycee. Why did she get sick? Why did she flee town 10 years ago? Why does everyone say she is lying? Why does nobody care anymore?

It seems Optimum (being a high-profile company) can buy anyone and everyone in town. They are the biggest employer and have “given life” to the town, everyone believes this company saved the town, and this makes everything more difficult for Abby to uncover the truth for her case.

As Abby and her colleagues try to find the truth behind Optimum, they must go back to things that Abby might not have wanted to discover. She’ll have to go back to her high-school years to uncover the truth behind Optimum and it’s corruption. What has been hidden behind Optimum all these years? Is Optimum really the town’s savior or is it their destruction? Seriously, if you want to find out the answer to these questions, PICK UP THE BOOK! You will NOT regret it!

Abby is a very complex character. We learn about her past, her present, her family, her friends, and so much more. She’s so well written and relatable! I really would love to read more from Krysten Ritter, being an author suits her well. I’m usually skeptical when it comes to famous people writing books. I tend to avoid their books, but I am so glad I gave Ritter a chance. This story is amazing and it’s almost everything I could wish for in books to transition from YA to Adult fiction.

Before I finish my review, I want to add one last thing...

TRIGGER WARNING; The thing described as "The Game" in the synopsis, is something VERY dark. Things that lead to sexual assault can be found in the story, so please, be aware of this before picking up the book.

Overall rating: 4.0 stars

Perfect for fans of Gone Girl, Girl on the Train, We Were Liars and titles such as those. Fast paced, well written and a super fun read!

Abby Williams has returned to Barrens after spending many years trying to leave her hometown firmly behind. She is now an environmental lawyer in Chicago and brings a team to investigate Optimal, a company that is the major employer in Barrens. Abby's story is focused on two questions: has Optimal been polluting the town's water reservoir? Also, what happened to her friend, Kaycee, who became sick while they were in high school?

For the first third of the book, I was not into the story. It felt a bit slow and was focused on the ghosts around every corner once Abby has returned home. I was on the verge of giving up on this book (I know, I hate to DNF, but life is too short and there are so many books!) and then it suddenly picked up. It definitely wasn't a perfect read but it won me over. I like Krysten Ritter as an actress, so I'm pleased to say that this was a pretty decent debut and I'd be interested in reading her future work.

I'll admit I wanted to read this because of Kristin Ritter. I wasn't sure on how good of a writer she'd be though so I had my doubts about this book. It turns out the book was better than I thought it was going to be. Yes I've seen the plot before and didn't surprise me too much, but the story still ended up being fast moving and well written. If she writes another book I'll definitely be looking to pick it up.

I received an egalley from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. I didn’t know what to expect from this novel from Krysten Ritter, being it is first novel and her being a phenomenal actress, but it exceeded my expectations. It was an excellent, fast-paced novel that intrigued me from the very beginning and didn’t fail to keep me hooked throughout the entire novel. I look foward to reading anything else she writes in the future.

Krysten Ritter's debut novel is an exciting though predictable thriller that deals with teenage bullying, environmental destruction, damaged parents, and a heroine struggling to do the right thing. Narrator Abby Williams returns to the small Indiana town the she'd eagerly escaped a decade earlier to investigate the harm done to the environment and residents' health by the town's largest employer, a plastics manufacturer. She must confront those who bullied her when she was a child in order to protect the next generation, even if it means risking the wrath of the town's most powerful. Ritter's hard-drinking investigator heroine resembles her Jessica Jones television persona, minus the superpowers. While the plot's twists and turns are easily seen coming, it's an entertaining read.

I really enjoyed this story. I think Krysten does great at telling stories. I love the prose and the writing style. It held my interest. I thought the storyline was believable and the characters were not always likeable, but definitely real.

My only trouble is that I found the story a bit predictable. I felt like I could see the ending before it happened and it was wrapped up fairly quickly.

All in all though, I thought it was a solid debut and I would definitely read more from Krysten. She is definitely multi-talented. I have loved her acting work and now I will really enjoy her writing.

This was a good read. I wasn't super excited or drawn in by the premise, but the writing was so awesome that I still really enjoyed this book. The story is about an environmental lawyer, Abby, getting closure and acceptance about her past while dealing with a case in her hometown. However, it's a struggle to get to the truth leaving Abby wildly unbalanced. The reader can feel Abby slipping away, and even you begin to doubt her as she shoots conspiracy theories out. There were some expected and unexpected twists, and enough excitement towards the end to make it feel like a thriller. The ending left me feeling strangely bereft. But perhaps that was what it felt like for Abby when she was finally able to put down her burden of the past. Not exactly satisfied and magically whole, but a little hollow and able to move on.

Actress Krysten Ritter is well-known for her roles on TV's Breaking Bad and Marvel's Jessica Jones, but I wouldn't be surprised to see her playing the lead in a film adaptation of Bonfire (Crown, Archetype, digital galley). After all, Ritter wrote the book, and it's easy to picture her as Chicago environmental lawyer Abby Williams, who returns to her Indiana hometown after 10 years to investigate its most influential employer. But looking into Optimal Plastics' possible pollution of Barrows' water supply and its ties to local government means Abby must confront her own past. Snubbed in high school by the popular set, Abby is rattled by her old classmates. The boy she once crushed on is now an Optimal spokesman, a former cheerleader is an assistant high school principal, a bad-boy slacker has become a responsible single dad. And then there's Kaycee, Abby's sometimes childhood friend, who was always at the center of things before she suddenly disappeared. Inevitably, Abby's questions about Optimal lead to questions about Kaycee, but Ritter generates suspense and an air of immediacy with her present-tense narrative. Don't wait for the movie.
from On a Clear Day I Can Read Forever 11/20/17