I wasn't expecting to love this book so much! Bonfire is an unstoppable suspense novel that I had a hard time putting down. Don't get me wrong, I love Kristin Ritter! I've loved her since she was on Veronica Mars and then Breaking Bad, The B From Apartment 23, and Jessica Jones. I love her Instagram account and that she knits. She's so relatable and talented it seemed like she couldn't possibly also be an amazing author. I was wrong. She is also an amazing author!

Abby Williams has returned to her hometown as a lawyer for an environmental agency to figure out why kids are getting sick and if she's correct have been getting sick for years. Growing up in Barrens wasn't easy for Abby and she's not thrilled to be back. She is haunted by memories of being the odd one out and bullied. She lost her mother at a young age and was tormented by her classmates.

One classmate in particular was more brutal than the rest. Kaycee Mitchell began as Abby's only friend and then made it her mission to ruin Abby's life.

"She was easy to believe in the role of politician, convincing and quick-witted, a talented liar; I'm not even sure Kaycee knew when she was telling the truth and when she wasn't."

Kaycee became sick and soon other girls were also blacking out, having seizures and wasting away. But, then the girls all abruptly said they made it up. It was a game for them and that they had been lying to everyone. Abby has a hard time believing that Kaycee wasn't ill and sets out to prove that she was the first person in a long line to get sick from Optimal polluting the water. Abby has her work cut out to make a town that Optimal literally owns believe they are being poisened by the company that feeds them.

"But I believed them. And there's a part of me that never stopped believing the sickness was real -- that found myself again and again tugged to questions of environment and conservation, that brought the initial complaint to the agency's attention, cleaving to it with the small but painful, nagging intensity of a hangnail."

Abby is drug back into small town life, but this time she is the one asking questions. She is no longer the girl with her head down avoiding everyone. She has become the center of attention and the person to question them. She is a bit shocked when she's accepted into the fold. Soon she's being invited to football games and bonfires. She has the attention of Brent, the ex-boyfriend of Kaycee Mitchell and a boy who would have never looked her way in high school.

"Distantly, I hear the shrieks of laughter and the distant thud of music. I know that sound. Someone is having a bonfire. Memories are like fire, and need only a little oxygen to grow. I remember now how I used to see the far-off light of bonfires from just a little farther than my back porch."

Quickly everything begins to spiral out of control. I couldn't read fast enough to get through the last few chapters! Bonfire is a thrilling, page-turner that had me guessing who was good and who was evil right up to the last pages. I highly recommend Bonfire and can't wait to read what Kristen writes next.

Krysten Ritter is a woman of many talents! Her first foray into fiction is a fun thriller - a sexier, edgier Erin Brokovich, if not quite as satisfying. The main character is on a quest back to her hometown to point the finger at corporate water giant Optimal, who may or may not be poisoning the town's reservoir. The tangled subplots are in turns riveting, moving, and then terribly convoluted. The writing is good enough, and the story is at least entertaining, but the Ritter-esque heroine is often frustrating and unlikeable - completely unlike any Ritter-esque heroine before her! There are quite a few "black out drunk" moments, which felt like cop-outs and left unsatisfying holes in the narrative. I'd pick up another Ritter-penned manuscript, but I'll temper my expectations next time.

Gritty, complicated, messy, and suppressed describe both the main character and the atmosphere of this small town mystery with surprisingly inky depths. Our protagonist is the "strong female character" we all want to read - not perfect, not a Mary Sue, but smart, determined, a hot mess, and not always self-aware. She's an investigator who knows she should be impartial, but can't, because of festering relationships from high school. She's a woman who knows she should be suspicious, but isn't always enough, for the same reason. Her intuition is off the charts when it comes to figuring out if a murder ever really happened - and totally unreliable when it comes to how she spends her nights. I loved this book and didn't see the end coming, which is rare for me. I haven't written much about the content because I just want you to go read it. Enjoy the great writing, the complex plotting, and the woman you'll want to get to know further in future books.

Thanks to NetGallery and Crown Publishing for providing an advanced copy for an unbiased review.

I love Krysten Ritter in Breaking bad and Jessica Jones so naturally I was excited to read this book. Sadly I was a little disappointed. Right away reading the book I felt like it had a very generic story line. It was the same story about a girl who leaves her hometown and then something causes her to come back.Now has to face all the people and problems from her past. I’m not saying it was a bad story I did enjoy it, I was just expecting a little more.

For a debut novel, it was a solid effort and I look forward to any other novels she may write in the future. The writing style was simple yet compelling, it sucks you into the story. I would say it's more of a drama than a suspense. The villain of the story to me was pretty obvious, I had it pinned down almost upon meeting the character. So that took a lot of the mystery of out it, but the reason why I wouldn’t have guessed.

I recommend this novel to readers first getting into thrillers or just enjoy non frightening mysteries.

A quick and easy read that follows closely in the footsteps of writers I've enjoyed such as Megan Abbott and Megan Miranda, with their tight plotting and focus on the lives of teens in high school.

I chose this title because the central character is an environmental lawyer and I was interested in reading a thriller with more of an environmental theme. I don't want to give spoilers but I was disappointed that the writer changes horses halfway, such that the environmental investigation ends up being peripheral to the main story.

Although the setting was really well executed - a small town in Indiana that is dominated by one big corporate employer - I didn't enjoy reading about two generations of adolescents being brutal to each other, especially all the sleaze, be it online or in real life. The telling of it felt strangely banal and not even that precise - sometimes I was left unsure who had done what to whom, which does matter in a thriller.

I thought the main character had clearly had a tough life and done well for herself, but I never warmed to her and I found some of her actions flakey and inexplicable. I think I was drawn more to her nemesis Misha, who seemed a much more compelling character.

I can see this is getting lots of great reviews, but it wasn't the one for me.

I am grateful to NetGalley and Penguin Random House for the chance to read an advance copy of this work.

I want to know how it's even in the realm of fairness that Krysten Ritter gets to be both a terrific actress AND writer? "Bonfire" is a solid debut novel for Ritter, and just happens to fall into one of my favorite genres: psychological thrillers.

Abby peaced out of her little, rural Indiana town days after turning 18 and never looked back. After years of emotional and verbal bullying, she is determined to never return. Now a big shot lawyer for an environmental protection firm, Abby is sent back to Barrens after the townspeople complain of their water being contaminated by local big shot corporation, Optimal. As Abby and her team start investigating Optimal, she soon realizes that something deeper is happening in her sleepy hometown, something that connects to the mysterious disappearance of a former classmate, and her main tormentor, Kaycee.

This was such a fast read for me, and I mean that in an entirely good way. Ritter does a good job at moving the story along while introducing new twists and turns. For a slow, isolated setting, the pace of Bonfire is continually kept fast and interesting. The ending isn't necessarily mind-boggling or shocking, but it's satisfactory and the novel ends the same way.

Solid 3.5 - 4 stars for me.

Thank you Crown Publishing for letting me read.

Krysten Ritter's debut novel does not disappoint. It was one of the un-put-down-able books that kept me wanting to read more to find out what happened. Sometimes it seems novels by celebrities are just published because of their notoriety but Krysten Ritter has true talent. She's a great new voice in contemporary fiction and I can't wait to see what she comes out with next.

Yaaaasss! So many times, I pick up a book based on a blurb that does not completely pan out to be what I am expecting or hoping for. Not with this one. It was all that and a bag of chips. Taking teen agnst, adding ten years of young adult angst and stirring in a generous spoonful of corporate conspiracy makes quite a tasty brew. An absolute page-turner and simply a fun read to boot. Thumbs up.

I was super psyched to read this book. I love the author as an actress and finding out about this book was awesome. Unfortunately, it was a little too dark and gritty for me. It looks like a great plot, just not for me. Thanks for the opportunity though. I will not be posting a review as I didn't finish the entire book.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for this review copy in exchange for an honest review.

I read the majority of this in hospitals and waiting rooms in the midst of being ill. Do I have any regrets? Nope. I originally requested this because I've been a fan of Krysten's for ages and was excited and then I read the summary and whoo boy. It's not a perfect debut (there were some parts that seemed more destined for the small or big screen instead of a novel especially the end reveal) but the story and the way Ritter manages to capture imagery and feeling within the pages makes it easy to see in your mind and get lost in the mystery and the intrigue of the world she's created.

Very much looking forward to reading more from her.

The first time I remember seeing Krysten Ritter on screen was in a teen detective series called Veronica Mars. It recently had a movie update, in which Rotter featured prominently. That's probably why the whole time I was reading, I imagined it as a sequel to the movie. It was difficult to separate the story from the author.
The writing is solid, and the mystery only partially predictable. Overall, a good detective story.

Entertaining enough, but rather cliched in plot and character. Read as if a novelization of a screenplay, a type of story we've seen many, many times in films or TV.

It was very well written, but to descriptive. The storyline was a little to dark for me, but I'd read more from the author.

I wasn't sure what to expect when I read this book. She is an actress, after all. I confess I am a Jessica Jones/Jane (Breaking Bad) fan and I further confess I follow her on Instagram. She is strikingly lovely. She knits. She has a sorry looking dog named Mikey. And now I must add that she can write too.

Bonfire is a book about childhood trauma, environmental contamination, and a reminder of how horrible high school can be. I am not sure I particularly liked the main character, Abby Williams, and her self-destructive habits and the end was just okay for me but the pacing was fast and I didn't figure out who the "bad guy/gal" was until about a paragraph before it was revealed.

I look forward to the release of this book and will recommend my library buy it. And I will definitely read whatever Ritter writes next!

PS. Thanks to NetGalley for allowing me to read this!

As a fan of Krysten Ritter since Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23, and then Jessica Jones, I couldn't wait to read Bonfire, her debut novel. While I am not a fan of celebrity novels (and often won't give them a second thought) I was looking forward to Bonfire. It was a fast-paced, well-written novel with complex layers and intriguing characters. I thought this was moody and gritty, with a solid premise that she did exceptionally well.

Admirable first effort from Krysten Ritter. The writing was very good, but at points it felt as though she'd thrown too many plot points in the air and was struggling to keep everything afloat. She managed to tie most of them together in the end, but there were a few plot holes. Specifically, what happened with Abby waking up wearing Misha's shoes? Did Brent drug her the first time? Why? In fact, the whole Brent-Abby-Misha adult relationship was fairly confusing. The fast-pace of the plot helped leap past the shifty details, thin connections, and cliches. Ritter has promise; a stronger editor and time will help polish the rough edges.

I really enjoyed this book. I am a huge fan of Krysten Ritter, but I'm not a huge celebrity person. I don't read celeb memoirs, generally speaking, etc. I picked this up mostly based on curiosity and thought I would get through the first few chapters and shelve it. But honestly? It's REALLY good. There were a few plot lines that didn't feel entirely necessary, but I find that is completely standard for any debut author. I thought this was a well done, inventive mystery and would be good for older YA/crossover readers as well.

Having only heard of Ritter because of ‘Jessica Jones’, I was intrigued to pick up her book. I am so glad I took my gut instinct and went with it. Bonfire was wonderfully written with a captivating plot that kept me reading way past my bedtime.

Abby Williams thought she left Barrens, Indiana behind her. She thought she left her ‘friends’ merciless teasing, the lure of her high school crushes, the mysterious ‘Game’, and the disappearance of her ex-best friend, Kaycee, behind. But the past is back. Now that she works as an environmental lawyer in Chicago a case of contamination has brought her back to Barrens, investigating the company that has saved the town. However, Abby’s back for two reasons: not just to solve the question of the company’s pollution, but to uncover some answers about Kaycee’s disappearance and the connection between the two.

One of the things that impressed me the most, was how poignant Ritter’s turns of phrases are. There are so many word plays and quotes that stand out. I was furiously highlighting whole passages that were not only so well written, but also insightful. There is also a skill in misdirect, unreliable narration, and the danger of routine that Ritter explores with cleverness. They combine to produce a book that will stay with you even after you turn the last page.

The story reminded me a lot of ‘Erin Brokovich’ meets The Girl on the Train. It had the same environmental scale that I was familiar with from the film, but also a narrator that is deeply touched by the ‘mystery’ in the story. It had plenty of suspense that had a steady build up not only as more dirt was uncovered, but also as Abby became more and more involved. You won’t be missing action in this book, and the fast paced events keep the momentum – and captivating suspense – constant.

Abby is a fascinating character because she is complex. She makes mistakes, drinks too much, and is stubborn. Abby is driven by this fierce desire she has to come to terms with the past and her old home. In that way, her desire to put her ghosts to rest is very relatable. While the scale may be different, I think in many ways we all are haunted by the decisions of our youth, and the people who impacted it, both good and bad.

There are those who wronged us, bullied us, and hurt us – who just want to apologize and put their cruelty behind them. There are also those who we misunderstood – the ones who never managed to get onto our radar, but where important on the fringes. And there are those who had a hold on us – a hold that is difficult to escape even now, no matter how much more successful we are, or how far we’ve come. We are asked to question ourselves – is there the possibility for good and our mistakes to coexist? For us to change?

I could relate to Abby, not only because of her passion to uncover the truth, but also in her ability to be deeply human – flawed, self-destructive at times, but also motivated by the greater good. The past is full of ghosts which haunt us, reviving our traumatic memories and resurfacing it when we least expect it. They linger, echo over the water, until they resurface – ugly in the light of day – with vindication. Abby is on a journey. A journey to uncover the past, confront her home, and uncover the corruption that runs deeper and more sinister than she could possibly suspect.

I adored Krysten Ritter's Bonfire. It sucked me in from page one and I found myself devouring it in all my free moments. Definitely a perfect fall thriller.

Now, I hate it when actors write books. It's one of my pet peeves. But this is a good book y'all. Very suspenseful. Keeps you guessing until the very end. I had no idea what was going on (in a good way) even up to 90% completed. Perhaps I will rethink my negativity towards actors and their books.. Pick it up! :)