Review: Bonfire

Bonfire by Krysten Ritter
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I received an Advance Reader Copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

So let's get the obvious out of the way. Anyone who knows Krysten Ritter's work as an actor knows that she's a compelling performer (Marvel's Jessica Jones, Breaking Bad). As it turns out, Ritter has considerable skill as a writer, as well. This is definitely not a vanity publication such as one might see with many other performers of various genres. So just get that one right out of your head, if you were wondering.

Set in the fictional small town of Barrens (such an apt name), Indiana, Bonfire is a suspense novel that initially seems to have an Erin Brockovich feel but takes a sharp left turn into a mystery. Abby Williams, a local woman who left Barrens at eighteen and who has become a lawyer, has returned to her hometown to investigate reported environmental contamination by the corporation which practically owns the town and its residents, Optimal Plastics. Abby is haunted by memories of her frenemy Kaycee, a young woman who seems to have run away from Barrens after being caught in a web of deceit. In a town where everything seems to be built on a platform of lies and graft, Abby encounters peers from her past and comes to terms with her aging father's health. The element of claustrophobia from the small town atmosphere is palpable. The foibles of Ritter's characters are so well written and the passages dealing with Abby and her father are very poignant ones. The ways we process, sometimes incorrectly, our blurred memories of the past were so well-drawn. As the mysteries of what is going on with Optimal Plastics and Kaycee deepen and eventually intersect, the reader gets drawn into a classic "can't put it down" story. While you may suspect some facts of that story early on, the whys and hows play out in surprising ways.

While I found some aspects of the plot to be rather hazy in rationale toward the end of the book, on the strength of her character development, this is a strong debut novel. I look forward to Ritter's next novel.



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