Bonfire by Krysten Ritter
Genre: Thriller/Mystery
Page Length: 276 pages
Format: ARC (received at BookCon)
Publisher: Crown Archetype
Publication Date: November 7, 2017
About Bonfire (via Goodreads):
Should you ever go back?
It has been ten years since Abby Williams left home and scrubbed away all visible evidence of her small town roots. Now working as an environmental lawyer in Chicago, she has a thriving career, a modern apartment, and her pick of meaningless one-night stands.
But when a new case takes her back home to Barrens, Indiana, the life Abby painstakingly created begins to crack. Tasked with investigating Optimal Plastics, the town's most high-profile company and economic heart, Abby begins to find strange connections to Barrens’ biggest scandal from more than a decade ago involving the popular Kaycee Mitchell and her closest friends—just before Kaycee disappeared for good.
Abby knows the key to solving any case lies in the weak spots, the unanswered questions. But as Abby tries to find out what really happened to Kaycee, she unearths an even more disturbing secret—a ritual called “The Game,” which will threaten the reputations, and lives, of the community and risk exposing a darkness that may consume her.
With tantalizing twists, slow-burning suspense, and a remote, rural town of just five claustrophobic miles, Bonfire is a dark exploration of the question: can you ever outrun your past?
My only feelings going into this book were EXCITEMENT. I absolutely adore Krysten Ritter, and judging by my wardrobe and varying options of Jessica Jones cosplay outfits I was slowly becoming more like the Defender she plays on Netflix every day. While most celebrity books can be a hit or miss, I also knew that this pure, precious cinnamon roll was also incredibly talented. Her Bookcon panel gave a lot of interesting insight into her career and writing process (She sought out help from Lauren Oliver to get into the publishing business, she wanted to originally write a YA novel, TV is a very slow business), shutting out any worry and pessimism I possibly had going into the novel.
Bonfire is not only a great novel, but a true showing of Krysten Ritter’s talents. Her novel is atmospheric, fast-paced, and takes no time at all to start planting seeds and clues of a mystery that yearns to be solved. Every detail of the novel lingered in my mind long after I put the book down, and I couldn’t wait to pick it back up again and step into a dark and exciting world, mystery, and mind of a heroine that I had grown to love.
I was really surprised by how much Bonfire hit some of my personal nerves. While Bonfire mostly raises questions about environmental care, its tagline - and much of Abby’s personal journey dares to question, “Can you ever outrun your past?” While I got along with people in my hometown and had many close friends, I didn’t fit in and I was longing for a fresh start. The person I became in college is a lot different from the person I was in high school, and I had wanted nothing more than to put my past behind me. Abby’s exploration of her old ties within Barrens, Indiana not only helps to answer that question but also seeks to promote a kind of acceptance through its dark narrative that I had finally realized with open arms. Abby’s emotional arc felt incredibly raw and realistic, complete with a legal drama as the perfect haunting backdrop to her emotional journey.
Abby felt all too familiar while establishing herself as a new heroine at the same time. Her personality had a lot of interesting layers of emotion and intense hesitation towards her old hometown, nearly verging on paranoia. Her thoughts felt unfiltered and organic and her interactions with her small amount of friends felt honest and meaningful because of her personality. The other characters of Barrens, Indiana were equally well-constructed, from her ghost of a father, who nearly stole every scene he had with her because of his wacky, deteriorating personality to her former bully Misha Dale, who gives us our first look of Barrens and acts as a little bit of a foil to Abby’s character.
Also I had a really hard time not imagining Abby as similar to Krysten Ritter in my mind when I was reading this novel.
Ritter weaves in elements of mystery and suspense that are reminiscent of a classic detective story through constructing the nearly deserted town of Barrens, Indiana and its cast of characters. In addition, I couldn’t help but see some noir vibes similar to those in Jessica Jones, through its guarded yet empathetic narrator to its layers and layers of thrills and intrigue, making it especially perfect for Krysten Ritter fans. Her writing style is graceful and beautiful, and at times it felt like she was narrating a voiceover while I read the novel and setting up a perfect Jessica-like environment.
My biggest complaint revolves around the legal and government jargon that sometimes is dropped in the book without further elaboration, such as the handful of department abbreviations that drop around while Abby works with her law team. I wasn’t sure if I had missed something from before or if I had just completely forgotten about it. Additionally, while some of the chapters seem oddly placed, their appearance in the story helps to create the disruptive environment that Abby has dragged herself back into, adding to the thrill and stakes of the conflict.
I’m thrilled to say that Bonfire completely exceeded my expectations, and Krysten Ritter has created a classic, thrilling mystery with a surprisingly hefty emotional punch that further showcases her wide arrange of talents.
MY RATING: 4.5 STARS
