[Book Review] Bonfire by Krysten Ritter

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?

3.5 STARS 

This was a really fun read! I love Krysten Ritter as an actress so when I discovered she was writing a book I was really excited to read it. I had planned on borrowing it from the library but a friend ended up sending it to me because she wasn't a fan. I am happy I ended up enjoying it! 

I don't read many mystery/thrillers. The only times I really do is when one has become extremely popular and everyone seems to be raving about it (Gone Girl, Dark Places, Girl on the Train, etc). Bonfire wasn't as, for a lack of a better term, flashy as the ones I just mentioned. It was a simple mystery story that I had fun reading. I was genuinely interested in the answers to the questions that are brought up throughout the story and it kept me reading. It's a fairly short book at about 270 pages and I read the book in about a day.

Like I said earlier, I don't read many books in this genre. But when I do I never feel much connection or attachment to the characters. That was kind of the case for this book besides the main character, Abby. I enjoyed Abby's character because I thought she was a believable character and I was empathetic to her situation all the way through the story. She had moments of vulnerability and during her visit of her hometown she tried her best to keep herself distanced from her high school bullies but she didn't have much of a choice. I don't have much of an opinion about the other characters. I found the love interest to be a bit boring but I enjoyed Abby enough that I didn't care too much. I couldn't help but picture Krysten Ritter playing Abby, which definitely helped me enjoy her character even more.

The plot was a lot of fun. I thought the mystery was enough to get me addicted and not being able to put the book down for long. I think if I was actively trying to figure out the mystery before the book revealed the answer I may have figured it out. However, I kind of allowed myself to just get swept up in the story and enjoy all the revelations and exciting plot. So I honestly was surprised as everything was unfolding and I got really into it when the action started to step up in the last chunk of the story. 

The writing was very straight forward. Which I didn't mind as much as I thought I would because I think it worked with the genre. I would have liked a bit more descriptions and setting so I could paint a full picture in my head. Although I couldn't fully picture the entire scene as I read them I don't think it affected the story itself. I still got the general idea with the narration and dialogue. I think Krysten Ritter writes similarly to the way she speaks which worked well for me since I enjoy the way she narrates and speaks. There are some cliché writing phrases, the biggest being "I let out a breathe I didn't know I was holding" cliché. There are a few separate times a variation of this phrase is used, which is a bit annoying because this phrase so overdone and has become almost a joke in the book/reader community. I think although the dialogue had a lot of funny moments and the narration was overall pretty good, the weakest link was the writing. Ritter is a great storyteller but I wasn't as impressed with the writing.

Overall I really enjoyed this story. It got me hooked into the mystery of the story and I didn't want to put it down until I figured out the answers. I was rooting for our main character and I felt for her as she went through pretty intense situations. I recommend this book to anyone who is a Krysten Ritter fan or if you're just in the mood for a fun mystery story. 

Thanks for reading!