Book Review: Bonfire by Krysten Ritter

Bonfire by Krysten Ritter

Blurb:

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 Review:

Ten years ago four of the most popular girls at Barrens High became sick with a mysterious illness. Or so everyone thought. Later the girls would say it was all a hoax, all except Kaycee Mitchell who disappeared from town never to be seen again.

That occurrence has stayed with Abby Williams long after she left Barrens, Indiana behind in her rearview mirror. She'll never forget the look on Kaycee's face, never quite be able to believe that Kaycee was faking it, and there are just too many unanswered questions surrounding the sickness and Kaycee's disappearance for Abby's liking. She's tried tracking Kaycee down online here and there over the years with no success. 

Now, ten years later Abby is back in Barrens, Indiana after a report of a farmer's crops gone bad from water in the reservoir pointing the finger at Optimal Plastics, the town's biggest employer reaches her at the CEAW (Center for Environment Advocacy Work) where she works as an Environmental Lawyer. 

Abby's only back to investigate Optimal, but as her past catches up with her what she finds is so much darker than she could have anticipated. This is more than a case of water contamination, this could be the key to finding out what happened to Kaycee all those years ago. But someone will stop at nothing to keep Abby for learning the truth.

Bonfire pleasantly surprised me. It wasn't exactly what I was expecting plot wise  but it reminded me vaguely of White Hot by Sandra Brown. The writing actually blew me away in this book. 

I took some time away while reading this book (I had books with deadlines to read) but I picked this book right back up without losing any of the details and the story got more interesting the further I read. Abby was an interesting character, although her constant hand washing troubled me. Was she supposed to be OCD or did it have to do with what was going on with the water?

As for the story, I was constantly questioning whether the Optimal case Abby was sent to look into was actually connected with the sickness and Kaycee's disappearance ten years earlier or not. I felt like I jumped down the conspiracy theory rabbit hole right alongside Abby as new twisted layers of Barrens began to be revealed. Even the part with Abby's father - I was waiting for it to be revealed that he was killed to send a message to Abby to back off. 

Overall, I loved this book more than I thought I would. Krysten Ritter's debut is right up there with Nora Roberts, Sandra Brown, and Lisa Jackson in my opinion (and that's honestly high praise). I hope to read more by her in the future. My only wish for this book was that things would have ended up differently for Condor and Abby. I could have seen them together. 

My Rating:

🌟🌟🌟🌟

4.25 of 5 Stars!