Bonfire A novel

Review by Booklist Review

Environmental attorney Abby Williams returns to her hometown of Barrens, Indiana, to investigate allegations that the area's biggest employer, Optimal Plastics, is polluting the town's reservoir. Once she's home, it's clear that Abby hasn't yet moved past her painful childhood. The investigation resurrects memories of Abby's complicated friendship with Kaycee Mitchell, Barrens' most popular mean girl. During their senior year of high school, Kaycee and her inner circle suffered from violent, unexplained seizures until Kaycee admitted the illness was an attention-seeking farce and then promptly disappeared. Rejecting the story that Kaycee ran away, Abby is convinced that her disappearance is connected to the seizures, Optimal's secrets, and a cruel game created by Barrens' in-crowd. Barrens is shadowed with a threatening atmosphere bred from decades of unchecked power and predation, and Abby's growing paranoia draws the narrative toward an explosive climax. Ritter, lead actress on television's Jessica Jones, is likely to attract readers with her name, but this strong, gritty debut is good enough to create its own fan following.--Tran, Christine Copyright 2017 Booklist

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.

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Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

Actress Ritter's first novel is a smartly crafted thriller in which dedicated environmental lawyer Abby Williams travels from Chicago to her hometown of Barrens, Ind., as part of a team investigating the environmental harm of Optimal Plastics, the town's main employer. Abby is searching for evidence of Optimal's unhealthy practices and answers to questions from her past, primarily what happened to her best frenemy from high school, Kaycee Mitchell, who went missing just after graduation a decade ago. Reader Vacker's rendition of a strong-willed but otherwise-fragile young woman trying to do her job while struggling with memories from a painful past is convincing. Just as impressive is her handling of other characters past and present, including snarky mean girls from Abby's high school days, the sullen present-day townsfolk, and her once cold and impersonal father now in the throes of Alzheimer disease. Vacker is especially effective in the novel's most dramatic and suspenseful chapter, when Abby faces what seems like certain death at the hands of a killer. The result is a stirring audiobook. A Crown Archetype hardcover. (Nov.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

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Review by Library Journal Review

Chicago-based environmental lawyer Abby Williams returns to her Indiana hometown to investigate whether toxic waste is poisoning the reservoir. The visit churns up adolescent angst, including the mysterious dis-appearance of an ailing high school "-frenemy." Abby's adult and teenage selves begin to mingle, occasionally superimposing YA ambiance with the adult story line. This debut novel from actress Ritter features a plot that crumbles under scrutiny, crafted with prose so pedestrian it makes the occasional artful turn of phrase notable. Karissa Vacker, believably embodies male and female characters in this forgettable mystery/romance. VERDICT Purchase only where demand warrants.-Judith Robinson, Univ. at Buffalo © Copyright 2018. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

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Review by Kirkus Book Review

A young environmental lawyer returns to her small Indiana hometown to investigate pollution by a regional plastics giantbut settling old scores and healing old wounds weigh heavily on her mind.Abby Williams left the aptly named Barrens, Indiana, for Chicago as soon as she turned 18 and never looked back, trading the equivalent of a one-horse town that prizes football and rifles for a sleek apartment and a nameless parade of men she doesn't have to love. Now an attorney with the Center for Environmental Advocacy Work, she's headed back to the last place she ever wanted to go, but this time with a mission: take down Optimal Plastics, the corporate giant that's allegedly polluting the town's water supply. Along with an eager team of millennials, Abby returns to Barrens to find it both unchanged and almost unrecognizable: the high school girls who used to torment her have grown up and one is even the school's vice principal, but the town's allegiance to Optimal is still strong. In Abby's day, there was a spate of unexplained illnesses, led by Abby's former best friend, and later biggest foe, Kaycee Mitchell, who displayed bizarre signs akin to either mass hysteria or perhaps environmental poisoning. When Kaycee ran away after high school, the other girls confessed it was a hoax. Now Abby's not so sure, as she digs deeper into Optimal's deep ties to the town, some benign and some much more malignant, all while wrestling with her own, somewhat predictable, demons that Ritter (best known for her television role on Netflix's Jessica Jones) tries admirably to spice up. A fast-paced thriller that doesn't reinvent the wheel but introduces a tough female lead who's easy to root for. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

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PROLOGUE   MY LAST YEAR OF HIGH SCHOOL, when Kaycee Mitchell and her friends got sick, my father had a bunch of theories. "Those girls are bad news," he said. "Nothing but trouble." He took it as a matter of faith that they were being punished. To him, they deserved what they got. Kaycee was the first. This made sense. She was the first to do everything: lose her virginity, try a cigarette, throw a party. Kaycee walked in front of her friends, like an alpha wolf leading the pack. In the cafeteria, she decided where to sit and the others followed; if she ate her lunch, the rest did too; if she pushed her food around on her tray or just ate a bag of Swedish Fish, her friends did the same. Misha was the meanest and the loudest one. But Kaycee was the leader. So when she got sick, we, the senior girls of Barrens High, weren't horrified or disturbed or worried. We were jealous. We all hoped secretly that we'd be next. That first time it happened was in fourth period debate. Everyone had to participate in mock elections. Kaycee made her way through three rounds of primary elections. 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. She was standing at the front of the room delivering a practiced stump speech when suddenly it was as though the tether connecting her voice to her throat was cut. Her mouth kept moving, but all the volume had been turned off. No words came out. For a few seconds, I thought there was something wrong with me. Then her hands seized on the podium and her jaw froze, just locked open, as if she was stuck, silently screaming. I was sitting in the first row--no one else ever wanted those seats, so they were mine to take--and she was only a few feet away from me. I'll never forget how her eyes looked: like they'd transformed suddenly into tunnels. Derrick Ellis shouted something, but Kaycee ignored him. I could see her tongue behind her teeth, see a wad of white gum standing there. Some people laughed--they must have thought it was a joke--but I didn't. I'd been friends with Kaycee, best friends, back when we were young. It was only the second time in my life I'd ever seen her look afraid. Her hands began to shake, and that's when all the laughter stopped, and everyone went quiet. For a long time, there was no sound in the room but her hands knocking against the podium, a silver ring she always wore clacking its desperate rhythm. Then the shaking traveled up her arms and she rolled her eyes back and fell, crashing the podium down with her. I remember being on my feet. I remember people shouting. I re- member Mrs. Cunningham on her knees, lifting Kaycee's head, and someone screaming about keeping her tongue from being swallowed. Someone ran for the nurse. Someone else was crying; I don't remember who, just the sound of it, a desperate whimpering. Weirdly, the only thing I could think to do was pick up her notes, which had fallen, and reshuffle them in order, making sure the corners aligned. Then, all of a sudden, it passed. The spasm apparently left her body, like an ebbing tide. Her eyes opened. She blinked and sat up, looking vaguely confused, but not displeased, to find us all gathered around her. By the time the nurse came, she seemed normal again. She insisted it was just a weak spell, because she hadn't eaten. The nurse led Kaycee out of the classroom, and the whole time she was glancing back at us over her shoulder as if to be sure we were all watching her go. And we were--of course we were. She was the kind of person you couldn't help but watch. We all forgot about it. Or pretended to. Then, three days later, it happened again. Excerpted from Bonfire by Krysten Ritter All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.

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