Book Review: Bonfire

Author: Krysten Ritter

Publisher: Crown Archetype

Publication Date: November 7, 2017

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?

“Some of us are out of place even when we are home.” 

“The problem is that people think in black and white. They think they can have the good without the bad. But everything that's good for one person is probably bad for someone else. Life isn't like the Bible says it is. It isn't a choice between good and evil. It's about choosing which evils you can stand.” 

“Memories are like fire, and need only a little oxygen to grow.” 

“Any self-help book in the world will tell you that you can’t just run your past away.” 

After hearing much hype about this debut novel, I was more than thrilled to pick it up. I was pleasantly surprised with the mystery/thriller that Krysten Ritter provided and I think she is often being underestimated because she is an actress. The story was very intricate and took some careful planning. Ritter’s pacing is quick and right to the point, which is an absolute must have in a thriller for me. The main character is smart, but lacked some development and often times fell flat for me when reading. She had potential, but I wanted to see her fleshed out more as the protagonist. I was most intrigued by Kaycee Mitchell, the girl who disappeared before the story ever started. I wanted to know more about her background and was pleased when I finally began to understand her purpose in the story.

The conclusion was somewhat what I expected and then not at the same time. Abby, the main character, starts piecing together parts of the puzzle a little at a time and then it all hits her like a pitcher of ice cold water. I must say that I love when a story ends this way. Abby works on discovering the clues as the plot unfolds and is then brought to this startling conclusion, giving readers enough time to make educational guesses towards the mystery as well. The ending was suspenseful and did not disappoint. I was pleased with the ending and felt that all my questions were successfully answered. I am ready for what’s next from Kryster Ritter.

***A free copy of this book was provided to me by the publishers at Crown in exchange for my honest review***

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Book Review: City of Lies

Author: Victoria Thompson

Publication Date: November 7, 2017

Publisher: Berkley

Series: A Counterfeit Lady #1

An exciting new series featuring woman-on-the-run Elizabeth Miles—from the beloved national bestselling author of the Gaslight Mysteries.

Every woman plays a part—but some are more dangerous than others…

Like most women, Elizabeth Miles assumes many roles; unlike most, hers have made her a woman on the run. Living on the edge of society, Elizabeth uses her guile to relieve so-called respectable men of their ill-gotten gains. But brutal and greedy entrepreneur Oscar Thornton is out for blood. He’s lost a great deal of money and is not going to forgive a woman for outwitting him. With his thugs hot on her trail, Elizabeth seizes the moment to blend in with a group of women who have an agenda of their own.

She never expects to like or understand these privileged women, but she soon comes to respect their intentions, forming an unlikely bond with the wealthy matriarch of the group whose son, Gideon, is the rarest of species—an honest man in a dishonest world. Elizabeth knows she’s playing a risky game, and her deception could be revealed at any moment, possibly even by sharp-eyed Gideon. Nor has she been forgotten by Thornton, who’s biding his time, waiting to strike. Elizabeth must draw on her wits and every last ounce of courage she possesses to keep her new life from being cut short by this vicious shadow from her past.

She was helpless, with no one to save her but herself, and no strength to rely on except her wits. She allowed herself one moment of bitterness at the plight of females who were always at the mercy of unscrupulous men. Then she began to plan.

“And tomorrow everything will be better?” “Everything will be clearer at least.”

Tomorrow would be soon enough to start pretending affection in front of other people.

And the very worst part was all of that only made him want her more. 

After reading most of the Victoria Thompson’s “Murder” series, by this author, I was happy to hear that she was starting a new series using a slightly different time period but still focused in New York. This first third of the novel is extremely dark and often made me cringe with her depictions of life for some not so fortunate people in the 20’s. It was not an easy time for these women, and Elizabeth, our protagonist, is changed by her time spent with the suffragists as she embraces their cause. I think the book is being pitched as more of mystery, but I must say that this novel gets “thrillerish” in various parts. We all want to think of the 1920’s as a time of glitz and glam, but we often forget what women and other minorities had to endure as times were changing.

An unconventional heroine as the lead will draw me in every time. Elizabeth takes readers on a journey through the 1920’s and really allows for an in depth look into the lives of suffragists and all they were fighting for. This book was entertaining, fun, and somewhat cozy even if it had its dark moments. The main character is endearing and easy to support as a leading lady. If you love historical fiction that is based in historical fact that is suspenseful with unforgettable characters, this is will be a book for you to pick up and enjoy!

***A free copy of this book was provided to me by the publishers at Berkley in exchange for my honest review*** 

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Book Review: Future Home of the Living God

Author: Louise Erdrich

Publication Date: November 14, 2017

Publisher: Harper

Louise Erdrich, the New York Times bestselling, National Book Award-winning author of LaRose and The Round House, paints a startling portrait of a young woman fighting for her life and her unborn child against oppressive forces that manifest in the wake of a cataclysmic event.

The world as we know it is ending. Evolution has reversed itself, affecting every living creature on earth. Science cannot stop the world from running backwards, as woman after woman gives birth to infants that appear to be primitive species of humans.

Twenty-six-year-old Cedar Hawk Songmaker, adopted daughter of a pair of big-hearted, open-minded Minneapolis liberals, is as disturbed and uncertain as the rest of America around her. But for Cedar, this change is profound and deeply personal. She is four months pregnant.

Though she wants to tell the adoptive parents who raised her from infancy, Cedar first feels compelled to find her birth mother, Mary Potts, an Ojibwe living on the reservation, to understand both her and her baby’s origins. As Cedar goes back to her own biological beginnings, society around her begins to disintegrate, fueled by a swelling panic about the end of humanity.

There are rumors of martial law, of Congress confining pregnant women. Of a registry, and rewards for those who turn these wanted women in. Flickering through the chaos are signs of increasing repression: a shaken Cedar witnesses a family wrenched apart when police violently drag a mother from her husband and child in a parking lot. The streets of her neighborhood have been renamed with Bible verses. A stranger answers the phone when she calls her adoptive parents, who have vanished without a trace. It will take all Cedar has to avoid the prying eyes of potential informants and keep her baby safe.

A chilling dystopian novel both provocative and prescient, Future Home of the Living God is a startlingly original work from one of our most acclaimed writers: a moving meditation on female agency, self-determination, biology, and natural rights that speaks to the troubling changes of our time.

 “The first thing that happens at the end of the world is that we don’t know what is happening.” 

“Don’t know why it is given to us to be so mortal and to feel so much. It is a cruel trick, and glorious.” 

“Exactly right—folded quietly and knitted in right along with the working DNA there is a shadow self. This won’t surprise poets. We carry our own genetic doubles, at least in part.”

Louise Erdrich’s new book is obviously compared to Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale because of the dystopian development in the United States that leads to a government that has taken complete control of women's lives, defining them as childbearers and regulating their pregnancies and the fates of their children. However, to me, The Future Home of the Living Goddid not measure up to Margaret Atwood. I read a lot of Erdrich in college and I must say that I feel this book was lacking a lot of her usual lyrical writing style and quality. There were several holes in the plot and some of the characters lacked depth and development. I loved the concept of the story, but kept comparing it to Atwood’s dystopian novel, and they just did not match up.

What kept me intrigued and drew me in the most while reading was Cedar’s character and her daily journal entries to her unborn baby. They were mystifying at times and really put life into perspective for me. Cedar is seeking her own biological parents throughout the novel; I wish all of the characters were as fleshed out as Cedar. Her journey and struggle with identity is incredible and really builds a great theme for the novel as a whole. Not only do I wish that the rest of the characters held more detail, I also wish that Erdrich would have spent more time on the development of this dystopian world. I felt that not enough time was spent here, but Cedar and her unborn child are definitely enough to give this book a try if you are a lover of dystopian fiction.

***A free copy of this book was provided to me by the publishers at Harper in exchange for my honest review*** 

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