Publisher: Sphere (Trade Paperback – 25 March 2025)

Series: Standalone

Length: 265 pages

My Rating: 4.25 out of 5 stars

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In the mood for a highly entertaining thriller from a famous face entering the thriller fiction scene?  Then look no further than the excellent and compelling novel Retreat by actress Krysten Ritter, cowritten with the assistance of editor Lindsay Jamieson.

Plot Synopsis:

Even for a con artist, Liz is about to take things way, way too far . . .

Liz has always had a knack for charming people and gaining their trust. That’s what makes her such a talented con artist. But lately the pressure’s rising – Liz’s past crimes have started snapping at her heels. So she leaps at the chance to escape to the Mexican coast to decorate a socialite’s new villa, planning to lie low, enjoy paradise, and behave herself for once.

When Liz is mistaken for her absent employer, Isabelle, she can’t help getting drawn into this glamorous seafront community. But dangerous secrets lurk beneath the surface, and it’s not long before Liz realises that this time, she might be in over her head . . .

Spoiler: it’s going to be carnage.

Retreat was a fun novel that I ended reading thanks to the interesting combination of Ritter as author, as well as the above entertaining synopsis.  Serving as Ritter’s second novel after her 2017 debut, Bonfire, Retreat was a clever and highly compelling thriller that I ended up having a great time reading, especially as I coincidentally got through it while also embarking on an exciting international trip.

The plot of Retreat has an excellent start as it introduces the reader to the protagonist, Liz, a struggling con artist in New York who finds the city very unwelcoming to her after one con too many.  Offered a legitimate decorating job, Liz travels Punta Mita on the Mexican coast and discovers a society of rich socialites and businesspeople living in fancy beachside villas.  Noticing her similarity to her new employer, Isabelle Beresford, Liz has fun pretending to be Isabelle, using the socialite’s status to enjoy the exclusive clubs and facilities of the luxurious community.  However, her seemingly harmless scheme hits some real trouble when she comes across the bodies of Isabelle and her husband, who apparently died while on a hike.  Despite her misgivings, Liz eventually decides to hide the bodies and take on Isabelle’s persona full time, becoming addicted to the rich lifestyle of Punta Mita.  However, trouble is on the horizon as secrets from both Liz and Isabelle’s past comes back to haunt her, while the schemes and backstabbing politics of the uber-rich social scene threaten to overwhelm her.  Worse, when new bodies start to drop, Liz begins to realise that her employers might have been murdered, and a dangerous killer is now stalking her.

I really enjoyed how this cool story unfolded, and Liz proves to be a fascinating central character to follow, while Ritter also excels at portraying the vibrant coastline and elite luxury of the Mexican villas.  The con artist nature of the protagonist pairs well with the dark secrets of the elite social circles she finds herself in, while the lies, schemes and affairs she encounters, add some fantastic and scandalous spice to this great thriller narrative.  Ritter also throws in a great deal of desperation for the protagonist, as she attempts to keep her many stories straight and maintain the Isabelle Beresford persona.  However, this becomes more difficult the further into Retreat we get, as Ritter throws in more wrinkles and problematic new characters, each of whom threatens the protagonist in different ways.

All this clever storytelling leads up to the thrilling and captivating final third of the novel, which is loaded with cool twists and shocking reveals, especially as Liz learns more about the person she’s impersonating.  After an ill-advised relationship leads to even more trouble, Liz enters a series of deadly confrontations when both her freedom and her life are threatened.  After an intense sequence where romance turns to murder, Ritter drops the book’s big bomb, with a great reveal that changes everything you thought you knew about the plot.  While I saw parts of this twist coming, the full extent of it was surprising, and I loved how dramatically Ritter swerves both the reader and her protagonist.  This great twist is followed up by a really cool alternate perspective chapter that reveals everything and brings the reader to the big conclusion of the story.  Ritter has fun leaving the ending on an ambiguous end, which honestly is the perfect follow-up for such a fantastic twist, which also ensures Retreat sticks in your mind as you wonder about the full implications of the last two chapters.  I honestly really loved how this entire novel came together, and Ritter did an exceptional job turning a cool thriller with great characters and a dive into modern high society, into something extremely twisted and special.

With some excellent writing and a very clever story, Krysten Ritter successfully presents her compelling second novel, Retreat.  A highly exciting read loaded with surprises and shocks, Retreat had me hooked very early on, and I really enjoyed how the entire plot came together.  An overall very impressive read, and one that makes me curious to see what Ritter writes next.

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