Hardcover / ISBN-13: 9781408722800

Price: £22

ON SALE: 25th March 2025

Genre: Crime & Mystery / Humour / Mexico / Suspense

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The Talented Mr Ripley meets How to Kill Your Family. Sharp, funny and has a twist you won’t see coming’ Eve Kellman

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.

‘Sexy, breakneck, full of surprises. A wild ride’ Mary Kubica

‘Written with enormous verve, this effervescent story featuring the resourceful – if amoral – Liz glitters like the diamond on her finger’ Daily Mail

‘Try not to drop it in the pool at the jaw-dropping twist’ Ellery Lloyd

‘A fiendish tale of trouble in paradise. Expertly paced, tightly plotted’ LA Times

‘This book was a great read. Who doesn’t love a well-written bad girl?’ ***** Reader Review

‘Razor-sharp’ Wendy Walker

‘This book was so much fun to read! One big twist and turn after another’ ***** Reader Review

‘A dynamite read’ Rachel Sargeant

‘A whirlwind. I read it over the course of a few hours’ ***** Reader Review

‘Seductive and satisfying’ Vikki Patis

Reviews

A phenomenal, haunting debut
GILLIAN FLYNN, author of GONE GIRL
A must-read for fans of the popular 'rich people behaving badly' subgenre of thrillers. Those who enjoyed The Last Flight by Julie Clark and Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty will enjoy Ritter's new novel
LIBRARY JOURNAL
A sleek, sun-drenched noir that sees identity to be as fluid as morality. This serpentine psychological thriller feels straight out of Hollywood's murkiest corners. It's the perfect pick for book clubs who love their drama stylish, seductive, and surreptitious
WOMEN.COM
The Talented Mr Ripley meets How to Kill Your Family; this is sharp, funny and has a twist you won't see coming
EVE KELLMAN, author of HOW TO KILL A GUY IN TEN WAYS
A suspenseful, psychologically gripping story
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY
Smart, sexy and wickedly fun: this is everything you want in a sun-drenched thriller. Ritter can really write - you'll race through Retreat in a day, rooting for its sparky anti-heroine (just try not to drop it in the pool at the jaw-dropping twist)
ELLERY LLOYD, author of THE CLUB
Razor-sharp and utterly shocking
WENDY WALKER, author WHAT REMAINS
Krysten Ritter made a name for herself by portraying some of the fiercest female characters in pop culture history. It should come as no surprise, then, that her debut novel carries that same level of strength and complexity on every single page
POPSUGAR
Packed with suspense and moves at a cracking pace
DAILY MAIL
Ritter has created an appealingly feisty yet vulnerable heroine . . . An excellent debut
THE TIMES
An expertly plotted page-turner
MARIE CLAIRE
PRAISE FOR RETREAT
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Dark, disturbing, and compulsively readable
RUTH WARE, author of ONE BY ONE
Bonfire is a stone-cold stunner - the writing is dazzling
BLAKE CROUCH, author of DARK MATTER
Multitalented Krysten Ritter is back with a sexy, breakneck thriller that immerses readers in the sometimes-glamorous and sometimes-deadly life of a con artist. Full of surprises and edge-of-your-seat scenes, Retreat is a wild ride
MARY KUBICA, author of SHE'S NOT SORRY
Sun-soaked and razor-sharp, Retreat serves up women's wrongs in a seductive, satisfying fashion
VIKKI PATIS, author of THE WAKE
A sultry, shocking and sizzling tale of duplicity and desperation - a dynamite read
RACHEL SARGEANT, author of THE PERFECT NEIGHBOURS
PRAISE FOR KRYSTEN RITTER
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Agile plotting . . . Gripping
BOOKLIST
Retreat begins by showing what smooth-operating scammer Liz is capable of. But as Ritter thickens her plot and ups the stakes, swapping con tricks for corpses, the book turns into a mystery, one that its antiheroine tries frantically to unravel . . . A fiendish tale of trouble in paradise . . . Expertly paced, tightly plotted
LA TIMES
Actress Ritter makes a triumphant fiction debut with this pulse-pounding thriller featuring a sympathetic, broken lead character . . . Pitch-perfect
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY (STARRED REVIEW)
Written with enormous verve, this effervescent story featuring the resourceful - if amoral - Liz glitters like the diamond on her finger
DAILY MAIL