I love a good detective story and John Ritter really delivered on this one. Ritter writes THE quintessential crime thriller with “Fatal Conceit”. I loved the writing...which paired genre grit and humor with a polished, emotive literary quality that you don’t often see in detective novels.
Ritter’s writing really knocked me. I didn't know what to expect from him, and he really pulled me up on his bandwagon with his street-wise, highly literate style infused with working class indignation.
Beaupre is a character you just can’t help but immediately fall in love with! Ritter’s timing is absolutely impeccable – he balances the most serious situations with quick humor to soften the blow before the darkness reaches a point of no return. He is also smart enough to write a novel of just the right length. I never found myself zoning out or wandering off while reading – the pace was spot on and the editing superb.
In short, I had an absolute blast reading this book. Ritter kept the pacing brisk and the story front and center, but also managed to decorate the narrative with honest, insightful observations about the nature of good and evil. If you are a lover of the crime thriller series, Fatal Conceit should not be skipped!!
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“LEAVES YOU FRANTICALLY TURNING THE PAGES”
Blue Book Reviews
Compulsive and compelling, Fatal Conceit is a high-caliber thriller.
Tightly woven, suspenseful plot packed with twists keeps the reader absorbed right up to the end. Ingeniously infused subplots make it a well-rounded story.
In a promising debut, deeply rooted and gritty characters trail you down the dark world of crime at a brisk pace. The author's crisp and witty prose is a fresh voice in mystery and crime genre. An edge-of-the-seat read.
Ritter skillfully builds up the suspense and leaves you frantically turning the pages. Grab a copy now to unravel a crackling mystery. Highly recommended to readers of crime fiction, mystery, suspense, and thrillers. Looking forward to future works of John Ritter.
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“A NUANCED AND ENGAGING PLOT, FASCINATING CAST OF CHARACTERS”
J.K. Keown, Night Terror Novels
In this book, ex-San Francisco police and current private detective Beaupre is tasked by a woman named Triste Baer with investigating a double homicide. The parties involved are a man she (supposedly) cared for named Van Trebeloff, and the woman he was sleeping with at the time of his execution, Valentine Lopes. Beaupre's investigation sees him jet-setting to several locations across the globe as the mystery expands into an elaborate and involved plot of a much larger scale. For much of the book’s length, he stumbles from incident to incident, equally as in the dark about the true nature of the events as the reader. From that setup, the author weaves a neat and conspiratorial tale, one in which allies are few and danger lurks around every corner.
I really enjoyed protagonist Beaupre’s character a great deal. The whole wise-cracking private eye isn’t a wholly original basis for a character, but man, does Ritter write and expand upon that archetype well. However, that’s not to say that the lovable hero is a walking caricature – far from it. Beneath the quick-talking exterior, there was a surprising amount of depth to his character, to his relationships both personal and professional, and to his backstory and history. His narration and dialogue was brilliantly witty, and really added to the appeal of the book – genuinely one of the most fun and engaging protagonists I’ve read in a long time.
The other characters that Beaupre meets and associates with are equally as enthralling. I really got the sense that very few characters he were dealing with could actually be trusted, and as the central crime flowered into something much more expansive, this feeling was driven home ever stronger. All three of Beaupre’s closest allies, lawyer Meredith, detective Wardell, and skilled hacker Slats are very well-written too. The various players involved in the plot’s darker elements are often suitably menacing, but highly believable too – their cutthroat approach to business is something we see all too often in reality.
As for the story itself, I thought it was excellent. In typical crime/mystery fashion, what starts out as a ‘simple’ case of solving a crime unravels into a much larger and darker conspiracy. The narrative is wide in scope, hopping from America to Mexico to Thailand and then back again, and is paced perfectly. As Beaupre uncovers more connections and clues, the body count begins to rise, and the tension ratchets up accordingly. There is also a significant sub-plot involving a white nationalist named Zaunbrecher – his son was assaulting a black person, and Beaupre acted on instinct, but his attack in retaliation left the man in a coma. It was really fascinating to see how these two largely unrelated story-lines crossed over and corrupted the other.
Oftentimes, it can be quite difficult to stick the landing with a thriller of such grandiose design, but I felt that Ritter manages to do so brilliantly here. I was a little worried that some of the subplots may not be satisfactorily resolved, but actually, everything ties up. Some motivations remain unclear until the very end (something that seems to weigh heavily on Beaupre’s conscience too) but this fits into the narrative and is directly tied to their fates.
As mentioned earlier, Ritter’s style of writing does take some getting into, in my opinion, but it is well worth riding that flow. It grew on me the more I read, and in the end, I loved it. This book is extremely well-written, and every scene is very easy to visualize. For a debut publication, this is a searingly strong and well written crime-thriller. Once I got into the rhythm of Ritter’s writing, I was hooked until the very end; I just had to find out how the plot would be resolved. A superb, compelling read from start to finish. Definitely something I’d suggest checking out for yourself.
A nuanced and engaging plot, fascinating cast of characters, and an endlessly sarcastic, impossible-to-hate protagonist, make this an extremely highly recommended read in my eyes. All in all, this is a thrillingly good debut, and although this is outside the sphere of genres I usually read in, I’ll be keeping an eye out for Ritter’s future projects for certain.
It’s a well-deserved 4 1/2 stars out of 5 from this reviewer.
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“INCREDIBLY SATISFYING…FILLED WITH CONSTANT ACTION”
Samantha Zeager, @bookreststop
Have you ever wanted to be in the mind of a private investigator? That’s exactly what this book delivered. The language is a little jarring at first, but you start to get used to the slang that is used after about 50 pages.
This takes place mostly in the Bay Area of California so I knew a lot of the places mentioned which made it feel so real. I ended up really rooting for Beaupre and wanting him to solve this wild goose chase of a case. He is hired to find a murderer but it expands into a much larger hunt.
There’s a side plot with a girl named Stardust which ended up being truly wholesome. I would love a novella on her life and experiences.
The ending wrapped up nicely and was incredibly satisfying. The pacing was great, filled with constant action. The conversations between characters was captivating. Meredith is a fantastic character who really grounds Beaupre and keeps him human.
The guilt, depression, and anxiety the main character had to deal with all while solving a case was so interesting. Stories don’t always humanize investigators so it was great insight into what they go through and mentally endure.
This is not my typical genre, but I ended up loving the story and the characters.
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“A TWISTING, RIVETING STORYLINE…ABSOLUTE BEST OF THE GENRE”
Jason Buchholz, author of A Paper Son
Fatal Conceit delivers the absolute best of the genre—suspense, engrossing and complex characters, sharp dialogue, wit, and a twisting, riveting storyline.
Beyond those factors, though, Ritter's novel becomes a standout because of its intelligence and sophistication, which appear on the page as a moral complexity and a humanity not often found in crime fiction. Very much hoping to see more of Beaupre!
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“A COMPLEX THRILLER”
Bethany Martin’s Reviews
Fatal Conceit is a complex thriller, but well worth the effort. Ritter's writing style is intriguing, a fast-paced, almost free-written first person narrative that takes some time to get used to but ends up suiting the genre excellently.
Our main character, grizzled ex-detective Beaupre, initially appears closed off and unapproachable even with the first person narration. As the relationship between the reader and narrator develops, more of Beaupre is revealed, namely his determination, intuition, and heart of gold. These attributes become astoundingly clear in his interactions with Meredith and Stardust.
Stardust was by far my favorite character. Ritter nailed her voice and mannerisms. Her role in the final act was incredible.
The plot has a lot of moving parts and can be hard to follow at times. Part of this is the narrative style and part is the sheer size of the plot. Some of the final conclusions seemed to come out of nowhere and I would've appreciated a little more foreshadowing or some hints. However, the final chapters had me utterly hooked.
