Krysten Ritter on writing psychological thrillers, ‘bad’ characters

Krysten Ritter remembers the moment the idea for her new book came to her. She was vacationing with a good friend at a beach resort in Mexico about 13 years ago, enjoying some long-deferred “me time,” when a man on a bike approached her. He was looking for his partner, who had rented a bike earlier in the day. She was gone. Vanished. The man gave Ritter and her friend a physical description: Did they happen to see anyone who matched the profile?

“I was thinking, ‘Oh, my God, this guy is planting an alibi,’” says Ritter from her L.A. home. “Like this is some crazy s— happening; this guy might have murdered his partner, some story is developing.” Ritter continued her vacation but mentally filed away the incident in her “fat folder” of ideas when she returned. Back in L.A., life continued as usual. Ritter resumed her day job as an actor, taking on her biggest role to date: the titular ex-superhero in the Marvel series “Jessica Jones.”

Ritter did eventually sit down to write a novel, based on an entirely different idea: 2017’s psychological thriller “Bonfire.” Six years later, Ritter’s muse finally latched onto that wisp of a notion and it is now a full-blown “hall of distorted mirrors” thriller called “Retreat.” The con artist in Ritter’s novel is a young woman with a murky past and visions of absconded riches who is ensnared in an elaborate swindle that recalls David Mamet at his most labyrinthine. Ritter’s novel, which she co-wrote with Lindsay Jamieson, is all clever misdirection and twisty sleight of hand, as identities dissolve and mutate, and the big score is an elusive mirage.

Ritter first came to writing as an ambitious young actor trying to generate story ideas for herself. She sold a screenplay 20 years ago and had been toying with the idea of writing fiction for a number of years before the idea for her first novel came to her. “I’m resourceful, I’m a go-getter,” says Ritter. “When something compels me, whether it’s a new acting role or an idea for a book or a screenplay, I dive in. I’m not afraid to hear no, and I hear it all the time.”

As a crime fiction fan, Ritter has a sweet tooth for the unsolved and seemingly unsolvable mystery, perpetrated by a criminal who is also a shape-shifter of sorts. Liz Dawson, “Retreat’s” crafty con artist, switches identities to stay ahead of her misdeeds like a wolf covering its tracks. The player gets played only when Dawson is challenged by a trickster even more devious than her. Dawson, whose troubled backstory is a source of shame, is in some ways the “breaking bad” version of Jessica Jones — a crusader looking for answers about her traumatic past.

“Not everyone comes from perfect places,” says Ritter. “I do find myself drawn to dynamic characters with many layers to peel back, deliciously complex, multifaceted characters — unpredictable, a little bad, a little wounded.”

“Bonfire” came relatively quickly; “Retreat” was a tougher undertaking. “I had taken a bit of a break from writing since ‘Bonfire’ came out because I was just nonstop shooting,” she says. She was also starting a family with her partner, the War on Drugs frontman Adam Granduciel. “It was taking a long time to get ‘Retreat’ cracked, and I was a little stuck.”

She had written “70, maybe 100” pages when her agent introduced her to Jamieson, who cottoned to Ritter’s story immediately and offered suggestions on her pages. A vigorous back-and-forth between the writers commenced in earnest. “It was exhilarating and energetic,” says Ritter of collaborating with Jamieson. “In all areas of entertainment, you never work in isolation,” she says. “So collaboration is second nature to me. When you find the right creative partner, it’s just on fire. I’ve had that with [TV showrunners] Melissa Rosenberg and Nahnatchka Khan, and now with Lindsay.”

Jamieson worked quickly, and the mechanics of the plot began to pleasingly coalesce. “Lindsay elevated the project so much — she had big ideas and helped make it bigger and better than I could have done on my own. She’s also so fast and so smart, and our tastes really clicked.”

Ritter thinks of herself as her own ideal audience for her book. “Reading for work is something I do daily, but I love it when I get to read for pleasure,” she says. “I have a pile of thrillers on my nightstand right now. I’m trying to get through them before work once again takes over my life.”

Although there are plans afoot for a possible TV or film adaptation of “Retreat,” Ritter is content to let her novel speak for itself. “Psychological thrillers are total candy to me, and I will devour a good one. I write in this genre because it’s what my taste is as a consumer. I live for a popcorn thriller that you can’t put down.”