PositiveThe Daily MississippianGenerosity may be all that gets readers past the novel’s first three chapters, but once this hurdle is cleared, the indulgence will be repaid tenfold in tender and intimate glimpses into the struggling heart of an unhappy family. Ridker’s debut reads like an illness trajectory of a grief-stricken family ... The Altruists becomes stunningly intricate and touching, peeling back the layers of each of the three main characters to reveal the pathology of their personalities ... This allegory at times jumps tactlessly out from behind the intricately woven curtain of the novel’s emotional world, but even this occasional lack of subtlety—a trait deserving of leniency in any first novel—is charming in its sincerity. Ultimately, The Altruists is a tender and evocative, if occasionally obvious, call for universal generosity in a time of change, grief and nationwide emotional tension.