The Last Session by Julia Bartz is a propulsive thriller with a locked room vibe and cult elements. Content Warning: Alcohol abuse, religious abuse, child abuse, sexual harassment/assault, physical violence, cults, psychosis, murder and an off-page suicide attempt.

Thea is a social worker in a psychiatric unit in New York City with her own issues and trauma that she is struggling to deal with. One day a catatonic woman is brought in to the unit and Thea swears that she has seen her before. When she makes the connection that the patient is actually a famous actress whom she had idolized as a teenager, she feels an even stronger pull to help this woman. Then when the patient disappears from the unit, Thea is drawn into a journey to New Mexico to help save her. The Center for Relational Healing is a picturesque retreat in the desert that addresses romantic and sexual issues and is run by an enigmatic couple named Moon and Sol. As Thea tries to find Catherine and help her, she also finds herself drawn into exploring her own past and the trauma that she would rather forget.

I truly think the best way to go in to this book is as blind as possible... I don't want to spoil it for anyone! The atmospheric setting draws readers in and the premise is unique. I love cult-ish books and this one is a great read. Quick paced, The Last Session will pull you in and have you hooked. It does require you to suspend your beliefs a bit but I think that Bartz did a fantastic job tying everything up together in to a story that will stick with you.

Thank you to NetGalley, Julia Bartz, and Atria Books/ Emily Bestler for this ARC!! Publication date is April 1st 2025.

I was so excited to dive into this one! I enjoyed the authors last book, and this one sounded so interesting.

The book is about Thea, a social worker at a NYC hospital. One day a new patient comes in, and she recognizes her as a famous child actress- Catherine. While Catherine’s stay is short, Thea feels a connection with her. Catherine is picked up and mysteriously disappears again but leaves behind a note for Thea- and now she feels she must save her.

The story then goes on to take place at a retreat in New Mexico and that’s where things turn south. Weird situations, cult like behaviors, some familiar people all in an extremely remote place. Thea is trying to solve the mystery but doesn’t know who to trust.

I will say I love most of the book. It was fast paced, intriguing, and different than what I read. I loved trying to figure out what was going on at that center. I will say some part are extremely over the top. I didn’t mind as much, but if you’re a reader that can suspend disbelief completely then you are in for a fun ride. Similar to the plot in The Business Trip.

Overall, I thought it was unique, fast-paced, and exciting. Was it over the top especially in the end? yes, but I still enjoyed it!

This book comes out April 1st (tomorrow)! Thanks to atria and netgalley for an advance copy!

Thank you to Atria Books, NetGalley, and Julia Bartz for an ARC in exchange for my honest review!

This book took me on a TRIP, and I loved every minute of it! It was so weird and mind bending, but I was hooked and invested throughout the whole story, just because it was something that I truly had never read before. Julia Bartz has a way of telling a story that leaves you feeling dazed and enamored as a reader, largely because of the atmosphere she creates. I felt like I was a part of the story, traveling through this mind-bending plotline with each character.

After finishing this book, I took about 12 hours off from reading to stare at the ceiling and contemplate life, along with what I had just read. With that being said, if you are a lover of Tarryn Fisher’s An Honest Lie, or any thriller with cult themes, you will EAT THIS UP!

The Last Session by Julia Bartz
Pub Date: 4/1/25
Format: ebook

This book had such a fun premise! I was a fan of Bartz’s debut novel and was super stoked when I was approved for the eARC (thank you @netgalley)!

This is a weird thriller but I somehow wanted it to be weirder. Our main character works as a social worker at an inpatient program in New York and is shocked when the Jane Doe brought in not only looks like her, but is also an actress from a movie she was obsessed with in high school.

I don’t want to give too many details away because this one gets twisty, but our main character does go to a “wellness retreat” in New Mexico to try to find her Jane Doe after she is checked out from the treatment center by imposters pretending to be her parents.

This book is bananas. It really had me sucked in for the first half, but the second half had pacing issues and I also wanted to throw my book with every infuriating decision our FMC made.

If you’re looking for a different thriller with plenty of twists, this one isn’t bad! Just also not a major standout in the genre.

The Last Session by Julia Bartz

I was excited to read this book as I really enjoyed The Writing Retreat; unfortunately this book didn’t wow me quite as much.

The first half of the book started strong and kept me engaged but as I moved past this point, it started to fall apart for me. The plot just got too unrealistic to me and I had a hard time following. The whole cult part was a bit weird for me and usually I don’t mind cult plots.

I really wanted to like this one….it fell a bit short for me.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the eARC of this title in exchange for my honest opinion and feedback.

3-⭐️

I really wanted to love this one but I definitely struggled to finish it. While the first half of the book captured me pretty quickly, the second half was just confusing with sometimes implausible and bizarre twists and a rushed and anticlimactic ending. I loved Julia Bartz's first novel, The Writing Retreat, and I was hoping to love this one just as much, but it didn't quite hit the way her first book did. I will still continue to check out her books though because she does have premises and plots that I find to be unique and gravitate towards, and while I still liked this book, I just didn't love it the way I thought I would.

Thank you to Netgalley for an eArc.

I’ve really enjoyed other novels by Bartz and the premise and beginning of The Last Session gave me extremely high hopes. A mix of psychology with a catatonic patient, the patient being a famous actress, and then throw in a cult?! HECK YES. However, this one quite literally went off the rails and I just couldn’t get there.

I had a hard time connecting with the protagonist Thea. She had a traumatic past that really shaped her and while I felt for her, it was exhausting and really drives me to suspend belief. Honestly, who throws a reunion for an eighth grade class?! I also never understood her fixation on a child actress and movie from 15 years ago. It was all bizarre and again, just too outside what I could get myself to believe, even for fiction.

Once Thea (who was broke) decided to go to the ridiculously expensive relationship retreat, all beta were off. She came off as too naive and trusting and for being a social worker (which was portrayed as a full below therapist in the novel), she had horrific instincts and judgment.

All in all this one was a miss. It certainly won’t turn me off to Bartz but I need my fiction grounded a little more in reality or I needed just the cult story and not the six other fluff plots mixed in.

Thank you to Atria for the copy.

The Last Session is a cult-y locked room thriller set at a mysterious retreat in the desert of New Mexico, where Thea, a social worker from New York struggling with her past, attends, eager to uncover the secrets within.
The atmosphere of this book was so unsettling. It was clear there was something strange going on at the otherwise picturesque dating retreat. The overall vibe was disconcerting, especially the hosts. I was really drawn in, despite not really enjoying the main character, needing to solve this mystery right along with her, and I had high hopes for where it was going. Unfortunately the second half of the book almost felt like an entirely different path. Usually I don’t have a problem with suspending disbelief but this one was maybe a little too far fetched even for me. There was a lot going on and maybe not in the best way? It was definitely a whirlwind that I didn’t hate and I didn’t love, overall.
I do have the author’s debut novel and I enjoy the premise of that one, so I’ll definitely be reading that still, this didn’t put me off her work at all. If you like cult suspenses I’d still give this one a shot!

Thank you to Atria/Emily Bestler Books for sending me a digital review copy!
Publication date 4/1/25

WHAT an incredible and phenomenal locked-room (my FAVORITE type of thriller). Julia and her sister are absolutely of a kind and I read this entirely in one gulp.

So I was hooked during the first third of this book, then it went downhill and I normally like cult stories. Thea and her choices were not believable and it was too far fetched for me.

I loved the first Julia Bart book, so I went into The Last Session thinking, Yes! This is going to be my jam! I mean, cults, psychology, mysterious twins—this book had all the ingredients for something amazing.

And then…it just kept getting weirder.

At first, I was intrigued. The setup was strong, the vibes were eerie, and I was ready for a psychological deep dive. But then the plot just spiraled further and further into nonsense until it slipped right past my brain’s ability to suspend disbelief.

And Thea—oh, Thea. If there was a worst possible decision to make, she was on it. This woman couldn't find a good choice if you handed her a GPS, a tour guide, and a flashing neon sign that said “THIS WAY TO COMMON SENSE.”

Then there’s the connection to that wildly ridiculous movie, which started off as a fun reference but quickly became a full-blown exercise in how far can we push this before the reader’s eyeballs get stuck from rolling so hard?

Look, I’m still on board with Julia Bart as an author—I’ll keep reading her books. But this one? Not for me. If you love a thriller that just goes for it, you might vibe with this more than I did. Personally, I was left equal parts confused, exhausted, and questioning my life choices.

The Last Session by Jessica Bartz releases on 4/1! Thank you to Atria Books, NetGalley, and Jessica Bartz for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed this book, and thought the premise was unique and intriguing. Here we have a social worker confronted with a patient that she recognizes and can’t put her finger on. Thea is determined to figure it out, and follows a trail to New Mexico to get to the bottom of what the connection is.

I felt the same about The Writing Retreat as I did about The Last Session, unfortunately, which was “meh.” There was potential and intrigue, but not enough to keep me hooked. It felt like there was just too many unrealistic plot points that it made the entire book just seem too fake? I’m all about an unrealistic point or two for the sake of movement or clarity, but this was just too much for me, unfortunately!

I really enjoyed this book! This is my first Julia Bartz book and you can bet I’ll be reading more of her work!
A story about a mental health worker, a trip to a “relationship healing” center, a crazy cult, reincarnation.. what a great combination! A bit of a slow burn yet still full of twists and turns that had be going back and saying, “wait, what?” Highly recommend everyone reading this book!

The Last Session by Julia Bartz ⭐️⭐️💫

I was excited for this one because I enjoyed The Writing Retreat, but this one didn’t give me the same thrill.

I really enjoyed the cult aspect of this read. It was well done and kept me feeling cringey, which was perfect for the reading experience.

However, I really really struggled with how unrealistic it was and the character motivations. I did not understand why the main character would go searching for her short-term patient, and on top of that, how that search didn’t lead to professional ramifications. It continued to be pretty far-fetched and it just never rounded out for me.

Fans of twisty, cult-focused reads may enjoy this one!

A immersive and propulsive read, but something about it just didn't click with me. Could be the cult aspect? I like the atomsphere and writing, just not a new all time favorite.

If you love books about cults, this one is up your alley. I really enjoyed the first half but it became more unbelievable in the second half which made me lose some of my interest. I’m a mental health professional myself and really cringed at some of the scenes. Overall it was a good book and I did enjoy it, but some aspects just weren’t for me.

Yes! I love books about cults. This was a fun and super intense read. I felt like I was right there with the characters the whole time. This book is very exciting. For a moment, I was worried that the visions and dreams was going to take this book in a whole other direction, but thankfully the story was realistic. Thank you, NetGalley.

In The Last Session, social worker Thea is drawn into a strange mystery when a catatonic woman she recognizes, appears at the psychiatric unit she works at. When the patient suddenly vanishes, Thea follows a trail that leads her to a retreat in New Mexico, where a charming couple conducts therapy sessions focused on romantic and sexual issues. As she herself engages in these intimate exercises, Thea uncovers secrets about both the missing patient and her own past.

While the tone is reminiscent of Bartz’s 2023 novel, The Writing Retreat, this one leans much more toward adult themes. I found it unique and enjoyable, and I highly recommend it to fans of psychological suspense and cult thrillers!

Thea is working as a social worker. Her new patient is catatonic and looks oddly familiar. When the patient goes missing, Thea follows a trail of clues to a remote retreat center.

I enjoyed the first half of this book more than the second but only because it went in a direction that it not my favorite. It has a lot of metaphysics to it. While this is not for me, I know many enjoy that so if you do, definitely give it a try. I did really like Thea’s backstory and loved how it affected her and wrapped up.

“Whatever I do or don’t do, it doesn’t matter. Very few of us are going to make it out of here alive.”

The Last Session comes out 4/1.

I really tried to like it I really did. It was just too weird for me. I usually like books about cults but this one just didnt do it for me.