The Last Session was a spooky thriller! This book had so many fun twists and was written with Hollywood intensity!

This was a DNF for me. It was slow and just plain weird and all over the place. I've read The Writing Retreat and I enjoyed that one so much more than this one.

This was book was bizarre and compulsively readable. I think cults and the dynamics that pull and keep people in them are fascinating which is why the premise of this book interested me. I think that element was done pretty well. Well paced, lots of great twists and turns. There was, however, some content in this that I personally don’t enjoy reading so maybe check on some of those specifics before jumping into this one.

*Thanks to Atria and Netgally for the ARC.

Thea is trying to recover from a fresh, painful break up when a catatonic woman is admitted to the psychiatric unit with no identification. Thea is sure she knows who this women is but just can’t figure it out. This leads Thea to have flashbacks to a traumatic time from her past. Just a few days after the woman’s arrival, her identity is discovered, and she is ripped away from the hospital, leaving Thea feeling unmoored and a little confused.

As we get to know our main character more, we see that there’s something very dark in her past that still affects her to this day. Thea can’t shake the feeling that while her patient has been discharged, she is not okay and was maybe even trying to leave her a hidden message.

On a whim, Thea travels across the country to try to find her patient. Her plan is to attend a weekend retreat at The Center which she suspects is more then just a remote therapeutic space.
Once there, Thea sees for herself that Moon and Sol have created a warm, welcoming space at The Centre where you feel safe, cared for and stress-free.

There are scenes that are extremely weird. There are scenes that are unhinged. And there are some really scary, creepy and unnerving scenes.

All in all an ominous story from start to finish that I highly recommend.

Content warning: alcohol abuse, religious abuse, child abuse, sexual harassment and assault, physical violence, murder, cults and psychosis, off-page suicide.


Available April 1, 2025

Thank you to NetGalley, Atria Books and author, Julie Bartz for the advanced copy.

This was honestly a lot for me, I had to DNF it. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this arc ebook in exchange for an honest review, all opinions are my own.

Rating: ⭐⭐ ½
Genre: Mystery Thriller

This is the first time I read something by Julia Bartz. Many of my friends loved her debut book, so when I had the opportunity to read her latest work, I decided to give it a try. The story follows a social worker in a psychiatric unit called Thea. At her work, Thea comes across a woman with a traumatic past, so she decides to uncover her story.

Thea’s investigation leads her to New Mexico, where she goes to a remote wellness center. What she finds there is shocking. It affects her in a way where the lines between reality, therapy, and manipulation get extremely blurred.

I don’t know what to say about this book! The plot itself seems very intriguing, but I feel the story failed to be engaging. Some parts felt really interesting, and the story was moving in the right direction, but there were parts of the story that were totally over the top and didn’t make sense to me. When a story is over the top, even if in parts, usually it moves fast. Strangely, this one was slow as well.

Overall, I found this book to be a bit of a letdown. If you are going to read it, keep in mind the points I mentioned. Maybe if you get into it with lower expectations, you might end up liking it.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC of this book.

Unfortunately I am DNFing @30% the plot is all over the place, and the trauma felt so unnecessary. The author did included a trigger warning at start of the book, but I just cant continue on. Many thanks to NetGalley & the publishers for this e-arc.

I am a huge Julia Bartz fan and this was no exception! I was so excited to read this and it did not disappoint. I loved the characters and the atmosphere, and all of the twists and turns!

Thea is a social worker who has some unknown attachment to a patient who goes missing & she feels the need to find her. She comes across a couples retreat that she believes said patient is, so she ends up there. All kinds of cult-ish, icky stuff takes place at the retreat. It was at this point that I lost interest in the story. It seemed to just go on & on with stuff I found hard to believe. I found myself bored and getting distracted and just struggling to finish it. It didn’t help that I had no connection with any of the characters.

Thank you to NetGalley & the publisher for giving me the opportunity to read an advanced eARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinions.

This was such a wild ride! I really enjoyed it from start to finish. There were lots of wild twists and turns I wasn’t expecting!

The Last Session is the latest suspense novel from Julia Bartz. Creepy and filled with strange character, it's part mystery and part horror, but not in the typical sense. There's a little foray into the paranormal, perhaps, tho not really at the same time. History reliving itself? A chain of souls tied together? Sisters reborn? Many ways to look at it. While I enjoy the author's writing, the plots are somewhat out there for me, whereas I'm more of a traditional reader. I need a realistic sense rather than an ethereal quality of how everything relates together. But still enjoyable and a good alternative path to take from time to time. Will look for the next author's book and add to my queue.

After reading and loving the authors debut novel, The Writing Retreat, I was really looking forward to her second novel. Even though I didn't enjoy this one as much as I did The Writing Retreat, I still liked this one and would recommend it to thriller readers. I will also look forward to reading whatever Julia Bartz writes in the future.

Since this was my first book by this author, I didn't know what to expect. I remember being intrigued by the summary and really interested in the plot and the ending. However, I felt confused by the conclusion. I'm not sure what my official rating would be, but it might be around 2-3 stars. I think some parts could have been shorter, as they felt drawn out

1/5 stars: This is Bartz's stand-alone which is a Mystery Thriller that follows a social worker who, after coming face-to-face with her dark traumatic past, must infiltrate a mysterious wellness center in the deserts of New Mexico. Bartz's writing and character work are excellent. With tact and sensitivity, Bartz touches on some very, very tough and sensitive topics; so take care and CWs. Unfortunately, I'm just not in a place to read about the particular subjects Bart's tackles in this book; leading me to DNF it at 9%.

I received this eARC thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books | Atria/Emily Bestler Books in exchange for an honest review. Publishing dates are subject to change.

Thea works as a social worker in a New York City psychiatric ward. The newest patient admitted to her ward is a catatonic female named Jane Doe. Thea tries her best to communicate to the new patient to no avail, however, she finds Jane to be somewhat familiar. After racking her brain, she thinks Jane may be the actress on one of her favorite movies Stargirl. Armed with this information, Thea goes into work the following day to discover Catherine(Jane Doe) has left. Thea makes it her mission to track down Catherine, which leads her to a retreat in New Mexico.

The idea behind this was there. Thea was in a cult like community growing up and has been traumatized as a result. Fast forward to her investigation, as an adult, she finds herself in a similar situation at the New Mexico retreat. For the first 50% I wanted to know how it all tied together and it seems to be moving at a pace that was enjoyable. Then it just completely went off the rails. I don’t even know how to explain how far off the track it went. It went from somewhat realistic to completely non-realistic in a blink of a page. I was willing to overlook the unprofessionalism of Thea as she didn’t quite resonate as a social worker. But then once I realized the avenue the author was going that was the least of my quibbles. I also feel like it was way too long and a portion of the retreat could’ve been edited out and still have gotten the same results without the length.

Overall, if you can suspend disbelief completely, then you’ll enjoy this as it was, for the most part, fast paced and certainly did have a unique story arc.

2.5 Stars

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my advanced copy in exchange for an honest review

Similar to her previous thriller THE WRITER'S RETREAT, this had the signature Julia Bartz style of ridiculousness. The story explores the possibility of the spiritual/supernatural, cults, past lives, and more, while also balanced with some serious, real life, human topics like dark sexual trauma and religious trauma.

What I enjoy about this style Bartz employs is you truly have no idea where the story is going to go. The possibilities feel endless, which is exactly what I want in a thriller. I want my mind to race. I want to be taken on a ride where I'm not anticipating the next plot beat. THE LAST SESSION was definitely successful in accomplishing that and the story felt unique (and a bit like you were personally tripping in the desert which is a fun literary experience).

The downfalls? I think it was a bit too slow burn/dragged out/repetitive. I think some people won't be into the whole cult/spiritual aspect of it. My advice for enjoyment? Lean into the possibility of the ridiculousness. Finally, the ending just lacked some oomph for me that's difficult to put into words. I still really enjoyed my experience with this story and will be looking out for more from this author in the future!

Thank you to the publisher for granting me access to an ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions remain my own.

Thea, a social worker at an inpatient care facility, is shocked when the star of her favorite childhood movie is admitted to the ward. What follows is a chain of events that span cults, sexuality, and an unbelievable attempt to survive.

I loved the quick pacing at the start of the book! I frequently found myself asking aloud “what is happening” which was thrilling in the beginning but somewhat exhausting towards the end.

I recommend this book for anyone intrigued by cults and reincarnation. Trigger warning of SA.

Thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for the ARC in exchange for a fair review.

When a catatonic woman shows up at the psychiatric unit, social worker Thea swears she knows her from somewhere. She’s shocked to discover the patient holds a link to a traumatic time in her past. Upon regaining lucidity, the patient claims she can’t remember the horrific recent events that caused her brain to shut down. Thea’s at a loss—especially when the patient is ripped away from her as suddenly as she appeared.

Determined to find her, Thea follows a trail of clues to a remote center in Southwestern New Mexico, where a charismatic couple holds a controversial monthly retreat to uncover attendees’ romantic and sexual issues. Forced to participate in increasingly intimate exercises, Thea finds herself inching closer not only to her missing patient, but also to tantalizing answers about her harrowing past. However, time is running out, and if she stays for the last session, she too might lose her mind…or worse.

So I have mixed feelings on this one. As a thriller, I really enjoyed it. As a conversation starter about mental health, I'm a little iffy. Some of the places this went were a little unrealistic in that regard - which worked for the thriller aspect, but I feel like it took away from some of the author's obvious commentary on mental health. It's definitely thought-provoking, though! 4⭐ because I won't forget this one very quickly!

I received an advanced complimentary digital copy of this book from Netgalley. Opinions expressed are my own.

I think my sights were set too high for this, I was so hyped that this sounded right up my alley and come Part 3 it just went a little too far off the rails for me and slowed down. If this could have been 50 pages less and more of the cult element to it I wouldn't hesitate that this would be 5 stars because I was all in at the beginning. I still can not wait to see what Julia has in store next!

Thank you to Atria books for sending me an arc copy in exchange for an honest review!

This started off SO strong and was reminding me of some of my favorite thrillers. Unfortunately, it went in a direction that was incredibly weird and definitely not for me. A lot of the commentary on religion, SA, and mental health made me a bit uncomfy how it was handled.

Thank you NetGalley for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.