A catatonic woman ends up in a psychiatric unit and a social worker Thea believes she knows the woman from somewhere. After finding a mysterious tattoo on the woman, Thea discovers the woman is connected to Thea's past. The woman leaves the clinic and a cryptic note for Thea, who is determined to find the woman and ensure her safety. The clues lead Thea to a remote healing center, where Thea is forced to participate in exercises that will help heal her own traumatic past. Thea finds herself finally getting answers to her past, and possible the missing woman in the present.

I had high hopes for this book after Bartz's last The Writing Retreat, and this one did not disappoint. I loved the dual timelines, the characters, the trauma - and the ending. Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for this ARC!

I received an ARC of this novel from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

A therapist meets a lookalike patient and it stirs up memories from her past. Are the two women connected in some way?

this was very fascinating to me. I didn't know what to expect going in and i have to be honest, the characters were not lovable at all. I mean - it's a cult book. I really had no idea where anything was going which is good because that meant I needed to keep reading.

I read Julia's first novel, The Writing Retreat, and it was okay but i'm so glad i picked this up because it was very good. I think Julia did a good job tackling a cult-like environment and exploring how trauma can affect people.

Overall, a solid 4!!

A social worker goes to a retreat to find a missing patient, only to unravel a lot about herself and those running and attending the retreat.

This story was wild. There were a lot of sketchy characters with both depressing and shocking histories. I have no desire to spoil the plot, even if I could because I’m not even totally sure I fully understood it - but some stuff. Went. Down. There was quite a portion of the book during which I struggled to understand what was real and what was a hallucination. It was really something. This felt like one big acid trip.

Thanks NetGalley for a copy of this arc! Definitely one to check out if you like a reading experience that leaves you feeling drunk and slightly confused (not in a bad way). 3.5⭐️

Julia Bartz has done it again! This thriller involves a passionate social worker, a mysterious retreat that may or may not be a weird sex cult, and the ultimate quest for the truth. Thea has a past that will forever haunt her, but she’s no match for the journey she has ahead of her when she is unexpectedly connected to a catatonic patient who also happens to be a famous actress.

The conversations and experiences Thea has trigger memories from her past—and she’s forced to come to terms with some really uncomfortable self-realizations. This book has a lot of layers, so it’s definitely not one I could quickly digest in a few days. There is a lot of discussion around childhood trauma, the mental health care system and even past life transgressions.

So much of this book is the main character realizing something is off, and ignoring her gut. It’s so incredibly frustrating! Regardless, this book kept me guessing and it definitely kept me intrigued. Many pieces of the story felt a bit disconnected, but it all came together at the end. Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Went into this book very excited based off the beginning of the description. It’s totally my fault for not reading the rest of the description because it wasn’t my vibe.
Thea is a social worker who tries to help a catatonic patient who goes missing. She chases her down to a romantic “wellness center” in New Mexico that turns out to be more like a cult. After a ton of weird, intimate rituals, Thea finds herself in danger and may not make it out alive.
There were listed trigger warnings in the beginning of the book and they were veryyyyy appreciated. However, even with the warnings, I don’t think it could prepare the reader for what is to come. The book was just strange and the writing was off. Unfortunately this wasn’t the book for me.
The Last Session by Julia Bartz hits shelves on April 1, 2025. Thank you to Netgalley and Atria books for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

At first, THE LAST SESSION felt like a familiar premise—a retreat that turns out to be a cult—but then it took a sharp turn into outright absurdity.

Marketed as a "locked room" thriller, the story only begins to touch on that aspect about a quarter of the way through the book, and even then, it's a stretch. Thea, our unreliable narrator, finds herself trapped at a New Mexico retreat for a few days, but the real sense of entrapment comes from being stuck with her disjointed narrative and a cast of bizarre, unlikable characters.

The plot follows Thea, a therapist, who becomes overly involved with her patient Catherine. This connection leads her to the retreat, which may or may not be a front for a cult. Supposedly mysterious events unfold, but they're hard to take seriously. The story is riddled with references to past lives and leans heavily on Stargirl—a strange, fictional movie Catherine starred in as a teen—which becomes a central, if perplexing, thread in the plot.

The characters’ decisions are baffling and often defy logic, even when the book provides shaky backstories to justify them. The narrative is a series of odd twists, many revolving around Stargirl, but none of them felt grounded or satisfying. As a reader, I found myself cringing at the implausibility of the characters’ actions and the awkward execution of the story.

Ultimately, I kept reading in the hope that things would improve, but they didn’t. THE LAST SESSION left me more frustrated than thrilled, with its over-the-top plot and lack of coherence.

Thank you to Net Galley for the ARC!

I had a difficult time rating this one. As a mystery, it was very good. While the reader had to suspend a fair amount of disbelief, don’t they always?

What threw me off was the various sub-plots. The trauma the narrator suffered as a teenager felt somewhat out of place with the current day activities in the novel. I understand how it all came together, but it felt like a forced fit.

The narrator being a social worker made sense for her profession, as she had to be able to interact with the other characters in a certain way, but it also led to issues with the story. A social worker in NYC isn’t suspicious of a private eye? Is willing to jet off to this retreat on a whim? Spends the first half of the book trying to unpack her own trauma that she clearly hasn’t resolved?

The writing is good, and the story is interesting, but overall some aspects felt shoehorned in.

4 stars

A twisty, thrilling, terrifying cult story that starts with a young woman found wandering the streets in NYC who is brought to a mental hospital as a Jane Doe. She is seen by a new therapist, Thea, who knows this woman from somewhere. When she realizes this is the star of her favorite movie from her adolescence, Thea is drawn to save Catherine and she travels all the way to a "relationship retreat" in New Mexico to do so.

This book is similar to pacing and structure to the author's debut novel, The Writing Retreat, which I really enjoyed. Things start out very relatable and just get crazier as the story progresses. You definitely need to suspend your disbelief by Parts 3 and 4, but if you can manage it, you're in for a ride.

I enjoyed the characters and the New Mexico setting. The author did a good job setting the scene and it definitely felt like we were in the Land of Enchantment. The cult aspects were well done as well, in my opinion. I liked that things started out innocently, with the podcast and therapy aspects of the group, really showing how average people just looking for self improvement could get caught up in a scary situation like a cult. The intenstity ramped up at a decent pace, although I will admit that this could have been shorter.

Overall, I would definitely recommend this thriller to anyone who read and enjoyed the author's last work, who enjoy a good cult thriller, and who are looking for a page turning good time.

Thank you to Atria Books and NetGalley for the eArc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was a decent thriller but some of the things that happen were a little over the top. It was a good thriller but not as much of a hook as her first book.

Bartz is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors and The Last Session is just another example of why. Her books are the perfect modern mystery and this one definitely fits the bill. I was a little lost when it came to the ending to be completely honest, but I appreciated the fact that the storyline wasn’t too predictable and came with an unexpected twist.

Julia…. Babe.
Okay. Whew. This book was so strong in the beginning and had SUCH A GOOD PREMISE. Somewhere along the way It lost some steam. Coming off of The Writing Retreat, I had extremely high hopes. I mostly enjoyed this, but I can’t fully recommend it to a wide audience.
As always, thank you for the opportunity to read this early.

The Last Session was a compelling book. I’ve always enjoyed stories that explore the dynamics of cults, and this one delivered. The premise was intriguing, though I occasionally found the reincarnation themes a bit tedious. The main character’s backstory was well-written—I often felt frustrated with her choices, but her history made them understandable. While the book did get a little wordy at times, I found it enjoyable overall!

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria/Emily Bestler Books for this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

I don’t really know what to say about this book. It was just WEIRD and wasn’t really my vibe. I love her last book, The Writing Retreat, so I was excited to read this thinking it would be more like a thriller vibe. This was more just trippy and cultish and strange.

I kept reading just because I wanted to see where it would end up and I found myself disappointed.

Thank you to Atria Books and NetGalley for this advanced e-copy in exchange for my honest review.

This book started out strong for me. Social worker tries to save patient from a cult. The mystery and suspense was well built. The characters in the beginning and middle were engaging and dynamic. The plot twist in the middle really threw me as well.

The last 30% didn’t resonate as well with me. Themes fell flat, new things were introduced and not established. The reincarnation thing with Thea felt like it was thrown in. It felt rushed and disjointed.

Thank you NetGalley, Julia Bartz and Atria Books for the ARC!

Umm...what did I just read??

I was so excited to get my hands on this ARC after really enjoying the author's debut, The Writing Retreat. This starts off strong; I was intrigued in part one with the psychiatric hospital. Then we get to part two and things just went off the rails. Don't get me wrong, I love a remote-retreat-cult story but this just went over my head like a fever dream. Reincarnation, caves, deserts and a movie that connects them all...this was just BIZARRE AND CHAOTIC. I can see this as one of those mindf*ck series and it would make for some interesting conversation.

I enjoyed The Last Session somewhat but can’t say I would recommend it to just anyone. The cult aspect was not something I really liked.

Thank you, NetGalley, for the opportunity to read this book!

Unfortunately, I really didn’t enjoy the book. While the beginning did draw me in and I believed it could be an enjoyable mystery, it seemed to take a turn into something else. Something a bit bizarre and illogical for me.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for this opportunity however.

I disliked her first book, The Writing Retreat but decided to give her another chance. Although a lot of the elements were similar, I enjoyed this one a bit more and maybe that is because I was expecting what I was reading..... The story was just as chaotic but I am always intrigued by cults. The main character was also not very likable, which makes the story a bit harder to want to finish but overall it was fine. better than the writing retreat but not sure if I will read any more by Julia Bartz...i might

This book was just all over the place. I wasn't a fan of the writing style from the first chapter. Maybe I am just tired of reading cult books. I don't know, it just got weird. 2.5 stars.