While I did enjoy the book, there were several times I questioned whether something like that would happen (speaking more about human behavior and work in the mental health field). As with all works of fiction, though, the rules of the real world bend to the story. And the story is a good one about the connection we feel with others, and the way the mind can break, and how one can become a member of a cult without realizing that is what is happening at the time. Cult mentality is depicted well from the standpoints of the leaders, followers and those outside the circle. For a while, there was a little too much woo-woo spirituality for me, but you probably have this as a base in all cults. All in all, the book was very interesting despite not being my usual cup of tea.

Thank you, NetGalley and Atria Books | Atria/Emily Bestler Books for this ARC for review. I really enjoyed Julia Bartz’s last book, the Writing Retreat, so when I saw the author had another thriller coming out I was excited to get the chance to read it. This is a solid thriller with some twists and turns and the story definitely went in a direction that I was not expecting which is good when you read as much as I do so it wasn’t your run of the mill scenario. Thea is a social worker and a catatonic woman is brought into the psychiatric facility where she works. Thea swears she knows her from somewhere and is determined to connect with her and find out who is she. As Thea figures out who she is, the patient is suddenly gone from the facility and Thea is dragged into a situation she may not be prepared for and is definitely not safe. This book kept my attention as I had to know where it was going.

Sadly I was not a fan of this book. I got bored halfway through and just didnt capture my attention as the last book by this author did. Hopefully others will enjoy it more then me.

2.5* Rounding Up

The Last Session follows Thea as she comes across a person that she swears she remembers from her past - but how? From there, you follow Thea on a wild ride through a retreat in New Mexico that turns out to be more than she anticipated.

After loving this author’s previous book, I couldn’t wait to dive into this one. The first half of the book had me in a chokehold, and I love the way Bartz isn’t afraid to get unhinged. I can honestly say I’ve never read anything like this before.

Unfortunately, the second half of the book kind of lost me. Things seemed a little too far fetched and pulled me out of the story. I also think this could have benefitted from being about 50 pages shorter.

I will read anything that Julia Bartz writes, and I am beyond thankful to her, the publisher, and Netgalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I wish I could say that I loved this but the truth is, I really struggled with this story. At times it's stilted, the storyline goes in every direction imaginable, and honestly felt chaotic. It truly was bizarre and not in a cool way were it helps the story but instead leaves you scratching your head wondering which crazy direction this is going to go next. With very little in character growth or likeability. Needless to say, this story just sadly wasn't for me.

This story had me hooked in the weirdest way possible! Any story that involves retreats, therapists, and a suspicious cult-like group- count. me. in! There were a few things that made me slightly cringe such as the film our main character, Thea, loved so much and mentioned one too many times to me, Thea becoming so obsessed with her patient that she would follow her to a retreat, the wacky beliefs that the retreat was based on, and an intimate scene that involved several of the retreats leaders and the main character. However, the writing was fast-paced and held me captive throughout the book. There were some plot twists that I did not see coming and made my jaw drop. The characters were so strange in the most interesting way. It was a wild ride that I'm glad I enjoyed from the comfort of my own bed and not one of the retreats!

I really struggled to get into this book. I was put off in the first few pages because if how it was written.

I really enjoyed the last book I read of Julia Bartz, but “The Last Session” kind of jumped the shark. There were so many situations that were utterly preposterous and the ending was extremely rushed. I will try her books again though.

4.25 stars -thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for the advanced copy!

After reading - and loving - Julia Bartz's first novel 'The Writing Retreat' this was highly anticipated for me! While I didn't love this one as much as TWR, I still really enjoyed it and was hooked, especially by the isolated retreat center setting. With a lot of congestion in the thriller genre right now, I appreciate Bartz's ability to give us something different in her novels, with lots of surprises about what's coming next and an ability to avoid common tropes and themes.

I can't wait to hopefully pick up another Bartz thriller in the future!

I really enjoyed the author's previous novel, The Writing Retreat, so I was excited to begin this one. The book started out strong and was easy to get into but unfortunately, I felt like it became a bit overcomplicated and hard to follow. I did finish it but it took some work.

This was so meh. I was medium on the writing retreat, and this teaches me, that unfortunately Julia bartz is not for me.

What a WILD RIDE. I was hooked from the beginning and read this in 2 days. Bartz's second novel was as crazy as the first, and I can't wait to see what she comes up with next.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to Atria and NetGalley for an arc copy in exchange for an honest review.

The Last Session was one of my most anticipated books of 2025 because I really enjoyed the author's debut novel, The Writing Retreat.

This book follows Thea, a social worker, who is met with a bit of a mystery when a silent patient is admitted to the public hospital where she works. It turns out that the Jane Doe is actually a child star that Thea was obsessed with growing up, who also strongly resembles her physically and they share a birthday. This leads her to follow the star to a remote retreat after a series of perceived clues are left behind by who we now know is Catherine.

I found the first half of this book to be very intriguing. Bartz clearly has a lot of knowledge around mental health and the system, which does shine through in her writing, but got to be a little tedious and convenient later on when Thea became a walking DSM-5. Even though she was able to correctly identify all the tactics Moon and Sol, the retreat gurus, were using to control the group, Thea insisted on staying because of her parasocial relationship with Catherine, who she is trying to rescue.

Thea as a main character was very frustrating to follow, so I found it difficult to root for her, but I'm sure that was done intentionally. A lot of the elements that I liked were similar to The Writing Retreat, but I found this book really dragged at parts and was a bit repetitive. I would still recommend this book, but check the content warnings, as it does touch on some heavy topics.

Thank you to Atria Books & NetGalley for this digital ARC - it was so fun to read! What originally drew me into this novel was the fact that the protagonist is a therapist/mental health counselor like me! It was dark, moody, suspensful, but rather heavy - lots of trigger warnings here. What starts out as a interesting mystery ends up gearing more towards the implausible - some of the plot twists you really have to buy into as the reader. Overall it was good, not great. If you like weird thrillers, this is right up your alley.

I was so excited when I saw that Julia Bartz’s newest book was on Netgalley, I jumped to request it!

I went into this one expecting all the mysterious and creepy vibes I got from The Writing Retreat. I fear I set my expectations too high 😅

Though the story and characters were well thought out, I just didn’t find myself loving this one. It definitely is unique and very complicated- I just wish it had more of a spooky element!

Thank you for the ARC copy.

I have read this author before and liked her. This book had a lot going on. Some of the storyline I liked. But other parts felt forced or over the top. Some of the themes were darker than I would have liked. Overall I did not love this book. Similar to White lotus but too much happening.

TW: Sexual assault, grooming (by a religious figure), religious abuse, cults, alcohol abuse, bullying

This book started out so interesting - you have a woman, Thea, who's a therapist at an in-patient psychiatric unit. A patient shows up in a catatonic state. Thea recognizes this woman as Catherine, a child actress who Thea was obsessed with. Catherine starts to regain lucidity and Thea starts to think that Catherine is trying to tell her something and that they're somehow connected.

Catherine leaves the psychiatric unit and Thea missed saying goodbye (since she was hung over). Thea finds a note about a podcast and ...... goes from New York to New Mexico since she thinks Catherine wants her to. Like you do.

That ties into my first issue with this book. Thea is not mentally in a good place. Another reviewer put that if we found out that Thea was a patient, vs a therapist, it would make total sense with her behaviors. I know that just because someone's a mental health professional doesn't mean they have everything together, but Thea was a complete mess. We find out that it's partially due to sexual trauma from her youth. She was groomed by her religious leader and then her first sexual experience was icky with her bully (it wasn't rape). Understandably, those have messed her up. She's tried to work on them with a therapist in the past but after that therapist moved away, she sort of gave up.

Thea goes to a "it's not a cult" cult in New Mexico for a weekend workshop on addressing their issues with personal relationships since she thinks that's where Catherine wants her to be. The workshop is led by Sol and Moon, the charismatic "it's just people living together and helping each other, not a cult" cult leaders. It turns out this is closer to a sex and love workshop weekend.

At this point, the book was dragging for me. I was trying to keep an open and interested mind (and Thea could use more therapy so I kept hoping that maybe this would actually help her (while recognizing that it's not that type of happy book)).

Then past lives come up, since Sol and Moon are saying that everything they're carrying is due to past life decision and trauma. And how the people at the "everyone must think the same as Moon but it's not a cult" cult travel together in their past lives.

The book got so weird and not in a good way. Each new element that got added had me rolling my eyes. I know that having the cult element in there automatically increases the weirdness but it was too much for me. I had to continually suspect my disbelief and it was too much. The final outcomes didn't tie everything together for me. I enjoyed her first book, but was not a fan of this one.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for this advance review copy.

And I thought The Clinic was banagrambonkers.

This books surpasses that, is like a telenovela mixed with Many Lives Many Masters. All this in a weekend? I still don't have any idea what really happened, what was real, what was a hallucination, group think. Anyway, I finished it and if I ever reread I'm doing it in a yurt with some shrooms.

Btw if the author breaks out the genres, Id still read it. Speculative fiction or straight sci fi bc the writing was compelling.

2.5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley, Julia Bartz and Atria books for the free ebook in exchange for an honest review.

The writing retreat was my first five star read of 2024, but unfortunately this one wasn’t quite the same vibes for me. I did enjoy the twists and the characters, but I did find I was a bit bored until 30-35% through the novel. The twists and especially that ending was stellar, but just more difficult to get into.

3⭐️

When Thea meets the catatonic woman who arrives at the psych ward where Thea works, she's immediately curious about the woman. After the woman comes to and leaves the ward, Thea follows her to a retreat in New Mexico to learn more about her. The retreat is ran by a charismatic could for people with romantic and sexual issues. As the retreat goes on, Thea starts to wonder if they were the reason the woman's mind broke.

I was really excited about this because it had two things I usually love in thrillers: a psych ward and an escape from a cult. But after a while I think this asked for me to suspend my belief too much for me to keep my interest. I mean, I'm pretty sure following your patient after their discharge is a HIPAA violation? If not that, it's definitely not ethical. The pacing was also kind of odd; the first half went pretty quick but once they arrived at the retreat the pacing was all over the place.

I did really like the way this addressed things like religious trauma and self discovery. And even though it absolutely infuriated me, I did enjoy watching Thea have absolutely no survival skills. The number of times she was caught off guard when the cult acted like, you know, a cult? It was wild that she was so unprepared for anything that happened.

Thanks Netgalley and Atria/Emily Bestler Books for providing this ARC to me!