I was a big fan of We Were Never Here and The Spare Room so I was thrilled to get my hands on The Last Ferry Out! Vacation thrillers are among my favorite sub genre.

While this felt slower paced than Bartz’s previous thriller I still couldn’t wait to see what happens.
The island setting is perfect and this mystery takes you on a wild ride.

Thank you NetGalley and Ballentine Books for this ARC.

Very excited to get a chance to read this ARC. The story is verrrrry slow to start. The beginning did not really hook me at all and I was just hoping to get through it. Thankfully, about a third of the way in the story starts to really come together. The ending is not predictable and even up until the last pages new little twists are being thrown in. Definitely a good little mystery and on par with the author’s other books which have also been interesting, twisty reads for me.

This was another entertaining thriller with a good amount of suspense and twists I wasn't expecting. This is about Abby, who travels to the remote island that her fiance, Eszter, died on while vacation a few months earlier. She starts doing some digging to find out what really happened to Eszter. Abby befriends a group of expats that Eszter was friends with to try and gather more info, but begins to think one of them might actually be Eszter’s killer. She doesn't know who she can trust. There are plenty of red herrings along the way in this one which kept me guessing and engaged. I liked the twists and thought the end was really good.

Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for the gifted copy. All opinions are my own.

Thank you NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for an ARC of The Last Ferry Out!

This was a solid thriller with some great twists. The author does a fantastic job at describing each scene and making it feel like as if you were standing there with the characters. I also really enjoyed how the author explored love, loss, and grief through each of the characters. I did see the twist at the ending coming to a certain degree, but it still managed to surprise me in other ways.

What I didn’t like about this book is the pacing. I felt like I was forcing myself through the book for the first 40-50% before the pacing picked up. Usually, I love thrillers that make me feel jumpy even after I’ve put them down. With this one, I found myself thinking “okay….and??” Also, the flashback scenes were nice, but I don’t feel as if they added much to the story or plot overall.

I do think that this could be a fun book to read at the beach or during a rainy day. It’s a solidly average book.

When Abby’s fianceé, Eszter dies while visiting an isolated island in Mexico, she feels a need to travel there as she has some unanswered question. The locals are very protective of their island, although they tolerate a small group of expats whom Eszter befriended. As Abby gets to know the group, she has even more questions, learns secrets that Eszter was keeping, and fears she may be in danger.

I have read and enjoyed prior works by this author. Atmospheric, with an interesting plot and clever twist, the story was revealed through alternating timelines and POVs. A bit of a slow burn, I felt it got bogged down at times with Abby’s introspection and deliberations. While I read the book quickly as I did want to find out what happened, it just didn’t draw me in as much as it should have.

This will be published in May - Eszter goes on a vacation to a remote island in Mexico and dies. Her partner, Abby, was supposed to meet her a few days later at the island and doesn’t understand what happened to her girlfriend. She gets to the island and begins asking questions, which is a bad idea. Lots of trigger warnings, which I am not a fan of because they usually contain spoilers, but it was a good read.

First off, I want to say I’m the daughter and granddaughter of Hungarians. So this book was extra special. While I don’t speak the language (my mom has ways regretted this) I did recognize a lot of words and some of the phrases included. I appreciate that everything was translated as well.
I really liked this book. It was mysterious and atmospheric. I loved that the book was set mostly in a small secluded Mexican Island. It sounded like a place I would love to visit. Especially as it was secluded and not a lot of tourists visit. The characters were interesting and you liked the majority of them. There were multi voices telling the story in different time lines which really helped tell everything. Nothing is as it seems and I loved that as well. You really felt the heartache of the main character losing her fiancée. Can’t wait for more from the Author! I’ve loved everything she’s written so far.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC of this title in exchange for an honest review.

Andrea Bartz is quickly becoming and instant buy author for me. Her thrillers grab your from page one and never let go. The plot was thick, the characters were likeable, and atmosphere was easily depicted, and there were just enough plot twists to keep you turning those pages. I will definitely be recommending this title when publication day comes!

Paradise isn't always what it seems. In Andrea Bartz's latest thriller, a sun-drenched island becomes the perfect stage for murder.

When Abby's fiancée Eszter dies mysteriously on a tropical getaway, she can't shake the feeling that something's wrong. So she goes back to the island, hoping for answers. But what she finds there makes her wish she'd stayed home.

Bartz has a knack for turning beautiful places ugly. The island transforms from an Instagram-worthy escape into a prison of paranoia, where every friendly face could hide deadly intentions. And as Abby digs deeper into Eszter's death, the paradise around her grows darker by the day.

What makes this book stick with you isn't just the plot twists (though there are plenty). It's the way Bartz captures the messiness of love and loss. Abby and Eszter feel real - the kind of couple you might know, their relationship both beautiful and complicated. Their queerness isn't a plot point but simply part of who they are, woven naturally into a story about trust, grief, and the secrets we keep from the people we love most.

Sure, readers familiar with Bartz's other works (like We Were Never Here) might spot some of her usual tricks. But honestly? When the story's this good, who cares?

The Verdict: A thriller that will make you think twice about that island vacation you've been planning. Equal parts suspense and emotional gut punch, The Last Ferry Out proves that sometimes the most dangerous paradise is the one you can't escape.

3.5/5 stars

solidly atmospheric and moody thriller that overall worked pretty well, despite at points having some weird creative decisions. 4 stars. tysm for the arc.

The Last Ferry Out is perfect for those who love a good thriller/mystery that isn’t scary. I found myself eager to finish this book so I could find out what happened – it was not predictable, which I greatly appreciate. In the book we meet Abby, who goes to Isla Colel – a small island, hours away from Cancun – to visit the place where her finance Eszter tragically died. During her trip, she meets a group of expats and finds herself opening up about Eszter, only to discover they all have secrets and Eszter’s death may not be what it seems. This was a real page turner – thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine for the eARC!

The Last Ferry Out by Andrea Bartz is a twisted and twisty murder mystery that just when you think you have it figured out, you don’t! After Abby’s fiancée, Eszter, dies on a foreign island, she decides to go there to get answers. She’s met with a bunch of expats that befriends her and was also friends with Eszter. The more she learns of them and the island, the more she questions every detail of their life together. The island is sunny and bright yet dark and brutal at times. The locals don’t care for any outsiders and don’t want tourists, so there’s more than an eerie atmosphere going on. All the expats have stories and reasons as to why they are on the island, their characters are integral to the story and I feel the author did a really good job weaving these characters in and really throwing curveballs in here and there to prevent the reveal of the final twist. Overall this is really solid thriller with some great twists, a F/F love story told in alternating POV with kisses only, and a story of found friends and family. Trigger warnings include: mention of suicidal ideation, alcoholism, murder, homophobia

I picked this because of the author, title, & description. I liked Bartz’s “We Were Never Here” and am drawn to thrillers/mysteries. Ultimately though, “Last Ferry Out” was just an okay read for me. It was slow and the twists/reveals were not shocking or surprising.

When Abby arrives at the place where her fiancée died, she thinks she can maybe get some closure. She needs to retrace Eszter’s steps and figure out how it all went down exactly. She meets all the people that were around at the time and asks them questions. Eventually she starts to realize there might be more to what happened to Eszter. And all of these people have something to hide.

This got three stars from me because I did like it, it’s a solid suspense novel. One thing I can point out as something I didn’t care for was Eszter’s death. The whole reasoning behind it and how it happened. It just seemed so senseless and messed up which made it even sadder. I guess that frustrated me!

I did think it was neat how flashbacks concerning their relationship were laid out in reverse. So you start with their tumultuous end and get to see where all the cracks formed until you get to when they met and things were new and hopeful. Which also made that sadder for me!

So I did enjoy this and I do recommend it to those who like atmospheric novels with twists and drama.

Thank you Ballantine Books and NetGalley for the ARC.

I almost didn’t finish this one. The characters are honestly- annoying.
Eszter - I feel bad but I don’t like her. All these secrets we find out about are so dumb. She was so weak to me. Abby- I don’t like her either. She pushes too much it makes me uncomfortable sometimes. At what point do we just say leave it? The way she is with people she doesn’t know to find out about Eszter and when we get flashbacks to how Eszter was in the relationship.. why is she even that involved?? It seems to me Eszter wasn’t even 10% as devoted as Abby, so that was annoying. I wanted to know the secrets, so I kept reading- but this one was hard to get through.

I was so graciously given an ARC of this book, so this is my honest review.

It was so painfully slow. I could not get into it. I really really tried, but I just couldn't connect.

Was not invested enough in the characters or their love story, especially given the deception involved and did not think the ending was believable.

That being said, I loved what the author did with the setting! Very escapist.

This is not my typical kind of book but I am giving it 4 stars for the ending. As other have noted, this book is bit slow until it isn't. Slow read with a great ending and I would absolutely read more from Andrea Bartz.

The Last Ferry Out by Andrea Bartz, is about a young woman named Abby, who travels to Isla Colel to uncover the truth about her fiancée Eszter’s mysterious death. The secluded island, a tight-knit expat community, and a missing key witness all help to create suspense however this fell a little short for me.

The story begins with Abby arriving on the island, seeking answers that might help her make sense of her fiancée’s tragic death. Isla Colel, once a thriving tourist destination, is now a hauntingly quiet place, decimated by a hurricane and almost entirely cut off from the mainland. Abby quickly becomes involved with a group of expats, but things take a sinister turn when she learns that one of them knows more about Eszter’s last days. However, when the man vanishes before she can confront him, Abby’s search for the truth becomes even more dangerous and complicated.

There were moments I enjoyed but this book was slow. I just didn't make the connections I wanted with the characters. As Abby uncovers more secrets and I found out more information I still was not as hooked as I should have been. Eszter's death just seemed horribly tragic. This story just needed a little more action or romance. It just lacked that spark to make it a truly great book. There was some interesting action at the end but it was a little too late. Overall, this was not a bad book but I just did not enjoy it as much as I wanted to.

Thank you to Ballantine Books and NetGalley for this ARC.

I will tell you that the reason I kept reading it was because I was actually very curious about what the big secret was and, while it wouldn't be anything earth shaking to me, it was unexpected and satisfying. I also was pleased that the author was able to keep me guessing about the who and the why of everything.

Not my favorite, and you do have to devote some time, but overall not bad in the end.