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Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!

I really enjoyed that the main characters were a queer couple without it being the major focus of the story. I appreciated that it was treated like any other relationship and did not become the reason for violence or a point of homophobia within the story.

I also loved the multiple types of characters that were presented throughout the story and the way they seemingly wove together, despite being vastly different from one another but shared a desire to 'start over' or live differently.

Andrea Bartz' writing is excellent. I especially enjoyed the descriptions of Colel and the nature. I felt like I could picture myself there.

Overall I really enjoyed this book! The characters were interesting, the story kept me engaged. I had moments of being enraged by certain characters (don't want to spoil anything!) but in a way that made me want to keep reading.

3.5 stars!

I really enjoyed the pace and build of this one!

Abby is a newcomer on Isla Colel, where everyone has a secret and people give each other space to keep their secrets. Abby's fiancee, Ezster, tragically passed away on the island, and Abby needs to visit to process her grief. But even Ezster had her own secrets...

I enjoyed the twists and turns of this novel! I would have liked to get to know the characters on the island more, to understand their motivations and actions. Ultimately, while the ending was surprising and made sense within the novel, it would have been more satisfying if there had been more motivation behind the characters' actions, and a deeper reason behind the choices they made than what was on the surface.

Thank you for the eARC!

The Last Ferry Out has a great premise and takes place in an enticing setting. Abby travels to Isla Colel, a tropical island where her fiancée, Eszter' died. I enjoyed the premise of a woman searching for answers on an island with only one ferry going in and out on a weekly basis. I loved how this created a sort of trapped feeling which I enjoy in books. Plus, another person goes missing, well I thought this would be a slam dunk for me. Unfortunately, it was missing that little bit of something as well as a faster pace which would have earned this book a higher star rating.


I found this book to be slow moving, and I struggle with slow burns. I wanted things to hurry up quite a bit while reading. Some of those characters including Abby annoyed me at times. Hey, it happens we aren't meant to like them all. What I did enjoy was the setting, the atmosphere, the mystery, the secrets, and the twists.

The book is told mainly in the present but goes back and readers get to see Abby and Eszter together. This book looks at love, loss, secrets, and grief.

This was a solid three-star book for me. Enjoyable yet too slow in parts for me. Others enjoyed this book more than I did, so please read their reviews as well.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House for the eARC!
I enjoyed this one, it had me guessing quite a bit, but there was a lot of characters to keep track of, so it was a little on the difficult side to read.
I really liked the location/setting and the plot, but was not very surprised by the ending. I had it figured out about halfway through. I really feel like Abby and Ezster were kind of forced and didn’t really work together, so the romance aspect of the book wasn’t great. There just wasn’t chemistry between them when the flashback scenes would come.
It was entertaining to read, and the remoteness of the setting was fantastic.

Unfortunately I'm DNFing this at 70% in. I just can't get into this story. It is very much a slow burn mystery that is a little too slow burn. The characters are uninteresting and I feel that the story could literally be told in half the amount of pages as there is a lot of extraneous information that yes, may eventually lead to something, but it is taking entirely too long to take off.

I love an Andrea Bartz novel and while this one was moody and chilling, it was a bit slow moving for me. Abby was a great MC, doing her best to live through the grief of losing her fiance but it took until halfway through the book to get any action.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Random House Ballantine for the ARC.

Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for the ARC. I gave this book three stars because it was a slow moving book. It was almost halfway before things started moving along. This is my second book by this author and I was let down. I think the writing style was different than other works.

Andrea Bartz does it again. The Last Ferry Out was moody and atmospheric, and it had me completely hooked from the first page. I already love Bartz's work, but this one really struck a chord, especially because I loved Abby as a main character. She's grieving, raw, stubborn, and so compelling to follow as she digs into the mystery surrounding her fiancée Eszter’s death.

The setting, a decaying island paradise full of secrets with a cast of slightly off-kilter expats, was perfect. Think White Lotus but more bohemian and on a budget and you've got Isla Colel. The expats were interesting and likeable, yet I never quite knew which ones I could trust.

The only reason this isn’t a 5-star read for me is the pacing—there were a couple slow patches in the middle—but the payoff was absolutely worth it. Tense, twisty, and full of emotional depth, this one’s a must-read for thriller fans and Bartz devotees alike.

The Last Ferry Out
by Andrea Bartz
Pub Date: May 20 2025

In "The Last Ferry Out", I really enjoyed the tropical island setting and the storyline itself was amazing! It had my attention from start to finish. This story is not only a murder mystery but an examination of grief and loss. It's a solid mystery / thriller that I highly recommend.

Synopsis: On a trip to the tropical paradise where her fiancée died, a young woman begins to suspect the death was no accident—and the killer’s still on the island. When Abby decided to come to Isla Colel, she wasn't sure what—if anything—she'd find. She only knew that she needed to see the place where her fiancée, Eszter, died, to try and make sense of everything that happened. As her quest for the truth unearths dark secrets, shady pasts, and a web of lies, Abby grows more determined than ever to find out what happened to the love of her life. And the deeper she gets in the close-knit expat community, the more she suspects one of them is Eszter's killer—and will do anything to keep the truth buried. But will she discover who it is before she becomes the island’s next victim?

Many thanks to #RandomHousePublishingGroupBallantine #BallantineBooks and #NetGalley for providing an E-ARC of The Last Ferry Out. The publication day is May 20, 2025.

Thank you to Random House - Ballantine and Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Unfortunately this did not work for me at all. Which is a shame because I’ve liked other books by Bartz quite a bit. However, I had a hard time with the writing style of this book. A lot of the story is dialogue centric while the MC tries to find out what happened to her fiancée. But the dialogue was so. painfully. unnatural. I think a lot of biographical data was included in every conversation to develop the characters, but instead it just felt like an info dump on the reader. Plus it didn’t help flesh out these incredibly one-dimensional characters.

But my main issue is just how slow this was. It was a slog to get through. There was zero urgency in this plot whatsoever. I just couldn’t bring myself to care about the mystery, so when the twist came, I was both very underwhelmed and just so happy the book was over.

TL;DR - I don’t know why I didn’t DNF this one, other than I kept expecting it to get better because I know this author can write well. This book just wasn’t it for me. The Last Ferry Out will be released 5/20 if you want to try it for yourself.

1.5/5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley for inviting me to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I was going to give this 4 stars for the first half despite it being slow moving. I was intrigued at first to see where the story was going to go!

It was one of those books that I had a hard time picking it up, not because the writing was bad or anything, but because the story was slow, but it was still good enough that I wanted to know more.

I thought it was very well written! There were a lot of lines that were a very unique way to describe things. It was very descriptive. It felt like I was there by the ocean experiencing and smelling everything that Abby was.

At first I was connected to her and Eszter’s relationship right away, even though it was only told and not shown. But I think that was because I was seeing it through Abby‘s eyes. The more I read about them the more I realize they were not good for each other. I do not think they should have been together.

They were just not a good couple. They might’ve loved each other, but they didn’t respect each other. I do understand both sides to a certain extent, but I thought it was unfair of Abby to force Eszter not to talk to her parents. You shouldn’t be with someone if you’re not not okay with their choices. Abby also moved on very quickly. Eszter didn’t even really seem like she liked Abby that much. Just too many things didn’t work between them.

I related to Eszter in some ways. Abby as well at times. I wasn’t a huge fan of the rest of the parts of Eszter I didn’t relate to. I was upset at Eszter for how she thought about Abby at times. If she felt that way she should have said so from the beginning. I know she had a hard time with that, but Eszter had time to tell her things.

I liked Brady from what we saw of him. The rest of the characters I either didn’t care about or didn’t like.

Talk of Abby’s job was so pointless especially that it involved AI. It was mentioned all the time throughout the story with no payoff. I don’t think it was necessary to add in. It showed a little into her character how she reacts and feels about certain things, but we got enough of that from being in her head.

At least Abby was observational, especially when it came to what was going on with Brady. Not everyone would’ve put two in two together and I’m glad she paid attention to what was going on around her. Even if it sometimes lead her on the wrong path.

The ending was a little unrealistic with some of the things that happened. There was a lot of liars and suspicious people with no real payoff. The ending was kind of disappointing. As terrible as it sounds, I wish there was more bad intentions from these characters. Their secrets were kind of dumb and could have just been told to Abby even if they have a rule they can keep their secrets to themselves.

Some of the explanations of what happened I didn’t expect but other parts were pretty obvious. Maybe it wasn’t supposed to be a crazy thriller, but I wish there was more drama.

The ending really fell off for me sadly. There was a reveal that just felt like it was thrown in there to have a little bit of a twist, but at that point I didn’t care because the story felt done to me. It was interesting what happened, but it felt forced.

The plot wasn’t super cohesive, but the writing really made up for it! I still think it is worth the read, it is just not spectacular. If the story was reworked a little, I think this could be a very good novel.

Thanks to Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine | Ballantine Books and NetGalley for providing me with an early copy to read and review.

I was very excited to receive a copy as I’ve really enjoyed the author’s previous works. However, this one was a miss for me. It was so uneven. For the majority of the book (spoilers ahead), all I could think of was “Girl, she didn’t want to marry you. Move on!” But then there were parts where I saw glimmers of what I had enjoyed with this author’s writing before.

Overall, it was just too much of a slog to get through. The pacing was so slow. I felt like I was reading about a 24 hour time period for a week. And then was shocked when I realized it had only been one day in the timeline.

Great twists as always, but not my favorite.

Abby is so devastated at the death of her fiance that she returns to the place where she died an alllergic reaction for answers. Eszter was always so careful about foods and keeping her epipen with her. She meets the ex-pats that Eszter had befriended and tries to recreate her time on the island. Eszter had told her on the phone that she had something to tell her and would when she arrived but died before she could. Every question she asks turns into more secrets and questions and did she really know Eszter at all? Are the ex-pats withholding some information from her as well?

Thank you to Random House Publishing and NetGalley for the advanced reader copy.

Thank you to NetGalley and Ballantine Books of Penguin Random House for the eARC in exchange for my unbiased review.
Definitely an original plot line and I really felt for Abby, the main character, going thru unimaginable grief after the unexpected loss of her fiancé Eszter. At some point, you question every character and their involvement. The twists are twisty and definitely had me hooked and couldn’t wait to get to the ending!

Andrea Bartz doesn’t disappoint. This story builds around a tragic loss and the quest to discover what really happened on a remote Mexican island. It will keep you guessing about the people in Abby’s and Ezster’s life and the secrets surrounding them.

Abby wants closure about the death of her fiancée and travels to Isla Colel to see the paradise for herself. Her fiancée, Eszter, was a lively student with ambitions to build a name for herself in property development separately from her father. But she is seriously allergic to certain foods and is always hyper vigilant about what she eats. Never without her epi-pen, somehow Ezster ingests something while alone her own rental home and it is a deadly mistake. Or was it? The more Abby sees and experiences, the more she isn’t so sure the accident happened as the authorities say. As she spends time with the people who were friends with Ezster on the island, the mystery grows. Who are these people? What are they hiding from and more importantly, what aren’t they telling Abby?

Twisty and unexpected. Definitely worth the read.

I received a complementary ARC of this book from NetGalley on behalf of the author and the publisher.
This book pulled me right in and kept my interest. The remote island in Mexico is described in such detail and it sound like a beautiful island to get lost on. As Abby is trying to say a final goodbye to her fiancé who died on the island months before, she tried to meet some of the people who Eszter befriended in her time here. Questions keep arising as Abby finds out more things and they don't all add up. The description of life on the island makes this book so engrossing. As the story felt a little disappointing to me at the end it was still worth the read.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House for the eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The Last Ferry Out follows Abby as she works through her grieving process after losing her fiancee, Eszter, to an anaphylactic reaction while she was visiting a small island in Mexico. Eszter and Abby had been happily in love for over 4 years, when out of the blue, Eszter convinces Abby she wants to finish her graduate school capstone studies from Isla Colel in Mexico for a month. Abby, ever the supportive partner, but feeling like there's a missing piece of the puzzle - agrees to the plan. They both decide Abby will join Eszter for the last week of the trip. Four days before Abby's arrival, Eszter tragically dies from one of her many food allergies, alone in her Airbnb, unable to reach her Epipen. Several months later, Abby decides to visit Isla Colel, meet Eszter's friends, see where she took her last breath, and try and find a general closeness to her, but what she finds are endless secrets.

I really wanted to like this. I found Abby to be a really unlikable narrator. It's always jarring when the character's dialogue is so bubbly and bright, and their inner thoughts are doom and gloom. I understand the author was likely trying to portray Abby was masking her feelings of grief (which, she was not doing well) in some ways, but it was poorly executed and read very much like a character who did not have a fully flushed out character design. Almost like Abby was supposed to be two different people and in edits parts of each character that were liked the best were kept. Second, for a mystery/thriller I usually like when my books have a "villain" or a "bad guy."



*SPOILER*


This book almost teases Eszter was murdered and someone did something bad, so you're looking for a bad person. Really it's a grieving fiancee. Who does a bunch of terrible things. And people who commit medical negligence.


Overall, just not my cup of tea.

I really wanted to like this book—the cover immediately drew me in, and I’ve always been a fan of thrillers set on mysterious islands. The title practically jumped off the shelf. Unfortunately, this ended up being a DNF for me.

The pacing was incredibly slow and dragged on far too much for my taste. The writing leaned heavily on excessive detail—sometimes less really is more. For example, I didn’t need ten different descriptions of how the character’s shirt flowed in the wind. These moments pulled me out of the story instead of immersing me in it.

I also struggled to connect with the main character. I found myself putting the book down and feeling no urgency to pick it back up or find out what happened to her fiancé, which was supposed to be the central mystery.

If you're someone who enjoys slow burns with lush, descriptive prose, this might be more up your alley. But for me, it was a miss.

this was everything that I was looking for and enjoyed from this type of book. It was tense and worked well overall in the genre. Andrea Bartz was able to weave a strong storyline and enjoyed the characters. I'm excited to read more from Andrea Bartz as this was really well written.

Bartz’s newest book was a slow burn and a bit on the uneven side. Taking place on a mysterious Mexican island in the midst of a storm, it definitely had the atmospheric scene down and was a bit creepy, but it was difficult to connect with any of the characters. While I enjoy Bartz’s work this was not a favorite, but still worth the read. Thank you to Random House and NetGalley for an ARC of this book.