In The Last Session, Julia Bartz delivers a gripping psychological thriller that delves into the complexities of identity, trauma, and the allure of cult-like environments. The story follows Thea, a social worker who becomes entangled in a mysterious wellness retreat after a patient with ties to her past disappears. Set against the stark backdrop of the New Mexico desert, the novel masterfully blurs the lines between reality and illusion, keeping readers on edge with its suspenseful twists. Bartz's evocative prose and deep character exploration make this a compelling read for fans of psychological suspense. The Last Session is a haunting journey into the human psyche that lingers long after the final page.

The Last Session was the uneven follow up to The Writing Retreat. When social worker Thea meets a patient in the psychiatric hospital she works at, she know she knew her from somewhere. When it turns out that it’s a actress from her favorite cult movie as a teenager, a character that she was obsessed with, Thea feels a deep connection with her. But when she abruptly disappears one day, Thea goes on a quest to find her, which leads her to a suspicious retreat in the desert, with a pair of questionable married leaders. While there, she tries to lay low while searching for her patient as well as someone else who went missing. But between the unconventional therapy sessions and suspicious guests and staff, Thea begins to question if her own life is in jeopardy. While the mystery and climax was engaging, the setting and topics were a touch unsettling to me, and I was rather relieved to put this one behind me.

Another book about a dangerous cult! In this novel, Thea, a social worker encounters a cathartic woman in the unit where she works. She has the feeling she knows her - and she does, the woman, Catherine, is an actress. Thea watched Catherine's movie multiple times as a child. When the woman is taken from the hospital, Thea decides to follow her to the facility in New Mexico where she encounters a mind-bending group of people who claim to use therapeutic methods to bring forth past lives.
A very strange novel with plenty of emphasis on erotic sexual encounters and facing sexual frustration. Also, it has many people who believe in past lives influencing current lives and decisions.
Strange and very weird.

DNF - I tried, but I just wasn’t connecting with the story or the characters. I’ve liked other books by this author in the past!

This was weird. The first part of the book was great- therapist and mystery patient, and then a retreat turned cult. But then things got a little mental and you have to suspend belief. Some loose ends and extremely unlikely stuff. I still enjoyed listening to this wacky one. TW: sexual abuse. Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!

This one was kinda like a fever dream for me....

I never knew what to believe on what was real and what wasn't.
There was a lot of mention of the cult vibe, but I wish I felt it a bit more rather than being told about it.

I struggled with this one. The writing wasn’t grabbing and I found the story lacking.
It started to really turn me off about 20% through. I ended up DNFing. I didn’t like the plot

Thank you to Atria Books, Netgalley and Julia Bartz for this eArc in exchange for an honest review. I read The Writing Retreat, enjoyed it enough (3 stars) so was looking forward to The Last Session, hoping it would be even better. A mysterious wellness center in the middle of the desert was giving cult vibes - sounded great!
Social worker, Thea, becomes obsessed with the mystery women that showed up at her center and suddenly disappeared. She swears she knows her somehow and ends up following her to a wellness center in the desert.
I enjoyed the first half of the book, but at a certain point things took a turn and got way too strange. This was the same feeling i had with her first book so I'm not sure i'll continue with this author/books.
Overall, not a bad read but didn't wow me and lost me around 50%

This book was okay. I was really excited to read it after reading the description but it did not live up to the hype. I felt like there was this big build up and then nothing happened. I could see the ending coming a mile away. And I really disliked the main character and some of her decisions.

3.25 stars

This is not at all what I was expecting, but I liked it, minus how convoluted it became. I had no idea that this book would become mythical/paranormal and go into the reincarnation realm which at times seemed like a fever dream. I loved this concept, but there were too many subplots and at times I couldn’t tell who was talking or if it was real.

The characters are very interesting. Having an unreliable MC as a social worker who works in a psychiatric hospital is a fun choice, but she hasn’t gotten over any of her past sexual trauma, so that seemed a little odd to me to write her that way.

Thanks NetGalley and publisher for the digital copy in exchange for my honest review!

Julia Bartz delivers another unsettling and thought-provoking thriller in The Last Session. Set at a remote retreat, the novel blends themes of trauma, self-discovery, and cult-like dynamics into a darkly atmospheric story that kept me hooked from the first page. Thea, the protagonist, is both vulnerable and determined, and her journey through unconventional therapy sessions and eerie group exercises was equal parts gripping and unsettling.

The writing is immersive, with the retreat setting feeling as menacing as it is alluring. I loved the way Bartz wove in complex themes, mental health ethics, intimacy, the lingering impact of childhood trauma, while still delivering sharp pacing, unexpected twists, and plenty of tension. The narrative dives deep into Thea’s psyche, balancing moments of high suspense with raw introspection.

That said, the story does occasionally stretch plausibility and veer into over-the-top territory, requiring some suspension of disbelief. A few elements felt uneven or rushed toward the end, and I didn’t find this one quite as strong as The Writing Retreat. Still, I admired the bold risks Bartz took with the narrative structure and the way she infused weightier themes into the thriller format.

Overall, The Last Session is eerie, layered, and deeply unsettling, a story that lingers long after the final page. While it may not work for every reader, those who enjoy cult thrillers, locked-room mysteries, and psychological suspense with a sharp edge will find plenty to love here.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (4/5 stars)

Many thanks to Atria Books and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

4.5 stars

Julia Bartz follows up her sharp debut with The Last Session, a tense, claustrophobic thriller that dissects power, ambition, and the danger of truth-telling. Set within the charged atmosphere of a final group therapy retreat, the novel traps its characters—and readers—in a pressure cooker of secrets ready to explode.

Bartz excels at peeling back layers. Every confession feels like a spark in a dry forest, each revelation raising the stakes until the air itself feels combustible. The writing is sleek and psychologically astute, probing not only what people hide from others, but what they refuse to admit to themselves.

What makes this book stand out is its intimacy—the suspense doesn’t come from shadowy figures lurking in the dark, but from people forced to sit across from one another, stripped of pretense, with nowhere left to run.

Unfortunately, this was a DNF for me. I did not find the story engaging and it was difficult to get into.

The Last Session by Julia Bartz is a taut, psychologically layered thriller that blends trauma, obsession, and the seductive pull of self-reinvention. As my first read by Bartz, I was struck by her ability to weave emotional vulnerability into a suspenseful narrative without sacrificing pace or tension. It’s a story that lingers both for its eerie setting and its raw portrayal of healing gone wrong. At the heart of the novel is Thea, a social worker whose past trauma quietly governs her present. She’s complex, flawed, and deeply empathetic qualities that make her both a compelling protagonist and an unreliable narrator. Catherine O’Brien, the catatonic patient who triggers Thea’s descent into obsession, is revealed to be a former child star with a disturbing history. Her presence is ghostly and magnetic. Moon and Sol, the enigmatic couple running the desert retreat, are equal parts charismatic and sinister. Their methods blur the line between therapy and manipulation. Jonah, a private investigator with a tangled connection to Thea, adds tension and ambiguity to the mix. Bartz excels at crafting characters who feel emotionally real, even when their circumstances veer into the surreal. The story begins in a psychiatric unit in New York, where Thea facilitates art therapy sessions. When Catherine is abruptly removed from the facility, Thea follows a trail to a remote wellness center in New Mexico. The retreat, run by Moon and Sol, promises radical healing through intimate exercises but beneath the surface lies something far more disturbing. As Thea infiltrates the center, she’s forced to confront her own buried trauma, and the lines between patient and therapist, truth and delusion, begin to blur. The desert setting is haunting isolated, sun-bleached, and quietly menacing. It amplifies the novel’s themes of exposure and transformation. The twist involving Thea’s resemblance to Catherine adds a layer of psychological intrigue. The retreat’s exercises designed to unlock romantic and sexual blockages become increasingly invasive, pushing Thea to her limits. Themes of identity, professional boundaries, and the commodification of pain are explored with nuance. Bartz doesn’t shy away from uncomfortable truths: how trauma can be exploited, how healing can be performative, and how obsession masquerades as care. Julia Bartz delivers a gripping, emotionally intelligent thriller that’s as much about inner demons as external threats. The Last Session is unsettling in the best way forcing readers to question the ethics of therapy, the cost of self-discovery, and the stories we tell to survive. As a first read, it left me eager to explore more of Bartz’s work.

This was a great book. I loved every paragraph, every sentence and every word of this masterpiece! I read it in 12 hours, which is a lot for me to do! It had everything and more laid out in the novel! I sure hope There is more to come from this author! I am totally hooked!

I'm so disappointed to not enjoy this one after giving The Writing Retreat. I am so tired of the use of the “I’m an adult and all of my friends are ahead of me in life” trope lately in all genres on top of multiple other issues here.

While I liked the setting and cult vibes of this story it ultimately did not work for me. However I am a big fan of Julia Bartz and can’t wait to see what they write next and hope for another opportunity to read it early.

What a wild ride?? I had a hard time with this one - definitely did not love it. The MC made a lot of stupid decisions for someone in her field but I was shocked a few times!!

A women shows up at a psychiatric unit in the hospital where Thea works. The patient is suddenly ripped away from Thea, just when Thea was starting to get some answers. Thea is determined to find this women and figure out the horrific events that led her to Thea. The hunt leads Thea to a Wellness Retreat in New Mexico where things are not at all what they seem. If Thea stays for the last session she might also lose her mind.

I loved this first part of this book, it sucked me in from the beginning and I was hooked. I wanted to know who this woman was and prayed Thea would be able to help her. However, the second part of the book about the Wellness Retreat and I definitely had to suspend my disbelief a lot more than I was prepared to do.

Overall, I enjoyed this book and look forward to the next Julia Bartz novel.

Thank you Julia Bartz and Atria for my complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review.

The Last Session is a gripping, emotionally charged thriller that kept me turning pages late into the night. Julia Bartz masterfully blends psychological tension with deep, authentic character work, creating a story that is both suspenseful and heartbreakingly human.
The novel’s central relationship is beautifully complex—raw, real, and full of emotional resonance—while the mystery unfolds with relentless precision. Bartz’s prose is sharp and immersive, pulling you into the twists and turns of the plot while making you care deeply about the characters’ fates.
Tense, thrilling, and deeply moving, The Last Session is the kind of book that haunts you long after the final chapter, leaving you reflecting on love, trust, and the choices we make when the stakes are highest.