Social worker, Thea, works at a psychiatric unit where she starts to feel that she somehow knows one of the newly admitted patients, who comes in catatonic and traumatized. The patient admits she has no knowledge of the events that led to her arrival and Thea uncovers that she knows this woman from her own past.
When the patient dissappears, Thea tries to follow her and track her down but this leads to an dangerous path for both women.
Note, multiple triggers throughout the book. 2 stars given for the slow burner, unprobability of the plot and situations, and overall slow read for a thriller.

This book was dark and twisted. It starts out with a social worker, Thea, who befriends one of her patients, Catherine. Catherine was a movie star who starred in the movie Stargirl that Thea had come to love as a 13-year-old. She had shown up in the clinic catatonic, but then, after Thea had spent a great deal of time talking to her, she came out of it. The clinic phoned her parents and they came to get her. But imposters showed up claiming to be her parents and took her away. She had left behind a note for Thea that led her to a podcast. The podcast featured Moon and her partner, Sol. They ran a cult in New Mexico so Thea decided to go there thinking they were the ones who had kidnapped. Catherine and she wanted to bring her back. In the meantime, Thea had met a PI by the name of Jonah. He told her that he was hired by Catherine's parents to find her. So Thea bought admission into the cult. When she got there, Jonah was there.

Once there, they were able to locate Catherine. It was decided that they would leave at 4:00 in the morning and that Catherine would accompany them. But that didn't happen. Sol and Moon got Thea and Jonah drunk and they had an orgy.

Moon and Sol's cult was all about past lives. Thea and Catherine looked just alike and it was decided that they were sisters. So there was all this talk about Thes's past life and that she needed to be a sacrifice. That's when everything went haywire. It turns out that Jonah was a part of the cult and his real name was Joe. They wanted to put Thea in a black hole in a cave. When she refused, they tied her up. And like I said, this is when everything went haywire. They dropped her in the black hole, and the narrative changed from Thea to Catherine. After that, I have no idea where the story went. It became convoluted and went to a different place all together. There was nothing about this book that I liked. It went off the deep end in a big way. I feel like I wasted my time reading it. I would never recommend it. I gave it one star.

This book has everything: cults, mystery, potentially mystical or inexplicable events. It was right up my alley, and I found it thoroughly enjoyable. It was also fun that it started in one setting, with a certain tone, and then sort of unraveled in an entirely unexpected way. I'm excited to see more from Bartz.

after loving her debut the writing retreat, i happily came back to find a sexual tension queer thriller this time set in the new mexican desert. BIG SLAY from one social worker to another <3

Reviewed for NetGalley:

Thea, a social worker working in a psychiatric facility comes face to face to an unknown patient just admitted for catatonia and psychosis, that looks eerily like her.

Shortly after discovering the identity of her patient, the woman disappears in the hands of a couple posing as her parents. Thea goes above and beyond to track this patient down....to a cult.

Overall enjoyable, just suspended disbelief in some of the plot lines.

The last session was a wild ride. While cult thrillers have been done many times over, this takes a fresh crack at it and does a solid job at it. I went in expecting a fluff thriller, and was genuinely in suspense at times. The female main character's character arc was satisfying, as you meet her in a place where she seems generally ambivalent about her life and unwilling to take charge of it. It's a refreshing change to see her take the reigns more as the story progresses. I felt similarly to The Last Session as I did about the author's previous book - It was perfectly entertaining with some enjoyably unique elements. Would recommend as a summer read.

An intriguing psychological thriller with a bit of a paranormal slant. Including elements of deception, romance, drama, and mystery this one will keep you turning the pages for more.

I really enjoy Julia Bartz but this book was just not for me. I could not get into the story line or the characters. I am sure for the right reader this would be a great read. I am thankful for the early copy.

I was interested in the first 20% of the book, but the rest of the book was not for me. The more I read the more I was rushing for it to be over due to the over the top cult life and spirituality aspect of the book. The description says it's a locked room thriller and I think that is a misrepresentation.

Thank you NetGalley and Atria Books for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Whew! Crazy cult action, poor decision-making by our main character, Thea, and a subplot about a movie Thea was obsessed with as a teen (which has not aged well—hello completely age-inappropriateness between the two stars) make for a really wild ride. I have to admit I preferred Julia Bartz’s first novel, The Writing Retreat, to this one, but she certainly has a way with plot and I’ll happily read her next one! 3.5 stars rounded up to 4’

Thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for my review copy!

Thea is a social worker who hasn’t found her happily ever after. She is a social worker working on a psych ward. A celebrity shows up on the ward. And then Thea goes chasing after a missing person to a cult like retreat. There is a lot of mystery , sexuality, religion explored there. And then there is the mystery. The writing is fast paced. There was definitely some good character development.

I wanted to like this but it felt soooo dull. I also tried it as an audiobook and was just not vibing with it. I think this could be a nice read for someone else, it just wasn't my cup of tea.

This psychological thriller is well written and a great, gripping read. Her character development is well developed, written with skillful prose. The book has twists and turns a plenty, and keeps readers guessing until the end. I recommend this book, and look forward to reading more from this author.

A catatonic woman shows up at the psychiatric unit and social worker, Thea, swears she knows her from somewhere. She then finds the woman holds a link to her past. When the woman comes out of her state, she can't recall a thing.
Determined to find the truth, Thea follows a trail to a remote wellness centre in New Mexico.

As with the authors previous novel, I thoroughly enjoyed the writing here and there were many unpredictable twists. I definitely connected more with the first part of the book but I found the second part a little off the rails. With all of that said, I would read anything this author writes and can't wait to see what she does next.

Thanks so much to NetGalley and Atria Books for this gifted review copy.

This book is the definition of “wtf did I just read?” This book sucked me in immediately! I needed to know what was going on with Catherine, where she came from & what she’d been through! While I didn’t love all of Thea’s choices (ahem, stop orgy-ing & save your friend Ms ma’am) I still enjoyed the ride. If you love a good cult book, pick this one up!
Overall I really enjoyed this book, thank you so much to Julia Bartz, Netgalley & the publisher for allowing me to read this early!

I enjoyed reading this book! it was well written with a good mystery thriller feeling. It did keep me on the edge of my seat wanting to know all of what was going on, and to uncover all of the secrets. It was a good read!!

Thank you to NetGalley, to the author, and to the publisher for this complimentary ARC in exchange for my honest review!!!

I really enjoyed Bartz's first novel, the Writing Retreat, so when I saw this on NetGalley, I had to request it! Unfortunately, this one was just not for me. I was super engrossed in the first half of the book, but by the second half, I just couldn't get on board with the turn the story had taken as it relied heavily on the suspension of disbelief. I can handle a little bit of this in a book if it really pays off in the end, but by the end, this just felt a little absurd and anticlimactic. While the plot was unique (which can be difficult to find in thrillers), things just felt all over the place and disjointed. I understand what the author was going for, but it just didn't work for me at all.

I'm sad to say that, if I hadn't read her first book, I honestly don't think I would have finished this one. I was just really hoping that things would come together in a more cohesive way. I do plan to check out Bartz's next book, as I'm hopeful that the strengths in her debut novel might resurface.

Thank you so much to the publisher and to NetGalley for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book kept me on the edge of my seat. I really couldn't figure out what was happening. I enjoyed it and love that it wasn't very predictable. I love suspenseful book and this is one of them.

Julia's books always keep me enthralled, if not a little weirded out. I love a good cult novel, so I was invested from the start.

The premise for this book really intrigued me but unfortunately the execution fell short for me. The beginning took me a little while to get into and feels like a different story than where it ended up. The beginning is definitely needed to set up the story and allow Thea and Catherine to meet. Once Thea gets to the Center, the main plot really takes off.
I find cult culture interesting so that aspect of the book drew me in. However, I didn't love all the focus on the movie Stargirl, the movie itself seemed crazy and far fetched in the first place. I guess it makes sense for the reincarnation plot but I just didn't like it.
This book has many trigger warnings so be careful of those- sexual child abuse, grooming, bullying to name a few