2.5 ⭐️ - I didn’t realize going into the book that the book revolved around a cult. The book was so extreme it was not enjoyable.

Thea is a social worker who has a patient who is a celebrity. Someone came to the hospital to take the celebrity home, but it wasn’t her parents. So Thea goes & tries to find her. The book then turns into a cult murder mystery?

I really struggled to not DNF, but I was determined to finish it & give it a shot.

Thank you NetGalley & Atris Books for the eARC.

I’ve heard a lot about the Writing Retreat and it piqued my interest on this book. I was unlucky enough to receive a copy from netgalley of this upcoming release. I have never had to fight so hard to read a book. This was genuinely just not a good time. The writing wasn’t good, the storyline was boring, and the characters were insufferable. I would write an in depth review of this book if the memories of reading it didn’t haunt me. Just don’t read it.

The Last Session by Julia Bartz is an intriguing psychological thriller that keeps readers engaged with its dark themes and twisting narrative. The story centers on a group therapy session gone awry, as the protagonist delves deeper into the secrets and manipulations surrounding her past. Bartz does a great job creating tension and suspense, and her writing is sharp and evocative, with plenty of twists to keep you guessing.

However, the book's over-reliance on sexual themes detracts from the overall experience.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read and review an early copy of The Last Session.

2.5 stars rounded up because the beginning of the book sucked me in and I couldn't wait to see what would happen. Unfortunately, this book was not for me and I could have gone without knowing what did happen... I think maybe this author is not for me. I wanted to love this one and the premise sounded so intriguing! Cult-y vibes abound and I was here for it. Until about 45% through the story, that's when things really started going off the rails. I don't typically have an issue suspending disbelief, but this was just something else entirely.

When social worker Thea meets her newest patient in the psych ward, a woman in a catatonic state whom no one knows where she came from or how she arrived there, she feels an instant connection to her. After the woman departs from the ward suddenly, Thea feels like she may be in trouble and sets off to find where she has gone. She finds herself at a retreat in the middle of the desert based on a clue she feels like Catharine left to lead her there. What happens at the retreat is far from anything you could ever imagine...Thea finds herself having strange dreams, therapy "sessions" with the retreats owners tend to go a little haywire for all of the participants. Who can be trusted? No one, literally no one. And you will roll your eyes at their every move.

This was chilling.

Similar to Julia's first novel, I thought The Last Session starts out strong, intriguing--if only because Thea's painful flashbacks to her childhood and the weird relationship she has to religion felt eerily like some of my own experiences. I think for this reason, I was riveted. The pacing was a little choppy at times, but I couldn't help but find any excuse to keep reading this book.

Around 63% of the novel, things started to slide away. The reincarnation plot/culty themes felt messy and distracting. This was Julia's weakness in The Writing Retreat--a believable start that erodes into the esoteric in a way that I feel detracts from the quality of the beginning. I was dissatisfied in Thea's resolution with her childhood abuser(s), but if Thea found the closure she needed, I'm happy for her.

I will continue to keep an eye out for Julia's books. She proves she has promise.

Anything relating to cults should inherently make you feel uncomfortable. Yet our main protagonist willingly travels to a mysterious wellness center secluded in the deserts of New Mexico.

Things open up with Thea working at a psychiatric unit hoping to help her childhood celebrity Catherine who comes in catatonic. We learn Catherine has been missing for a few years and has spent time in a cult. When Catherine goes missing yet again, Thea goes on a mission to help her, also trapping herself in this weird cult group.

Peculiar does not begin to describe it… the cult bases itself on an old b-list movie called Stargirl, making it hard to get behind. There are a lot of descriptive scenes, dreamlike states and unreliable narratives setting the scene at this cult.

As a big fan of The Writing Retreat, I was excited to dive into Julia Bartz’s work. She does not disappoint with her fast paced plot and engaging style. The story was weird to say the least. The twist at the end was based on a real New Mexico feature, which is creepy and fascinating all at once. I did google it, and learned something, increasing my enjoyment of this book.

Thanks to Atria Books for providing me with an e-ARC of this via Netgalley.

This was a fine thriller. It has notes of The Silent Patient. Some of the phrasing was repetitive, but I'm sure that'll be solved with further editing.

Overall, this book was better than the author's debut.

I will promote the book to my followers at @stressiereads this month.

Thanks!

I had a hard time connecting with this book because of Thea, the main character. I didn’t understand why she went to the center. She didn’t have a real reason why, so the events that happened seemed like they were careless, especially when she had opportunities to leave. I wanted to jump in the story and shake her! Eventually, it all felt like her doing. The members of the center were vial and unlikeable.

The Last Session by Julia Bartz is a psychological thriller about a social worker, Thea, who works in an inpatient psychiatric facility. Thea meets an unusual patient who eventually turns out to be her childhood celebrity idol. This patient goes missing and Thea travels to a wellness retreat in New Mexico to find and rescue her.

Books about therapy/therapists always catch my eye given my profession so when I saw this on NetGalley I immediately requested it.

The first part of the story is fine. The main character has a complicated history, which impacts her day-to-day choices and makes her a questionable narrator. As a therapist I found myself cringing many times at her decisions (not unusual for most books I read that have therapists in them).

As the story progresses, what could have been a true psychological thriller goes completely off the rails. I considered DNFing many times but held out, hoping for some surprising plot twists that would make it worth it (note: those never came).

Readers who enjoy thrillers about cults, mystical past lives, etc. might enjoy this book but if you are looking for something more grounded in reality then this is not for you.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and author for granting me a complimentary advanced reader copy of the ebook. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own and based off of this draft; the final publication may be different. Expected publication date is April 1, 2025.

I absolutely loved this book! The culty-thriller vibes were amazing. Sometimes I wasn’t sure what I was reading (kind of like Bunny by Mona Awad) but I couldn’t stop.

This was an amazing follow up to the writers retreat. The only negative I had—I didn’t u destined the connection from her eighth grade reunion, and the messages to melissa and pastor John. They didn’t really add a ton.

Thanks so much for the arc!

TW: sexual assault, grooming

As a big fan of The Writing Retreat, I was super excited to dive back into Julia Bartz’s work. As with both her prior novel and The Last Session, her writing style is fast paced and engaging making you not want to put it down. I’m happy to say that you can trust Bartz to write a thriller you can’t put down.

The writing may have been great but the plot on the other hand was weird to say the least. We follow this 33 year old social worker Thea as her childhood celebrity icon Catherine comes into her psych hospital catatonic. As the book progresses you find out Catherine was MIA for almost 5 years and has been in a cult out in New Mexico. Where things get really strange is the basis of the cult’s philosophy - an old B-list movie called Stargirl where a 13 year old priestess has an affair with a pharaoh 20+ years her senior and a young guard. The more descriptions we get of the movie, and we get a lot, the stranger and grosser it becomes. I do love a good cult story but this strange movie being the basis of their rituals was just really hard to get behind. Sure cults are weird but to believe that in a past life they all lived out a part in this Stargirl movie was a big stretch.

Definitely check your trigger warnings. There were a lot of disturbing scenes, especially involving underage girls, that could upset readers. There’s also a random orgy? Not for the faint of heart.

As weird as some of the plot points were, The Last Session was really hard to put down and I’d recommend to fans of The Writing Retreat and fast-paced thrillers.

Not your typical thriller / mystery book! I went in completely blind and absolutely loved the beginning of the book - it gave me Freida McFadden vibes but in the best way possible.

Thank you to NetGalley for an arc of this book.

I should begin by saying the four star rating is completely subjective, based on my wanting to continue reading late into the night. This book just found its correct audience with me.

This story is a three part timeline of the experiences of the protagonist, Thea. In part one, Thea is working as a social worker on a psych unit and meets a mysterious patient who feels familiar. Thea goes on to solve the mystery of who the patient is but that’s literally just the beginning of the connection she forges and the lengths she goes to in order to understand this patient.

The bulk of the book is actually about a group that Thea and a new cast of characters are working with. Lots of cult themes, past life regression, alleged trauma work happens. Trigger warning for description of sexual assault, grooming, and one graphic sex scene.

The overlap of the mental health and the cult themes was just IT for me. Despite this not being a great feat of literature, it read to me like a tv series I would watch, full of drama and suspense. I was actually scared at one point. Kudos for it being unlike anything else I have read-a very original storyline.

Huh. This was quite the book. I was really excited for it because I really enjoyed the authors debut novel, however this one was quite different. This one had a good start to the book. I was hooked and wholeheartedly invested in the mystery of Catherine. However, in part two, things took a turn, and not one I would consider for the better. This book was just a trip, and not a good one. In part two there is a whole lot going on and it involves a cult. I kept waiting for there to be a reveal that involved Thea and she wasn’t who we thought she was, but that was disappointing. Also, even though I’m a romance reader, I really didn’t see how this book was helped with the addition of the group of four. It came out of nowhere and didn’t add anything to the plot, I was just shaking my head because I couldn’t believe it. There is a lot going on in this book, and it didn’t hit the way I needed it to.

If you’re looking for a book about a cult, then you might be interested in this one.

We are introduced to a fresh social worker working at a psychiatric hospital, who meets a client that she feels a connection with, the odd part is that she resembles her physically. When this patient leaves the hospital under mysterious circumstances, she decides to majorly cross therapeutic boundaries and go find her. As a therapist, this really threw me off. She goes to an expensive retreat and tries to solve the mystery of her missing client. There is a lot of drama, there is a quite a bit of action, and low and behold, we have cult like behaviors going on.

I think the premise of the book was good, I think the execution really lacked for me. I definitely would have liked to have a warning before the anti-God, anti-Catholism, orgy aspect of the book. I think the character development was interesting but not enough for it to make up for the other aspects. It was fairly predictable but it had so much going on it was hard to follow.

Thank you to NetGalley, Atria Books and Julia Bart’s for the eARC of The Last Session. The Last Session by Julia Bartz is set for publication 01 April 2025.

This book was a great read from start to finish. There wasn't a slow moment. It definitely headed in a direction I didn't see coming. Thea, a social worker who battles her own inner sexual demon's becomes obsessed with her celebrity doppelgänger Catherine. One day Catherine shows up at Thea's facility for treatment after she was found in the middle of a Highway, comatose. When Catherine is discharged Thea follows clues to Catherine's location. She ends up at a Center for relational healing, and signs up for a retreat with a group of new age healers. The weekend retreat turns out to be more than she bargains for and not what she expected at all. If you like thrillers with a lot of spice this one is for you, but trigger warning, there are some scenes that may be sensitive for some readers.

Thank you to NetGalley, Atria Books, and Simon and Schuster, LLC for my ARC in exchange for my honest review.

MY REVIEW: I really loved The Writing Retreat, so I was very excited to get into The Last Session. Just like her debut novel, Bartz gives us an atmospheric, locked room thriller that draws immediate intrigue. Just when you think the plot will take you in one direction, it morphs into an out-of-pocket storyline with so unexpected twists, you will wonder what you’ve just read. In a setting as haunting as the plot, the cult-y, eerie wellness center boasts no shortage of nightmares, unconventional therapy sessions, and the unearthing of traumatic pasts that will leave your head reeling.

Thea is a social worker at an in-patient psychiatric hospital, who recognizes the new catatonic patient as her favorite actress, Catherine, from when she was a teenager. When Catherine is signed out of the hospital by strangers, Thea becomes obsessed with uncovering how Catherine ended up in the psych ward and the details surrounding her sudden departure. This is where the story takes a sharp turn to the New Mexico Desert at the Center for Relational Healing; Thea dives headfirst into the mystery and is about to have her mind blown. In the desert we meet a host of ominous characters that had me guessing the entire time; I truly did not know who could be trusted. As Thea’s layers were peeled back, I even questioned her truth at times.

I did have to re-read some parts to wrap my head around the scenes I was reading; the plot jumps quickly and I felt like characters were just kinda popping up left and right. The entire vibe of the book is giving whiplash, and it mostly worked.

4/5!!!!!

read if you're into: social worker, locked room thriller, New Mexico desert, mysterious wellness center, intimate exercises, cults, reincarnation, teenage trauma, nightmares, caves, unconventional therapy sessions, thriller/mystery

The Last Session is a psychological thriller based on the disappearance of a celebrity. However, when the main character gets involved in the search, the story takes a propulsive and shocking turn. There is a mythology threaded throughout the plot in order to make deeper connections; however, the fantastical stories of past lives served to distance me from the book. The main action of the plot was very intriguing and alarming at times, I found myself creeped out and my brain going in strange directions. It truly is a disturbing book and the cult experience was mesmerizing. I felt almost in another dimension at times. Great story, without the science-fiction parts.Thank you to Atria Books and NetGalley for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

Thea is a therapist working in a state psychiatric hospital when a strange, but familiar, catatonic patient arrives. This sets off a story with a wild ride of childhood sexual abuse, past life regression, cults, mistaken identities, occult practices. It was all a little too much for me. If you like wandering, mind bending stories, this one is for you. If you want a more traditional mystery or psychological thriller, this might not be the right pick. Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for the free ARC e-book.

2.5 stars, so 3. I lowered rating half a star as I was writing review.

Thea is a young social worker at a psychiatric hospital who comes across a patient she feels an odd connection with… and the woman that resembles her. The woman is mute and majorly traumatized upon entering the hospital, then claims she doesn’t remember anything that led her there. Then the woman disappears.

In a move I don’t understand at all, except to assume Thea wasn’t really a social worker at the hospital but instead a patient? Maybe everyone in this book is a patient? Maybe all this is taking place in a snow globe? I don’t know, but anyway, Thea decides that she must find the missing patient, and, you know, just peaces out on her job and her life in order to do so. As you would.

In searching for the patient Thea comes across a couple holding monthly retreats to help people with romantic and sexual issues. So, NATURALLY, Thea, thinking the woman might be found at the retreat just goes ahead and signs herself up…for something she believes might have driven the woman she is seeking into a mute trauma response. Again, as you would do.

In a surprise to exactly no one but Thea the Incredulous the retreat turns out to be….oh, I don’t know, a bit icky. Is the woman there? What is going on?

Oh, there’s also some stuff about Thea’s childhood and some movie she was obsessed with as a kid. This is all important.

So, other than having to suspend a fair amount of disbelief when wondering how Thea makes it through the day without getting hit by a bus, and whether the girl has one ounce of survival instinct (spoiler alert: she does not), the tone of this book felt….heavy to me. It took me awhile to get through it. Maybe that just means Bartz does atmosphere well. I think I’m likely to be an outlier in not loving it, and there were parts of it I liked fine, hence the three stars versus two. I fear I’m not explaining this well….did a book ever just give you a feeling you didn’t like? This was that, for me. 2.5 stars, really rounded to three.