The Last Session by Julia Bartz is a psychological thriller that took me on a wild ride, and I couldn't put down! As my first experience with Julia Bartz's writing, I was thoroughly impressed and can't wait to explore her other works, including "The Writing Retreat."

The premise is absolutely captivating—two women who share striking similarities, from their appearance to their birthdays and childhood experiences. The story follows Thea, a somewhat adrift social worker at a psychiatric ward whose life is completely upended when a catatonic celebrity patient arrives with mysterious connections to Thea's past.

What begins as a workplace mystery soon transforms into a desert adventure as Thea becomes an amateur detective, infiltrating what might be a cult disguised as a wellness retreat in the New Mexico desert. The search for answers about both the missing patient and Thea's own unusual connection to her kept me completely engrossed. The pacing is excellent, maintaining tension and engagement from beginning to end. While the plot gets increasingly complex and sometimes ventures into wild territory with its many twists and components, that's exactly what made it so fun!

Thea is such a compelling protagonist—flawed, a bit messy, with plenty of unresolved issues, but impossible not to root for. Outside of Thea, you'll encounter characters that you'll love, others you'll despise, and some who might completely surprise you. If you enjoy thrillers that keep you guessing, especially those with locked-room elements and atmospheric natural settings, you'll have a blast with this desert expedition into psychological suspense.

Thank you to Julia Bartz, Atria Books and NetGalley for the ARC of this thrilling read!

This was definitely an interesting book. I enjoyed the premise and the twists kept me guessing, but ultimately it was a little much for me.

This book is a mystery/psychological thriller about a social worker named Thea who encounters a patient that is in a catatonic state. Thea becomes intrigued with this patient and she believes there is something familiar about her but can't figure it out. The patient has no recollection of what caused her to be in this state so Thea tries to work with her to figure it out.

One morning the patient is no longer at the facility and Thea feels conflicted thinking that she could have done more to help. She eventually uncovers clues that help her locate a possible place where the patient may be and she ends up in a retreat in New Mexico. This is where she begins to unravel the truth behind the mystery patient.

This book has a lot of heavy topics as Thea recalls her past trauma that comes to the surface during the sessions at the retreat. She not only battles her own past from which she hasn't fully healed but she has to try to help the patient that she was looking for.

Overall the story kept me wanting to read more to find out the truth. There were some parts that made me feel annoyed with Thea because of the choices she made.

Thank you Netgalley and Atria Books. All opinions are my own.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for an advanced electronic copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Thea is a therapist who works in a psychiatric facility, and is shocked to recognize a "Jane Doe" patient as an actress she admired in her youth. When the actress, Catherine, is taken from the facility, Thea follows clues to find her and ends up in the desert in New Mexico at a retreat, but nothing is as straightforward as promised.

This book is a fun glance at cults and what they can look like/evolve into but it's honestly so wild that I was starting to roll my eyes. I enjoyed it for the most part! But eventually it started to feel like I had to suspend too much belief, even for a work of fiction.

CW: gaslighting, cults, sexual content, confinement, violence, murder, mental illness

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria for an eARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Unfortunately this was a DNF for me. I just could not get into the story. I didn’t care for the characters, the cultish plot, and the constant references to the Stargirl movie. I tried to keep going but I just couldn’t do it.

I wasn’t a fan of Julia Bartz first book The Writing Retreat but I wanted to give it another try with The Last Session. I really shouldn’t have. The first part of the book is good, then it all falls apart. It just kept getting weirder as it went on.
I won’t be reading anything else by this author.

Julia Bartz's debut THE WRITING RETREAT was such a great suspenseful, atmospheric story. When I saw that Bartz's second novel THE LAST SESSION was available, I knew I had to read it. Unfortunately, this novel doesn't hold up like the author's first one. Something about the main character Thea's fixation on a movie and movie star she obsessed over when she was thirteen years old made this feel immature. As initial information unfolds for Thea and the mysterious new patient in the psychiatric unit, it seems like a thirteen-year-old's dream coming true. That's not so bad but the issue is that Thea comes across as thirteen. From there, many (if not most) of Thea's actions seemed like those of a teenager. How does Thea go from needing to find a new apartment and not having money to blowing all of her money chasing after the "mysterious new patient"? The story never came together the way it needed to so that it was compelling enough to move from a psychiatric ward to a cult in the desert.

Thea, a new social worker, is given a patient that has an eerie resemblance to her and is soon draw into a wellness cult in the desert. I was hoping for a quick fun beach read, unfortunately this one just kind went in a direction that didn’t quite work me. Others may enjoy one this but it just wasn’t for me. Thanks to NetGalley for a chance to read and review this book.

The Last Session by Julia Bartz is a propulsive thriller with a locked room vibe and cult elements. Content Warning: Alcohol abuse, religious abuse, child abuse, sexual harassment/assault, physical violence, cults, psychosis, murder and an off-page suicide attempt.

Thea is a social worker in a psychiatric unit in New York City with her own issues and trauma that she is struggling to deal with. One day a catatonic woman is brought in to the unit and Thea swears that she has seen her before. When she makes the connection that the patient is actually a famous actress whom she had idolized as a teenager, she feels an even stronger pull to help this woman. Then when the patient disappears from the unit, Thea is drawn into a journey to New Mexico to help save her. The Center for Relational Healing is a picturesque retreat in the desert that addresses romantic and sexual issues and is run by an enigmatic couple named Moon and Sol. As Thea tries to find Catherine and help her, she also finds herself drawn into exploring her own past and the trauma that she would rather forget.

I truly think the best way to go in to this book is as blind as possible... I don't want to spoil it for anyone! The atmospheric setting draws readers in and the premise is unique. I love cult-ish books and this one is a great read. Quick paced, The Last Session will pull you in and have you hooked. It does require you to suspend your beliefs a bit but I think that Bartz did a fantastic job tying everything up together in to a story that will stick with you.

Thank you to NetGalley, Julia Bartz, and Atria Books/ Emily Bestler for this ARC!! Publication date is April 1st 2025.

I was so excited to dive into this one! I enjoyed the authors last book, and this one sounded so interesting.

The book is about Thea, a social worker at a NYC hospital. One day a new patient comes in, and she recognizes her as a famous child actress- Catherine. While Catherine’s stay is short, Thea feels a connection with her. Catherine is picked up and mysteriously disappears again but leaves behind a note for Thea- and now she feels she must save her.

The story then goes on to take place at a retreat in New Mexico and that’s where things turn south. Weird situations, cult like behaviors, some familiar people all in an extremely remote place. Thea is trying to solve the mystery but doesn’t know who to trust.

I will say I love most of the book. It was fast paced, intriguing, and different than what I read. I loved trying to figure out what was going on at that center. I will say some part are extremely over the top. I didn’t mind as much, but if you’re a reader that can suspend disbelief completely then you are in for a fun ride. Similar to the plot in The Business Trip.

Overall, I thought it was unique, fast-paced, and exciting. Was it over the top especially in the end? yes, but I still enjoyed it!

This book comes out April 1st (tomorrow)! Thanks to atria and netgalley for an advance copy!

Thank you to Atria Books, NetGalley, and Julia Bartz for an ARC in exchange for my honest review!

This book took me on a TRIP, and I loved every minute of it! It was so weird and mind bending, but I was hooked and invested throughout the whole story, just because it was something that I truly had never read before. Julia Bartz has a way of telling a story that leaves you feeling dazed and enamored as a reader, largely because of the atmosphere she creates. I felt like I was a part of the story, traveling through this mind-bending plotline with each character.

After finishing this book, I took about 12 hours off from reading to stare at the ceiling and contemplate life, along with what I had just read. With that being said, if you are a lover of Tarryn Fisher’s An Honest Lie, or any thriller with cult themes, you will EAT THIS UP!

The Last Session by Julia Bartz
Pub Date: 4/1/25
Format: ebook

This book had such a fun premise! I was a fan of Bartz’s debut novel and was super stoked when I was approved for the eARC (thank you @netgalley)!

This is a weird thriller but I somehow wanted it to be weirder. Our main character works as a social worker at an inpatient program in New York and is shocked when the Jane Doe brought in not only looks like her, but is also an actress from a movie she was obsessed with in high school.

I don’t want to give too many details away because this one gets twisty, but our main character does go to a “wellness retreat” in New Mexico to try to find her Jane Doe after she is checked out from the treatment center by imposters pretending to be her parents.

This book is bananas. It really had me sucked in for the first half, but the second half had pacing issues and I also wanted to throw my book with every infuriating decision our FMC made.

If you’re looking for a different thriller with plenty of twists, this one isn’t bad! Just also not a major standout in the genre.

The Last Session by Julia Bartz

I was excited to read this book as I really enjoyed The Writing Retreat; unfortunately this book didn’t wow me quite as much.

The first half of the book started strong and kept me engaged but as I moved past this point, it started to fall apart for me. The plot just got too unrealistic to me and I had a hard time following. The whole cult part was a bit weird for me and usually I don’t mind cult plots.

I really wanted to like this one….it fell a bit short for me.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the eARC of this title in exchange for my honest opinion and feedback.

3-⭐️

I really wanted to love this one but I definitely struggled to finish it. While the first half of the book captured me pretty quickly, the second half was just confusing with sometimes implausible and bizarre twists and a rushed and anticlimactic ending. I loved Julia Bartz's first novel, The Writing Retreat, and I was hoping to love this one just as much, but it didn't quite hit the way her first book did. I will still continue to check out her books though because she does have premises and plots that I find to be unique and gravitate towards, and while I still liked this book, I just didn't love it the way I thought I would.

Thank you to Netgalley for an eArc.

I’ve really enjoyed other novels by Bartz and the premise and beginning of The Last Session gave me extremely high hopes. A mix of psychology with a catatonic patient, the patient being a famous actress, and then throw in a cult?! HECK YES. However, this one quite literally went off the rails and I just couldn’t get there.

I had a hard time connecting with the protagonist Thea. She had a traumatic past that really shaped her and while I felt for her, it was exhausting and really drives me to suspend belief. Honestly, who throws a reunion for an eighth grade class?! I also never understood her fixation on a child actress and movie from 15 years ago. It was all bizarre and again, just too outside what I could get myself to believe, even for fiction.

Once Thea (who was broke) decided to go to the ridiculously expensive relationship retreat, all beta were off. She came off as too naive and trusting and for being a social worker (which was portrayed as a full below therapist in the novel), she had horrific instincts and judgment.

All in all this one was a miss. It certainly won’t turn me off to Bartz but I need my fiction grounded a little more in reality or I needed just the cult story and not the six other fluff plots mixed in.

Thank you to Atria for the copy.

The Last Session is a cult-y locked room thriller set at a mysterious retreat in the desert of New Mexico, where Thea, a social worker from New York struggling with her past, attends, eager to uncover the secrets within.
The atmosphere of this book was so unsettling. It was clear there was something strange going on at the otherwise picturesque dating retreat. The overall vibe was disconcerting, especially the hosts. I was really drawn in, despite not really enjoying the main character, needing to solve this mystery right along with her, and I had high hopes for where it was going. Unfortunately the second half of the book almost felt like an entirely different path. Usually I don’t have a problem with suspending disbelief but this one was maybe a little too far fetched even for me. There was a lot going on and maybe not in the best way? It was definitely a whirlwind that I didn’t hate and I didn’t love, overall.
I do have the author’s debut novel and I enjoy the premise of that one, so I’ll definitely be reading that still, this didn’t put me off her work at all. If you like cult suspenses I’d still give this one a shot!

Thank you to Atria/Emily Bestler Books for sending me a digital review copy!
Publication date 4/1/25

WHAT an incredible and phenomenal locked-room (my FAVORITE type of thriller). Julia and her sister are absolutely of a kind and I read this entirely in one gulp.

So I was hooked during the first third of this book, then it went downhill and I normally like cult stories. Thea and her choices were not believable and it was too far fetched for me.

I loved the first Julia Bart book, so I went into The Last Session thinking, Yes! This is going to be my jam! I mean, cults, psychology, mysterious twins—this book had all the ingredients for something amazing.

And then…it just kept getting weirder.

At first, I was intrigued. The setup was strong, the vibes were eerie, and I was ready for a psychological deep dive. But then the plot just spiraled further and further into nonsense until it slipped right past my brain’s ability to suspend disbelief.

And Thea—oh, Thea. If there was a worst possible decision to make, she was on it. This woman couldn't find a good choice if you handed her a GPS, a tour guide, and a flashing neon sign that said “THIS WAY TO COMMON SENSE.”

Then there’s the connection to that wildly ridiculous movie, which started off as a fun reference but quickly became a full-blown exercise in how far can we push this before the reader’s eyeballs get stuck from rolling so hard?

Look, I’m still on board with Julia Bart as an author—I’ll keep reading her books. But this one? Not for me. If you love a thriller that just goes for it, you might vibe with this more than I did. Personally, I was left equal parts confused, exhausted, and questioning my life choices.

The Last Session by Jessica Bartz releases on 4/1! Thank you to Atria Books, NetGalley, and Jessica Bartz for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed this book, and thought the premise was unique and intriguing. Here we have a social worker confronted with a patient that she recognizes and can’t put her finger on. Thea is determined to figure it out, and follows a trail to New Mexico to get to the bottom of what the connection is.

I felt the same about The Writing Retreat as I did about The Last Session, unfortunately, which was “meh.” There was potential and intrigue, but not enough to keep me hooked. It felt like there was just too many unrealistic plot points that it made the entire book just seem too fake? I’m all about an unrealistic point or two for the sake of movement or clarity, but this was just too much for me, unfortunately!