Wow! I really like this book! Abby, Eszter, and the expat inhabitants are keeping secrets from each other and themselves but that’s what makes this such a page turner. There are so many things going on in this-love, family, environmental issues, tourism, grief and growth-but it is all expertly woven together by Andrea Bartz in a great read.

Thanks to Netgalley, Ballantine Books and Ms Bartz for this ebook arc to read. All opinions are my own

🌴The Last Ferry Out🌴

I read one of Andrea Bartz’s books last year and really enjoyed it so I was excited to get a change to read an early copy of her upcoming book, The Last Ferry Out.

I love a murder mystery so the premise of this one really had me hooked. Bartz set up such a beautiful, yet eerie island setting that really transported me into the story. Both Abby, in the present, and Eszther, through flashbacks, were really interesting and well developed characters. While desperate to find out what happened to her fiancee, she also is navigating some heavy grief. The cast of characters are mysterious and constantly had me trying to figure out what happened to Eszther and who, if anyone, was involved. Full of twists and turns, it really had me on my toes.

Overall, I really enjoyed this one and look forward to reading more of Andrea Bartz’s work!

A big thank you to @randomhouse & @netgalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review, The Last Ferry Out is available on May 20th!

⭐4/5 stars⭐

Thank you to @netgalley and #RandomHouseBallatine for this ARC. Eszter tells her fiancé Abby that she wants to take a trip to Isla Colel to work on her Master's Project. Abby is to join her the last week of her trip. Unfortunately, Eszter dies from anaphylactic shock so Abby arrives on the island to learn details of her final days. Knowing Eszter was over the top careful with her allergies, she came armed looking for answers. What she finds is more questions. #TheLastFerryOut #AndreaBartz #RandomHouse #Ballatine #May2025

The Last Ferry Out is an intriguing murder mystery set on a secluded island off the coast of Mexico—a setting that instantly pulled me in and made me wish I was reading it on the beach. The story follows Abby, who came to the island to see the last place her fiancée was before she died. She meets the group of expats who all seem to have escaped something in their past, and that premise alone kept me interested. While the pacing felt a bit slow in the beginning, the second half really picks up, and the twist at the end genuinely surprised me. Overall, it’s an atmospheric and thoughtful read with a satisfying payoff.

Thank you to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

I read this book in one day while traveling and loved it! Lots of characters and more in the background to add to the main characters! Had a lot of twists and turns at the end and I loved that. Everything was tied up the end! Would read another book by this author!

I've read some of Andrea Bartz's other books and really enjoyed them but this one didn't have the same hook for me.

Abby is devastated when her fianceé dies on a remote Mexican island, just days before she was supposed to join her. Thinking it will help her get closure, Abby books her own trip to the island to try and talk to the people there she was friendly with. But Abby learns two things pretty quickly: (1) this small group of English-speaking expats are hiding something and (2) Eszter made a lot of decisions in the months leading up to her death that Abby knew nothing about.

Instead of getting the peace she so desperately needs, Abby has a lot more questions. And she has no idea who she can trust to get them.

Had a locked room kind of vibe with so few people on the island, but some of the major plot lines felt a little rushed and not well-flushed out. It was good but not a standout in this genre for me!

I really enjoyed this one. No matter how many books I read in isolated settings, I always really enjoy them. The main character was insufferable which I believe was intentional because it was important to the story. The ending felt a bit rushed for me.

I gave this book 3 stars. Some parts were slow and the ending seemed rushed and came out of nowhere

The preview for The Last Ferry Out by Andrea Bartz had me so excited to read it. However the actual book was a bit of a letdown as I dont think it lived up to the exciting preview. I really wanted to DNF it but also had to see how it all ended and I was disappointed by the ending. I really loved some of the characters and the setting of the book but the twists and ending really left a lot more to be desired for me.

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for a copy of this!

Atmospheric and deeply unsettling, this tropical thriller peels back the layers of paradise to reveal something far more sinister. When Abby travels to the remote Isla Colel to uncover the truth about her fiancée Eszter’s mysterious death, she’s met with a crumbling island, a tight-lipped expat community, and a growing sense that nothing is as it seems. As secrets unravel and danger creeps closer, Abby is drawn into a tangled web of lies, betrayal, and suspicion where everyone has something to hide—and someone will do anything to keep the past buried.

Abby was seriously insufferable. I don’t blame eszter for keeping secrets from her because she would have had a menty b if she knew anything at all. I found this to be slow and drawn out. I did like the setting but the details and reveals all came so slowly I had a hard time staying interested. This went from a 4 to a 3 to a 2 as I kept reading. I really liked “we were never here” by this author but this was not it for me.

Huge thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group/ Ballantine Books for the digital ARC of this twisty novel!

This was a fun read, though it's a slow burn. Fortunately the descriptions of the island and quirky characters was great, and the setting itself is really a winner for the book. While everyone was cast under suspicion, there was no one particularly likable, including our mc. I feel like I need to like and connect with at least one character for it to get 4 stars for me, and not one of the characters reached flawed but truly likable status in my reading.

The twists at the end were a long while coming, and the last one, for me, was unsatisfying.

Still, a fun read set in a gorgeous but creepy place, with some very interesting people you'll never truly know.

Normally I enjoy this author's books a little more. However the pacing of this one is way too slow for a thriller. I struggled to finish it. It felt like a points it tried to dig deeper and have a message, but I was laboring to care what it was.

Easter has died and Abby returns to determine what happened in her last days of life. How did it all go wrong? What did she want to share? Befriending expats, Abby begins to dig and not everything is as it seems.

I was thrilled to see a thriller book that had a lgbtq relationship as part of the plot. The main character, Abby, sometimes got on my nerves at times because of how blunt she was with her questions to others. I was kept guessing until the end of this book.

ARC copy courtesy of Random House Publishing Group-Ballentine and NetGalley. Unfortunately, I did not finish this book. I stoppef at 46%. It's very slow. I didn't have a connection to the main character. I feel like there was too much detail on insignificant things (botany, terrain, etc). If it was faster paced, I think it would have enjoyed it. I did like the storyline of trying to uncover the mystery of a death. It just was poorly executed in my opinion.

I really wanted to love this one and it had so much potential, but it was a little too slow for me. I had a hard time feeling invested in the story or the characters, and at times I questioned whether I wanted to finish the book.

I did enjoy the setting and feel the author did a great job of making the island come to life. The island almost felt as much like a character as the actual characters themselves. There were definitely some places where the setting felt so eerie that I found myself feeling a little spooked too, which I love in a good thriller.

I think for me where this one fell short was in the pacing. The twists were enough to keep me intrigued and reading, and I enjoyed getting some alternating POVS, but overall the reveal of Ezster’s death just felt a little meh to me. While not necessarily predictable, I still found myself wanting more. The final big twist at the very end was more satisfying, but the rest was very middle of the road.

Overall I would still recommend this, but only for a reader wanting a very slow burn, more-suspense-than-thrill read!

A grieving fiancee travels to paradise to visit and mourn the death of her future wife. What starts out as a trip to find closure leads the reader on a goose chase of twists and turns. The more that Abby tries to uncover, the more it seems her fiancee's death may not have been accidental as well. Throw in meeting a group of her friends who all seem to have secrets of their own, Abby is left wondering if she can trust anyone at all. This was an entertaining read, but not my favorite by Andrea Bartz.

I enjoyed this one! From the start I was drawn into what caused Eszter's death. The isnland seemed spooky and the people Abby interacted with seemed suspicious. This book was filled with different timelines and povs that helped explain what happened. This one had me hooked from start to finish.

I really do enjoy Andrea Bartz books and was excited to read her new one set in a remote Mexican island. This isn’t my favourite of hers, but it was an entertaining read once it got going. It was a slow burn and took quite a while for anything much to happen. If I had been in a different mood I think I might have enjoyed it more, but it was not the right head space for a slower pace. I will definitely still look forward to this authors future books.

I really enjoyed the setting and the descriptions of the island, sounds like a paradise, apart from the dying! i really couldn’t warm to Abby at all, she was not easy to like and some of her decisions were just off.

Thanks to Random House Ballantine for the advanced copy of this book to read. Out on May 20th.