First off, I want to say I’m the daughter and granddaughter of Hungarians. So this book was extra special. While I don’t speak the language (my mom has ways regretted this) I did recognize a lot of words and some of the phrases included. I appreciate that everything was translated as well.
I really liked this book. It was mysterious and atmospheric. I loved that the book was set mostly in a small secluded Mexican Island. It sounded like a place I would love to visit. Especially as it was secluded and not a lot of tourists visit. The characters were interesting and you liked the majority of them. There were multi voices telling the story in different time lines which really helped tell everything. Nothing is as it seems and I loved that as well. You really felt the heartache of the main character losing her fiancée. Can’t wait for more from the Author! I’ve loved everything she’s written so far.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC of this title in exchange for an honest review.

Andrea Bartz is quickly becoming and instant buy author for me. Her thrillers grab your from page one and never let go. The plot was thick, the characters were likeable, and atmosphere was easily depicted, and there were just enough plot twists to keep you turning those pages. I will definitely be recommending this title when publication day comes!

Paradise isn't always what it seems. In Andrea Bartz's latest thriller, a sun-drenched island becomes the perfect stage for murder.

When Abby's fiancée Eszter dies mysteriously on a tropical getaway, she can't shake the feeling that something's wrong. So she goes back to the island, hoping for answers. But what she finds there makes her wish she'd stayed home.

Bartz has a knack for turning beautiful places ugly. The island transforms from an Instagram-worthy escape into a prison of paranoia, where every friendly face could hide deadly intentions. And as Abby digs deeper into Eszter's death, the paradise around her grows darker by the day.

What makes this book stick with you isn't just the plot twists (though there are plenty). It's the way Bartz captures the messiness of love and loss. Abby and Eszter feel real - the kind of couple you might know, their relationship both beautiful and complicated. Their queerness isn't a plot point but simply part of who they are, woven naturally into a story about trust, grief, and the secrets we keep from the people we love most.

Sure, readers familiar with Bartz's other works (like We Were Never Here) might spot some of her usual tricks. But honestly? When the story's this good, who cares?

The Verdict: A thriller that will make you think twice about that island vacation you've been planning. Equal parts suspense and emotional gut punch, The Last Ferry Out proves that sometimes the most dangerous paradise is the one you can't escape.

3.5/5 stars

solidly atmospheric and moody thriller that overall worked pretty well, despite at points having some weird creative decisions. 4 stars. tysm for the arc.

The Last Ferry Out is perfect for those who love a good thriller/mystery that isn’t scary. I found myself eager to finish this book so I could find out what happened – it was not predictable, which I greatly appreciate. In the book we meet Abby, who goes to Isla Colel – a small island, hours away from Cancun – to visit the place where her finance Eszter tragically died. During her trip, she meets a group of expats and finds herself opening up about Eszter, only to discover they all have secrets and Eszter’s death may not be what it seems. This was a real page turner – thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine for the eARC!

The Last Ferry Out by Andrea Bartz is a twisted and twisty murder mystery that just when you think you have it figured out, you don’t! After Abby’s fiancée, Eszter, dies on a foreign island, she decides to go there to get answers. She’s met with a bunch of expats that befriends her and was also friends with Eszter. The more she learns of them and the island, the more she questions every detail of their life together. The island is sunny and bright yet dark and brutal at times. The locals don’t care for any outsiders and don’t want tourists, so there’s more than an eerie atmosphere going on. All the expats have stories and reasons as to why they are on the island, their characters are integral to the story and I feel the author did a really good job weaving these characters in and really throwing curveballs in here and there to prevent the reveal of the final twist. Overall this is really solid thriller with some great twists, a F/F love story told in alternating POV with kisses only, and a story of found friends and family. Trigger warnings include: mention of suicidal ideation, alcoholism, murder, homophobia

I picked this because of the author, title, & description. I liked Bartz’s “We Were Never Here” and am drawn to thrillers/mysteries. Ultimately though, “Last Ferry Out” was just an okay read for me. It was slow and the twists/reveals were not shocking or surprising.

When Abby arrives at the place where her fiancée died, she thinks she can maybe get some closure. She needs to retrace Eszter’s steps and figure out how it all went down exactly. She meets all the people that were around at the time and asks them questions. Eventually she starts to realize there might be more to what happened to Eszter. And all of these people have something to hide.

This got three stars from me because I did like it, it’s a solid suspense novel. One thing I can point out as something I didn’t care for was Eszter’s death. The whole reasoning behind it and how it happened. It just seemed so senseless and messed up which made it even sadder. I guess that frustrated me!

I did think it was neat how flashbacks concerning their relationship were laid out in reverse. So you start with their tumultuous end and get to see where all the cracks formed until you get to when they met and things were new and hopeful. Which also made that sadder for me!

So I did enjoy this and I do recommend it to those who like atmospheric novels with twists and drama.

Thank you Ballantine Books and NetGalley for the ARC.

I almost didn’t finish this one. The characters are honestly- annoying.
Eszter - I feel bad but I don’t like her. All these secrets we find out about are so dumb. She was so weak to me. Abby- I don’t like her either. She pushes too much it makes me uncomfortable sometimes. At what point do we just say leave it? The way she is with people she doesn’t know to find out about Eszter and when we get flashbacks to how Eszter was in the relationship.. why is she even that involved?? It seems to me Eszter wasn’t even 10% as devoted as Abby, so that was annoying. I wanted to know the secrets, so I kept reading- but this one was hard to get through.

I was so graciously given an ARC of this book, so this is my honest review.

It was so painfully slow. I could not get into it. I really really tried, but I just couldn't connect.

Was not invested enough in the characters or their love story, especially given the deception involved and did not think the ending was believable.

That being said, I loved what the author did with the setting! Very escapist.

This is not my typical kind of book but I am giving it 4 stars for the ending. As other have noted, this book is bit slow until it isn't. Slow read with a great ending and I would absolutely read more from Andrea Bartz.

The Last Ferry Out by Andrea Bartz, is about a young woman named Abby, who travels to Isla Colel to uncover the truth about her fiancée Eszter’s mysterious death. The secluded island, a tight-knit expat community, and a missing key witness all help to create suspense however this fell a little short for me.

The story begins with Abby arriving on the island, seeking answers that might help her make sense of her fiancée’s tragic death. Isla Colel, once a thriving tourist destination, is now a hauntingly quiet place, decimated by a hurricane and almost entirely cut off from the mainland. Abby quickly becomes involved with a group of expats, but things take a sinister turn when she learns that one of them knows more about Eszter’s last days. However, when the man vanishes before she can confront him, Abby’s search for the truth becomes even more dangerous and complicated.

There were moments I enjoyed but this book was slow. I just didn't make the connections I wanted with the characters. As Abby uncovers more secrets and I found out more information I still was not as hooked as I should have been. Eszter's death just seemed horribly tragic. This story just needed a little more action or romance. It just lacked that spark to make it a truly great book. There was some interesting action at the end but it was a little too late. Overall, this was not a bad book but I just did not enjoy it as much as I wanted to.

Thank you to Ballantine Books and NetGalley for this ARC.

I will tell you that the reason I kept reading it was because I was actually very curious about what the big secret was and, while it wouldn't be anything earth shaking to me, it was unexpected and satisfying. I also was pleased that the author was able to keep me guessing about the who and the why of everything.

Not my favorite, and you do have to devote some time, but overall not bad in the end.

I received an ARC of this book from Random House via NetGalley in exchange for my honest feedback. This was a pretty solid read, and even though it was not super fast-paced, I was invested and wanted to find out what happened.

Ms. Bartz did a great job with the setting! I wonder if she escaped to a remote, insular island to research the book, as it was really well done and vivid. I enjoyed the cast of characters, even just the fact that the same background people kept popping up to demonstrate how small the island was. She also did a good job making everyone a suspect.

I would say the big secret was not tremendously exciting, and the end (not the epilogue but the main end) was wrapped up a bit too neatly. The epilogue itself was jaw-dropping and provided the answers to some lingering questions; I hate books with lingering questions, so this was quite satisfying for me.

The main character was just OK - she didn't truly resonate with me, and many of her choices were questionable bordering on dumb. However, it was really refreshing to see a story about a gay relationship in a totally mainstream book rather than any sort of "special interest" category.

SYNOPSIS: Abby's fiance passed away, under what she feels are mysterious circumstances, while vacationing on a remote island. She's sure there is more to the story than that Eszter was irresponsible with her allergies and misplaced her Epi-pen. She sets off to the island to see what she can find out. But once she arrives she learns that everyone on the island is either running from or hiding something.

This story was very slow to start for me and I didn't think it really got going until about 2/3 of the way in. I didn't particularly like any of the characters so it was hard to get invested in the story, however once the story picked up I did enjoy the twists that came one after the other. And I love a surprise epilogue as well! I also appreciated that all loose ends/mysteries/questions were wrapped up.

I was so thrilled to receive an early copy of this book! Andrea Bartz is one of my favorite thriller authors: she consistently writes interesting, complex female leads and throws them into psychologically stressful situations. She does exactly that in THE LAST FERRY OUT (our protagonist Abby is mourning the loss of her fiancée Eszter and has traveled to the place where she died only to discover Eszter may have been keeping things from her) — all while giving us a lush setting in Isla Colel and a suspicious cast of side characters.

When Abby decides to visit the tropical island paradise where her fiancée, Eszter, died from an allergic reaction, she didn’t expect to meet so many others who knew Eszter. She truly wanted to feel closer to Eszter and what better way to do that than sit and talk with others who knew her.

As Abby learns more and more about the island and Eszter’s plans, things start to get muddled. What was Eszter up to? And, more importantly, why does it seem like things are being hidden from her?

Though a bit slow, this book did hold my interest as I was invested in what happened to Eszter. The descriptions of island life were lovely. Thank you, NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for the eARC.

Nothing is quite as it seems in this thriller when Abby travels to the Mexican island where her fiancée Eszter took her last breaths. Told in dual timelines, The Last Ferry Out tells the story of Abby’s investigation into Eszter’s death and the mysterious last message that she received from her that indicated there were secrets in their relationships. The other timeline moves backwards in time and explores Eszter’s time on the island, her relationship with Abby, her relationship with her strict immigrant family, and more.

The cast of side characters is quite entertaining as well and will add to the veil of uncertainty readers feel as they try to determine the exact circumstances behind Eszter’s death and whether Abby is safe on the island.

This is my first book by Andrea Bartz. I think this is a well written book, and I think the author has a great literary style. I enjoyed the main characters, and the development of those characters, including their secrets and interests.

The storyline starts off with a woman., Abby, whose fiancée, Ezsther, dies of a medical emergency on a remote island in Mexico. Abby tries to follow Ezsther's footsteps in order to get some closure, but she finds more than she bargains for. From expats with secrets to local islanders who don't want to mingle. Abby doesn't know who to trust.

The ending had an interesting twist, but wasn't the level I was hoping for. (My jaw didn't drop). The book has a lot of pieces to it that I would classify as soul searching, restarting your life, etc. I would definitely recommend to readers who like these kind of stories.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for the ARC.