Publishers Weekly
02/10/2025
The arresting latest from Bartz (after The Writing Retreat) blends spirituality, suspense, and a dash of sci-fi to tell the story of a woman who’s roped into a dangerous cult. Thea, a 32-year-old social worker in New York City, has struggled with vivid dreams of life on another planet ever since she saw the fantasy film Stargirl as a teenager. After she finds herself inexplicably drawn to a Jane Doe at the psychiatric clinic where she works, Thea realizes the patient is actually Stargirl lead Catherine O’Brien. Then Catherine vanishes, and Thea becomes obsessed with tracking her down. With the help of a handsome PI, she pursues Catherine to an isolated area outside of Albuquerque, N.Mex., which is hosting a retreat for members of a bizarre organization called the Center for Relational Healing. Led by charismatic shamans Moon and Sol, the Center’s rituals involve orgies and intense group therapy. Eventually, it begins to seem that the ceremonies are designed to convince a fevered Thea that she and Catherine are sisters from another world, and that she’s destined to fulfill a world-changing prophecy—even if it kills her. Bartz keeps tensions high and answers behind locked doors as she immerses readers in the frightening daily power plays of cult life. It’s a wild ride. Agent: Alexandra Machinist, CAA. (Apr.)
Andrea Bartz
Twisted, shocking, and deeply feminist, THE LAST SESSION is relentlessly unsettling—and like nothing I've ever read. Fans of THE WRITING RETREAT, buckle up: Julia's sophomore thriller is even tenser, twistier, and more bonkers. I read it in one big gulp—and loved every breathless moment.
From the Publisher
THE LAST SESSION is a dark thrill ride into the desert, as a social worker enters a New Mexico wellness center hoping to find a patient who vanished under mysterious circumstances. But doing so puts the protagonist on a terrifying collision with own shame, secrets, and trauma, and in her obsessive quest to save her patient, she must also save herself. Julia Bartz doesn't just write page turners—she writes the kind that grip you from the first page and keep you reading late into the night.” - Kirthana Ramisetti, author of The Other Lata
“Dark and entertaining, THE LAST SESSION had me compulsively flipping pages. Julia Bartz’s latest thriller explores the allure of wellness cults, the nature of trauma and healing, and all of the ways in which therapy can go wrong. If you enjoyed THE WRITING RETREAT as much as I did, you will love Bartz’s latest as well!” - Lauren Ling Brown, USA Today bestselling author of Society of Lies
“Slippery and scintillating as a New Mexico rattlesnake, Julia Bartz's THE LAST SESSION shines with sparkling prose, achingly vulnerable characters and a pair of enigmatic cult leaders who truly get their hooks in you. This unputdownable thrill ride begs us to consider just how far some will go to find healing and belonging—and whether any of us can ever truly move on from our darkest secrets and the ghosts of our pasts.” - Leah Konen, author of The Last Room on the Left
"The Last Session mines the cutting edge of what we know about the human mind to create a whip-smart, intense, and fascinating psychological thriller set in the stark halls of a New York psychiatric unit and the eerie New Mexico desert. As informed by Bartz’s therapeutic expertise as it is her remarkable imagination, this captivating story of inexplicably-linked women explores the cyclical nature of trauma, the patterns that keep us drawn to people who hurt us. Fans of cerebral mysteries like Anna O and The Silent Patient will devour this gorgeous book, equal parts cathartic and disturbing." - Ashley Winstead, bestselling author of Midnight is the Darkest Hour
“A hypnotic, fever dream of a book. It will get inside your head and not let you go. Julia Bartz creates raw, hungry, resilient characters I think about long after finishing the book.” - Jennifer Fawcett, author of Beneath the Stairs
“THE LAST SESSION is the twistiest of psychological thrillers and has it all—cults, gurus, secrets, past lives haunting the present, a dose of therapy and plenty of sex. What else can a reader want? Julia Bartz has given readers the perfect follow-up to THE WRITING RETREAT!” - Donna Freitas is the author of Her One Regret
Megan Collins
In The Last Session, Julia Bartz proves why she’s such an invigorating voice in the thriller genre. Her talent for building almost unbearable tension and transforming a familiar setting—in this case, a wellness retreat—into a wild, imaginative hellscape is on vivid display. I’ve finished this deeply unnerving book, but I don’t think it’s finished with me.
Janice Hallett
Julia Bartz delivers an outstanding thriller with THE LAST SESSION. When social worker Thea meets a mysterious catatonic patient, she is thrown back to her troubled 13-year-old self and thus begins a wild, unconventional ride that will keep you guessing and deliver on every front. Refreshingly original, this classy narrative is bursting with tension and full of vivid, believable characters you will want to spend your day with - which is lucky, because once you start this book, you won't be putting it down any time soon. Bartz excels in the dissection of personality, which gives her writing that authentic, relatable edge, but she’s also a master story-teller and already a fast-emerging voice of 21st Century crime literature.
Ana Reyes
Julia Bartz weaves psychology and mysticism into this strikingly original story of a social worker whose efforts to help an enigmatic patient lead her to confront the secrets of her own past. From its rich sense of mystery and complex characters to the atmospheric desert setting, The Last Session kept me flying through the pages.
Tessa Wegert
A shameful secret, echoes of a past life, and the search for a dangerous truth collide in Julia Bartz’s haunting and provocative THE LAST SESSION. Bartz’s keen mastery of claustrophobic settings and high-tension storytelling makes for a modern psychological thriller that shimmers with sophistication and suspense. A bold new offering from an author who belongs on your auto-buy list.
Saumya Dave
Julia Bartz is a master storyteller. THE LAST SESSION is a brilliant, insightful novel that pulled me in from its first page. Bartz's signature blend of self-discovery, sex, and suspense made this novel impossible to put down. Filled with equal parts twists and insight, THE LAST SESSION gives readers the rare opportunity to escape and feel anchored at the same time. I can't wait to read what Bartz writes next!
Wendy Walker
Julia Bartz is at the top of her game with her latest thriller, THE LAST SESSION. When a therapist follows her troubled patient to a relationship retreat in a remote location in New Mexico, she becomes trapped in a dangerous cult. Twisty, sexy, and full of surprises, this action-packed psychological thriller had me on the edge of my seat from the very first page. THE LAST SESSION is a must read!
Leah Konen
Slippery and scintillating as a New Mexico rattlesnake, Julia Bartz's THE LAST SESSION shines with sparkling prose, achingly vulnerable characters and a pair of enigmatic cult leaders who truly get their hooks in you. This unputdownable thrill ride begs us to consider just how far some will go to find healing and belonging—and whether any of us can ever truly move on from our darkest secrets and the ghosts of our pasts.
Jennifer Fawcett
A hypnotic, fever dream of a book. It will get inside your head and not let you go. Julia Bartz creates raw, hungry, resilient characters I think about long after finishing the book.
Kirthana Ramisetti
THE LAST SESSION is a dark thrill ride into the desert, as a social worker enters a New Mexico wellness center hoping to find a patient who vanished under mysterious circumstances. But doing so puts the protagonist on a terrifying collision with own shame, secrets, and trauma, and in her obsessive quest to save her patient, she must also save herself. Julia Bartz doesn't just write page turners—she writes the kind that grip you from the first page and keep you reading late into the night.
Booklist (starred review)
Stomach-clenchingly thrilling from beginning to end . . . Highly recommended for fans of authors like Ruth Ware and Riley Sager.
Sarah Langan
"THE WRITING RETREAT is a sexy, thrilling, compulsive mediation on art and competition amongst women who ought to be sisters, only something malignant gets in the way. I couldn't put it down."
Layne Fargo
"Julia Bartz’s shrewd, suspenseful debut takes the typical writer’s anxieties and obsessions and transforms them into a pulse-pounding, impossible to put down thriller. THE WRITING RETREAT is bonkers in the best way, and it left me with a brutal case of author envy."
Kirkus Reviews
2025-03-08
A social worker with a traumatic past goes undercover to save a patient to whom she bears a strange resemblance.
By day, Thea offers art therapy to patients in a New York psychiatric ward; by night, she drinks too much and obsesses about how she was groomed by her pastor as a teenager, and the impact his abuse continues to have on her life. When a catatonic patient is admitted to the ward, Thea is shocked and excited to discover that it’s Catherine O’Brien, star ofStargirl, a movie that sparked a lot of her teenage fantasies, and who could almost be her twin. When Catherine is signed out from the ward by two people pretending to be her parents, Thea decides to follow a few breadcrumbs the former actor seems to have left her—most notably, a podcast recorded by people named Moon and Sol, who run something called the Center for Relational Healing in the New Mexico desert. Thea signs up for retreat at the CRH, and when she arrives, she’s shocked to see Jonah, a guy with whom she’d nearly had a one-night stand back in New York. He says he’s actually a private investigator hired by Catherine’s family to find her. Aligned in their goal, Thea and Jonah sneak around trying to dig into Moon and Sol’s secrets, while still attending the sessions meant to break open their relationship blockages and help them connect to past lives. Clearly, there’s something sinister going on, and when they do find Catherine, their fears are amplified rather than assuaged. Bartz takes her novel, and its characters, to places beyond where other authors stop short; this is a harrowing story that tackles human vulnerability head-on. She shows us how evil actors can take full advantage of people in pain for their own material and psychic gain and how emotionally susceptible people can make tragic decisions.
Melodrama of the first order, but frightening all the same.
