A spoiler-filled review for the psychological thriller debut novel by Julia Bartz
I went into this book with no real idea of what to expect. I knew it was a debut novel, I knew it was a psychological thriller, and I knew it was about writing a novel in the span of a month (hello, NaNoWriMo!). Considering the fact that I’ve been sitting on three separate ideas for a book for the last several years, this premise intrigued me. However, I was not expecting what I was eventually given, which was a roller coaster of events.
Here’s a quick synopsis: Freshly-minted 30-year-old Alex has been suffering through a major case of writer’s block for over a year, and nothing seems to snap her out of it – especially since she’s been dealing with the rather traumatic loss of her best friend Wren, who ghosted her and moved out without an explanation. When Alex is given an amazing opportunity to go on a month-long writer’s retreat – hosted by her all-time favorite author Roza Vallo – she jumps at the chance. Even after finding out her former BFF Wren will also be joining her and three other novelist-hopefuls. When they arrive, things aren’t what they seem, and the pressure to finish a novel in four weeks may end up costing these writers more than just a seven-figure book deal.
Overall, I rather enjoyed this book. I’ll stamp it with a solid 4 out of 5 stars. I don’t read a whole lot of psychological thrillers, so I was pleasantly surprised. It was also a quick read; good tempo and pacing. I didn’t feel like it dragged on too much except for maybe the last quarter or so, after the twist. But then closer to the end it revved up. I also liked how there were little clues sprinkled throughout that made you question almost everyone. At least I was suspicious of basically everyone.
Okay, from here on out I will be discussing spoilers. You’ve been warned!
The relationship between the main character Alex and her former BFF Wren was a tough one to read. They are both so obviously flawed and their relationship was volatile from the get-go. Basically neither one of them handled the aftermath of the two of them hooking up well at all, but it felt real. So while it was frustrating, it fit due to both character’s insecurities and confusion over their sexuality, with each other and also as separate human beings. Both women have been raised in less-than-ideal circumstances (Alex with her mother moving from man to man and uprooting their lives every time, making Alex feel like she never had a true home. And Wren for having abusive parents.), and because of this it’s no huge wonder they may not have explored their sexuality and just tried to fit into a more simple mold that leads to safety, security, and – most importantly – family. A heartbreaking upbringing that leads to two fractured lives going into adulthood. I can’t share perfect insight about it, since I’m a cis/het woman, but I can speculate.
The way things shook out with Alex and Wren after the events of that day (when they both hooked up) made me relieved to see that at the end of the book the two of them acknowledged the situation, understood the situation and aftermath, and decided to go their separate ways with no animosity between them. Yes, there could maybe be a way to fix what was wrong between them and figure out a way to move forward as friends, but it felt right that after everything that happened (especially after the events at Blackbriar) they needed to move on from each other. To close that chapter of their lives and forge ahead without each other, which means a new beginning for Alex and her newly published novel in Los Angeles, and Wren staying in Brooklyn to continue her writing career. Maybe they’ll see each other again, maybe they won’t. The end of their relationship felt right to me. I just felt like if they did try again, they’d fall back into similar patterns and maybe hurt each other again, and with more ferocity. The clean break is good.
I did like the twist of Taylor being in on the whole thing with Roza, but I did not like how she was portrayed as a straight-up killer to appease Roza. There were instances in the novel where Alex alluded that Taylor was upset she wasn’t in charge of things, yet when Roza says, “Jump,” Taylor says, “How high my beautiful goddess?” (She doesn’t actually call her this, but may as well have, honestly.) It is implied that Roza gives off serious cult-leader-esque vibes, hence why Taylor not only kills for her – and does so with glee – yet Roza’s two closest companions (Yana the housekeeper and Chitra the chef) ended up betraying Roza by helping the women either escape or survive. Was this because they finally realized Roza had gone too far? Why were they okay with the previous writer’s retreats but not this one? Is this the first time killing was involved and that’s why they betrayed Roza? There are some unanswered questions that made me confused about their motives. Yana’s more so than Chitra’s, because we find out Roza has been paying for Chitra’s child’s medical care. Chitra just finally snapped and couldn’t – in good conscience – help Roza anymore, regardless of her child’s medical expenses. While the love of a mother knows no bounds, I guess seeing people get straight-up murdered in front of you changes things. This is why Chitra’s death was the most upsetting for me. All this to get to the question: So is this a writing cult or what? Taylor sure what blinded, but was it because she was the newest member or Roza’s twisted “family”? Maybe.
I also liked the brazenness of Roza; in the beginning of the book Alex shares a story of how she and Wren went to one of Roza’s book events many years ago, and she shares a panel with a young up-and-coming male author named Jett. During the Q&A portion, Roza basically takes over the panel and begins questioning Jett with seemingly innocuous questions (“Where did you go to school? What jobs did you have when you left school?”) but when the subject of Jett’s college girlfriend, June, comes up, Roza steers the conversation to how June was actually the one who came up with the idea for Jett’s breakout novel, and how she was the one who wrote it and Jett only worked on some of it but took full credit. Roza does all of this in a dramatic fashion, with a crowd full of people watching, and physically evidence in the form of a voice recording as proof. Jett eventually gets angry and flustered, flying off stage in humiliation. Roza then has the audacity to say (I’m paraphrasing here): “Let this be a lesson to you all: if you’re going to steal, don’t be stupid enough to get caught.” Alex and Wren thought it was amazing and hilarious, but how heartbreaking to know that not only did their favorite author also steal other authors’ work, she made sure they would never reveal the truth. Not by paying them off, like what Jett did with his old girlfriend, but by killing them. Again, the brazenness… To call out another author for stealing someone’s work while she herself was in the middle of promoting a book that had her name on it, but were not her words. I hated her for this, which is exactly what the reader is supposed to do. I’m not defending the author who stole his girlfriend’s work, but damn, that world is cutthroat. (Pun intended.)
There was also a tiny part of me that wishes Blackbriar house was truly haunted, but that would’ve probably been a whole different ball game, so I understand keeping it in the corporeal realm. Daphne’s ghost kicking ass would’ve been cool… Just sayin’… Okay, I’ll stop. I guess Daphne did help Alex in her own way. Meaning Alex needed Daphne’s help to get through this trauma, since Alex wrote that Daphne herself was going through a similar trauma in Alex’s book. I thought the parallels were clever. After all, “you write what you know,” right? Especially since Alex seemed to use laughter at inappropriate times to express her stress and adrenaline crashes, it’s no wonder she’d find comfort within Daphne – at least the Daphne she created. (Alex’s book was historical fiction, based on the mysterious deaths of two people within the walls of the house they were staying in, Blackbriar. Daphne being one of the people who died. So while Alex’s portrayal of Daphne was created by her, she was in fact a real person in their world.)
Again, a solid 4 out of 5 stars for me. An enjoyable read for the genre, but didn’t blow me out of the water. I’ll probably read more from this author though!
Thanks to Atria/Emily Bestler Books and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Release Date: February 21, 2023
How did you feel about “The Writing Retreat”? Let me know in the comments below!
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