Thank you Simon & Schuster Audio for the ALC and @BookClubFavorites & Atria/Emily Bestler Books #partner, for the finished copy of The Writing Retreat in exchange for my honest review.
Publisher: Atria/Emily Bestler Books / Simon & Schuster ALC
Published: February 21, 2023
Summary:
The Plot meets Please Join Us in this psychological suspense debut about a young author at an exclusive writer’s retreat that descends into a nightmare.
Alex has all but given up on her dreams of becoming a published author when she receives a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity: attend an exclusive, month-long writing retreat at the estate of feminist horror writer Roza Vallo. Even the knowledge that Wren, her former best friend and current rival, is attending doesn’t dampen her excitement.
But when the attendees arrive, Roza drops a bombshell—they must all complete an entire novel from scratch during the next month, and the author of the best one will receive a life-changing seven-figure publishing deal. Determined to win this seemingly impossible contest, Alex buckles down and tries to ignore the strange happenings at the estate, including Roza’s erratic behavior, Wren’s cruel mind games, and the alleged haunting of the mansion itself. But when one of the writers vanishes during a snowstorm, Alex realizes that something very sinister is afoot. With the clock running out, she’s desperate to discover the truth and save herself.
A claustrophobic and propulsive thriller exploring the dark side of friendships and fame, The Writing Retreat is the unputdownable debut novel from a compelling new talent.
My thoughts:
I love discovering new authors so of course when I heard about this book, written by Andi Bartz’s sister, who is an author I like, I knew I had to give this a try. Plus it sounded so fun!
Locked-room mysteries are one of my favorite tropes, so I was immediately intrigued by this one. What I didn’t expect was how twisted this one would end up being. The premise of winning a contest to go on a writing retreat with a favorite author sounded good, but perhaps it was too good to be true…because things definitely take quite a turn once Alex gets to the isolated estate, and the fact that her former best friend is there is only the tip of the iceberg.
It’s hard to get into too many details without spoiling things, but I will say this book has some unexpected plot twists that kept glued to the story. Not only is this an incredibly atmospheric read, but it also has hints of horror elements scattered throughout. It’s definitely a bit over-the-top at times, but it certainly is entertaining to say the least. I quite enjoyed it and will be keeping an eye for out what Julia Bartz writes next!
Audio thoughts:
This was a fun one to listen to and the narrator, Gail Shalan, did a great job bringing the story to life. She was able to give each character their own unique voice and managed to infuse just the right amount of tension into her voice as needed.
