A review by jamiee_f
The Writing Retreat by Julia Bartz

dark funny mysterious slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Main character Alex is a struggling writer, stuck at a soul sucking publishing job. She just had a major falling out with her ex BFF Wren, a literary darling. They both idolize eccentric author Roza Vallo, and now they are both headed to an exclusive writing retreat at her secluded home. However...Roza is more eccentric than anyone seems to have realized, and seems to be putting the women at the retreat in increasingly dangerous situations 'for the sake of their writing'

While the first part of this book is more quiet lit thriller, delving into the Alex/Wren relationship (that fell apart because Wren couldn't stay out of roommate Alex's bed!), while the women throw themselves into the newly revealed writing contest. Roza demands they all write a new novel from scratch, and turn in 3000 words per day to her for feedback. The cutthroat atmosphere has Alex having aggressive sex dreams about Wren, and she ends up telling Roza about their fight. Things accelerate rapidly after Roza drugs them all with LSD, and they wake up to find one of the writers missing. It quickly becomes apparent that Roza is lying about contacting the police, and the remaining women hatch a plan to find out what's going on.

Surprise--the missing girl isn't lost in the snow, she's IMPRISONED BY ROZA. It turns out that Roza has stolen every successful novel she's written, and this retreat was an excuse to get 5 more stories from the participants. The women all end up imprisoned, and Roza continues to escalate, trying to force the participants to kill each other. Eventually everyone dies/is murdered by Roza and her lackies, and it comes down to Wren vs. Alex. Alex refuses to kill Wren, and it seems like Roza is going to take drastic measures when--BAM, one of the women we thought was dead returns and conks Roza in the head. Flash forward to the epilogue, all the writers that survived are now published.


This was reminiscent of Lianne Moriarty's book about the wellness retreat in the desert, I think it was The Nine? But this was a bit darker and much gayer.


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