Review: The Writing Retreat

4/5 stars

The Writing Retreat, by Julia Bartz (2023)

This is one of those books where it’s best to go into it knowing only the very basics - like, what’s on the back cover - so I won’t say too much. But I really enjoyed this literary murder mystery / thriller / haunted house story!

Rosa Vallo is a famous author known for her feminist horror novels. She lives a reclusive life in a large estate in the Catskills, but once a year she invites a small group of female writers to her home for a month-long writing retreat.

Alex, the protagonist, is a young struggling author with writer’s block, and is ecstatic when she learns that a friend submitted one of her stories and she has been given a spot for Rosa’s retreat. The only thing that can dampen the mood is that her ex best friend, Wren, will also be there. Alex and Wren had a somewhat mysterious falling out that left them basically hating each other.

As they all sit down for their first meal and meeting with Roza, she lets them know the "rules" of the retreat - each of them will start a brand new project, submitting 3,000 words to Roza every evening by midnight. If they fail to do so, they will be asked to leave. At the end of the month, they'll each will have a completed novel. Roza will pick the best one, and give that person a publishing deal. So, a contest, of sorts, which none of them were prepared for.

As the weeks progress, Roza's methods to get them to write more become increasingly strange and cruel. Roza's staff members are weird and cagey. The mansion is possibly haunted by a previous owner who went missing. And then, one of the women goes missing during a huge snowstorm. There's no way to call for help or leave the estate. From there, everything kind of devloves into a completely chaotic thriller nightmare! I thought it was a lot of fun. The characters are mostly people you will love to hate, until you truly hate some of them.

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UP NEXT: The Book of Love, by Kelly Link