The Last Ferry Out

 

Title: The Last Ferry Out

Author: Andrea Bartz

Rating: 3.75 /5

Info: 320 pages, first pub Ballantine Books May 20, 2025

Genre: Fiction, Women’s Fiction, Mystery

 

Abby was supposed to be getting married and living happily ever after. Instead, she heads to Isla Colel, the place where her fiancée Eszter died from an allergic reaction. Desperate to find out everything she can about Eszter’s time on the island Abby talks to everyone she can. Instead of finding closure she starts to wonder if Eszter’s death wasn’t an accident.

Abby is a character dealing with grief and all the troubles that entails. She can’t concentrate on work, figure out how to move on, or figure out how to wake up everyday knowing Eszter won’t be there. While it might feel a little extreme at times I think Bartz did a good job at showing how overwhelming grief can be. Abby did a few questionable things during the story, like oversharing and immediately trusting strangers. However, her grief and being cut off from her tiny support group back home made it all make sense to me. Plus, I think she felt immediately close to Eszter’s friends because they were “vetted” by Eszter.

I enjoyed the novel but I have some nitpicks. While I enjoyed reading about the tropical paradise Abby finds herself in, I enjoyed the flashback scenes more. There wasn’t really anything wrong with the real time parts, it was more that I found what was going on in the flashbacks to be more interesting. The second nitpick I have is the way some of the chapters end. There were a few cliffhangers that felt like their only purpose was to be a cliffhanger. There was only one cliffhanger that worked for me and that was about 75% of the way in. I don’t mind reading cliffhangers but I need them to feel like they actually provide something to the narrative.   

This is a book about grief and dealing with it. Full stop. Yes, there is a mystery around Eszter’s death but the mystery is told through the lens of Abby's grief. Bartz does a good job but it is something the reader should be aware of in case it is a sensitive topic. Some other topics readers should be aware of are scenes of push back from family about their relationship, self-harm, character death scene, and drug and alcohol use.

Overall rating 3.75. I’d recommend this book to anyone that enjoys a good mystery and reading an examination of grief set in a beautiful location.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group-Ballantine Books for this ARC.