Andrea Bartz's New ThrillerThe Last Ferry OutPuts 'Messy' Characters on a Killer Island: Read an Excerpt (Exclusive)

Mar. 15, 2025

Andrea Bartz.Photo:Savannah Lauren

Savannah Lauren

Only a handful of locals and expats remain on the once-bustling island following a devastating hurricane, and a ferry that used to make once-daily trips back to the mainland now runs weekly.

Bartz tells PEOPLE her latest is a “globe-trotting thriller set in a stunning foreign land, where the sun-splashed dream quickly becomes a nightmare.”

Random House

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She saysThe Last Ferry Outis “packed with tension and complex group dynamics,” as well as the types of “messy, imperfect heroines and twisty narrative” fans have come to expect from her thrillers.

The author’s debut came in 2019’sThe Lost Night,which she followed up withThe Herdin 2020. Her 2021 mysteryWe Were Never Herewas a Reese’s Book Club pick and her last outing was the locked-down love triangle thrillerThe Spare Roomlast year.

Bartz says this upcoming book has a “puzzle-box-like structure, with multiple narrators and timelines (including one in reverse-chronological order), so the pieces slide into place at just the right moment.”

“I love exploring closed-door social milieux in my thrillers, and a tiny, isolated island felt like the perfect place to set a mystery,” adds Bartz. “As the daughter of a Hungarian immigrant, I’m also really interested in questions about who ‘owns’ a place and what it means to call somewhere — or someone — home. I had a blast exploring these topics through my cast of characters and weaving together a page-turner.”

Below, get a sneak peek at the world Bartz has created in an exclusive excerpt shared with PEOPLE:

PROLOGUE

Blood hits limestone and splatters for a second before the rain beats it back, diluting it and sluicing it away in pink rivulets. Next a raw scream pierces the air, but the storm waters it down too. A human cry is no match for the roar of rain on rock and the steady pulse of white caps beating against the cliff, of thunder rolling around the bay and palm fronds shivering in fear.

There’s no chance of anyone hearing it, but the scream isn’t a cry for help. It’s involuntary, a knee-jerk reaction to the way her skeleton now juts out of the arm that ensconced it moments ago. The bone is a riot of white, like a sharp, bleached tooth, and where it pierces the skin blood gushes freely.

She managed to drag herself here, through the frothing waves, but the base of the cliff isn’t the oasis she hoped. Forty feet of sheer rock stretch overhead. Even if there were a clear path, there’s no way she could scramble up with her forearm snapped in two. She’s trapped in a bay with no hope of climbing out.

Looking above her and then out at the roiling sea, she sees no sign of the people who are after her. No sign of a savior, either, anyone to help her out of this mess.

Her chest heaves, harder and harder, until her vision starts to blur. She presses her half-shredded palm against the rock and turns to rest her back on the limestone. She looks out at the storm, a tempest strobed in lightning strikes. The foamy water makes her think of a rabid dog.

Blackness tugs at the corners of her vision, an undertow from every direction.

I did my best, she thinks.I went down fighting.

Then she closes her eyes and lets the darkness win.

The Last Ferry Outhits shelves May 20, 2025 and is available for preorder now, wherever books are sold.

source: people.com