3.5!! I enjoyed this book more than I expected to - when I first opened it I wasn’t really sold, but the more I read the more I liked it. It fell off for me a bit toward the 75% mark, but honestly I don’t have to understand what’s going on if the vibes are right, and I can safely say I was encouraged to keep reading with the writing style & overall plot lines.

Thanks to NetGalley et al for the ARC!

Thank you to NetGalley, Rachel Reiss, and St. Martin’s Press/Wednesday Books for providing this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I think 2025 is THE year for publishing; I don't think I've been so excited to read so many books before. I’ve been reading a lot of debut novels this year--most of them are ARCs--and obviously some are good, and some of them...not so much. I'm glad to say that this debut by Rachel Reiss was amazing, and I get to continue to add to my list of great debuts that I hope that more people read and give a chance this year!

Phoebe "Phibs" Ray, along with her four best friends, twins Will and Gabe and Isabel and her girlfriend, Lani, are the Salt Squad, a group of friends who went viral on social media for their scuba and diving content but also for finding five Spanish gold coins in a dive once that was worth millions of dollars. As their last hurrah for the last bit of their summer after high school graduation and before they all head their separate ways to go to college, they decide to head out to Lani's uncle's home on a remote island off the coast of Australia to do some scuba diving. When Phibs, Will, and Gabe come across a hidden cave and resurface, Gabe and Phibs start to change--weird injuries that only get worse with time, voices in their heads, and the feeling that something is destroying them from the inside out. As their situation grows more deadly and treasure hunters on their trail trying to find the same cave they did in search of treasure, the crew has to figure out what's going on with Gabe and Phibs before it's too late. The story has a dual timeline, alternating between the present day and five months prior to the Australia trip.

The Outer Banks vibes were definitely here. I know it's also pitched as Outer Banks meets Wilder Girls, but I haven't read Wilder Girls to make that comparison. It's clear that there's a lot of influences from the TV show, from the way the characters are and their roles in the Salt Squad to the treasure hunt subplot. If I were to make comparisons between the book and Outer Banks, I'd say that Lani is like John B in the sense that she's the "leader" of the group, Isabel is like Pope where she tries to be the peacekeeper and keep things in order, and Will is like JJ where he's constantly searching for the next big thing and acts impulsively at times. I don't think Phibs and Gabe 100% fit the personalities of any of the other Pogues we see in the TV show so they're unique in that sense, but I guess you could say Phibs is sorta like Sarah when it comes to being a little boy-crazy (more on that later), but even that for me is a stretch. You also get the "Pogue" and "Kook" vibes from the story with the characters; it's sort of like a reverse "Pogues" situation where all of the members except for Phibs come from wealth instead of the other way around in Outer Banks. Even with all of that, you can tell right away that the Salt Squad is tight-knit, and I loved the summer vibes that the book gave me!

I think the one thing this book did right was the horror aspect. Now, I'm not the kind of person to get queasy over body horror, but I will admit that even I was ever-so-slightly cringing at the body horror throughout the story, so count me impressed in that department. I will say that if you're the kind of person who can't handle body horror, I would suggest proceeding with caution or skipping this book entirely because the descriptions do get somewhat graphic.

The only critiques I would have about the book are about Phibs, the communication among the characters, and the ending. For starters, I felt that Phibs was a little too boy-crazy at times with her crush over a certain someone in the story, although I will admit that I think it was good that the romance overall was just a subplot and wasn't a major factor in the story considering the Salt Squad had ah...bigger fish to fry. It was cute, though! She was also very quick to jump to conclusions and point fingers and accuse people--well, more like a certain someone-- without hearing their side of the story first.

The miscommunication trope was alive and well in this story, specifically with Lani. She's supposed to be the Salt Squad's "ringleader," so you would think that she would keep communication transparent and open with everyone, but nope! I feel like this book could've ended about 100 pages in if Lani explained everything the group was getting into with the Australia trip, but the miscommunication, Lani's crypticness and gatekeeping of information was what made the story keep going, and I feel like the entire story wouldn't have happened the way it did if Lani just...used a few brain cells. As for the ending, I feel like it was more open-ended and left up to interpretation as to what happens afterwards, which may bother some people because it doesn't 100% resolve. I don't know if that means there'll be a second book later on down the line, but I also have a feeling this book will be a standalone, and we just have to live with not having a perfectly tied-up ending with perfect closure.

If you're looking for a debut YA thriller/horror novel to read this summer that's giving all the summer vibes, I think this is the book you'll be looking for! It was a fast read, and I can't wait to see what Rachel Reiss has in store for the future! (and as always, continue to support debut authors!)

I cannot believe that this is a debut novel! Rachel Reiss had me hooked from the chapter with this one.

I was born and raised in Miami and spent many weeks at a beach house down in the Keys and this book brought back so many of those memories and so much nostalgia for my childhood.

I am someone who for much of my childhood wanted to study Marine Biology and who has always had an interest in and immense awe for the ocean and all of its hidden secrets. This book brought so much of that back to life within me. I am sitting in Las Vegas in the middle of the desert but felt like I was on those dives with the characters.

I loved friendships and found family aspects of this, the descriptions and the way Rachel was able to take me right into the water with the characters is worth 5 stars.

What keeps me from giving it that final star is the ending. I am not someone who enjoys opened stories and I don’t like when books leave me with more questions and answers.

Other than that, this book was perfect!

Out of Air follows a group of young people known as the Salt Squad. These five teens share a passion for diving off the coast of the Florida Keyes and have run a joint social media showing off their adventures to the world. Phoebe, the latest edition to the friend group, is the photographer of the group and has always had an abnormally close connection to the sea. One day, though, that connection leads her to a location that is more than meets the eye and may pose a threat to the relationships she's built. The friends have to act quickly to neutralize the threat before it alters them forever.

I love underwater horror. Anything to do with the deep blue is lifeblood in my veins - mostly because I am thoroughly afraid of the ocean in real life. This book is YA, so there was a bit less of that actual horror than I was hoping there would be. I didn't go in knowing it was YA, so that bit is on me - I think I would have had different expectations had I known. Still, the body horror present in this book was pretty gnarly for something aimed at people under the age of 18. There isn't a lot of gory detail, but there is a good amount of description that comes in the latter half of the book that scratched the itch (pun intended) I was hoping for.

I was slightly disappointed by the relationship between the Salt Squad themselves, and I felt like there was a lot of "Tell" instead of "Show" happening. We are supposed to feel like the five are inseparable best friends, but I found myself questioning multiple times whether these people even really like each other. Obviously Lani and Isabelle are a couple at the start, but neither of them seem to be particularly interested in anyone else in the group. We are told that Isabelle and Phibs are very close and that Isabelle looks out for her, but we don't really get to see that in the book. Will comes off as a classic prep school asshole and, again, doesn't seem to care too much about anyone other than himself. I didn't even catch that he and Gabe were brothers until 1/3rd of the way into the book. I think this had a lot of potential for a found family story, but things just didn't really shake out that way.

Pacing and writing were both done well and at no point did the writing pull me out of the immersion (except that one scene with the sea wasps.) Pacing is often something I complain about in these reviews, but this book gets a pass. At no point did I feel like things were dragging or going to quick to follow. This is honestly one of the best compliments that I can give a book, because I am super picky!

I'm biased, I think, in my review of this book because its one of my favorite subgenres of fiction. There were some definitely some things that I found less-than-stellar, but the overall effect was enough to earn 4 stars. I will definitely be recommending this to other people who are obsessed with underwater fiction like I am!

Any book that I can read in a single sitting is a book that I enjoyed. It is along the lines of an adventure horror story that combines hidden treasure with an unknown entity.

What really stuck out to me is this book is dark from start to finish. The tone is set and continual, just dread of what’s next (in the best way). This isn’t something I’ve come across in a lot of YA, so I loved that piece.

This book centers on multiple fractured relationships. Some fractured by circumstance and others by choice, revealing the full story over a current timeline and a recent past timeline that converges with the present story.

I haven’t read anything by this author before but I will definitely be checking to see if they have a backlist after this!

Out of Air follows a group of close friends with Phoebe as our main character. They are accomplished divers and love exploring the ocean at least until they find a hidden cave. They had no idea what they were in for when they gathered for their last moments together before most of the group heads off to college.

I love the dynamic between the friends, the descriptions of the cave are beautiful and eerie, and the supernatural aspects had me on the edge of my seat waiting to see what was going to happen next. The buildup throughout the story was great, and I thought the ending was fine; it felt like a bit of a letdown after all the buildup.

Overall, I quite enjoyed this and will definitely be checking out this author's other books.

This book was okay...nothing spectacular and I got bored about halfway through. The Deep by Nick Cutter was a favorite book the year I read it and this sounded a little similar to it being underwater horror, supernatural, etc. however, it just felt too teen drama and not enough underwater cave exploration for me.

A group of scuba diving friends find their lives completely turned upside down they uncover a mysterious caved filled with lost treasure... and with every treasure comes a price as strange things begin to happen to them and more treasure hunters hunt them down... and sooner or later blood is beginning to spill into these waters. Phoebe "Phibs" Ray has always felt out of place until she gets a job at a dive shop and befriends a group of divers... but on a dive six months ago she and her friends discover a handful of ancient gold coins in a mysterious cave. Yet the cave did something to Phoebe... and its turning her into something else... and as she begins to turn more and more treasure hunters are closing in on them... and with their lives in danger and something strange happening to Phoebe, the friends will be tested and Phoebe herself will have to find out just how far she'll go to protect her friends. I absolutely loved this one. I didn't know what I was going to expect but it was such a fun read. It's part horror, part action, and a splash of romance. It's a great beach/summer read and one I'd absolutely recommend!

Release Date: May 13, 2025

Publication/Blog: Ash and Books (ash-and-books.tumblr.com)

*Thanks Netgalley and St. Martin's Press | Wednesday Books for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

Thank you to Wednesday Books for the eARC.

The entire time I read Out of Air I couldn’t stop thinking about the movie The Abyss.

A couple of teenagers, just out of high school, find a secret cave while diving in a far off locale. The story flows back and forth between the current day and past events, to an event that changed the teens’ lives forever.

I enjoyed the interpersonal relationships between Phoebe and her friends (and especially Gabe👀). The mystery of what happened in the past, and what was happening now kept me turning the pages.

Is the story a little unbelievable? Yah, but not so much that I didn’t have fun while I was immersed.

This was okay? I think the concept was fantastic and I was pretty invested in the beginning but it was kind of slow and just lost my interest by the second half 🤷🏻‍♀️ this honestly might just be because I’ve been in a slump and nothing has really been hitting lately but idk I was just kind of bored and I think it’s going to be one that I forget about pretty quickly.

"Dive! Dive! Dive!" 🤿 💦

As a fellow scuba diver and lover of the ocean, this book had me on the edge of my seat. Out of Air is a YA paranormal thriller that will leave readers gasping for air themselves! It is a WILD ride and absolutely perfect for fans of the hit Netflix series, Outer Banks. Think teen drama, treasure hunters, secrets, romance, horror, and suspense! 😱

Written in a dual timeline, the story follows Phoebe and her friends, the "Salt Squad," as they navigate through their summer after high school graduation. The squad travels to an island off the coast of Australia and discover a hidden underwater cave rumored to hold buried treasure. But exploring this cave comes at a hefty cost and their lives will never be the same...

Rachel Reiss brilliantly paints a picture of the sights, sounds, and feelings of being completely immersed in the ocean. She introduces readers to various sea creatures, as well as scuba protocols, going through equipment and serious risks of the sport. And when I say "wild," I mean it! This story is OUT there with elements of gore and paranormal horror that could potentially shock some readers... that all said, this is a creative and riveting story that young teens (and adults) will devour! 🦈

Out of Air is a young adult thriller about a dive club of teens who stumble upon an underwater cave that begins to change them—inside and out.

Fresh off finding lost treasure in their home state of Florida, Phoebe and her friends Gabe, Will, Lani, and Isabel are heading to an Australian island for a ten-day scuba diving trip. But their first dive goes awry when Gabe and Phoebe discover an unexplored cave that locals have only whispered about. After returning to dry land, both teens develop strange wounds on their bodies and the unsettling sensation that something is living under their skin. Their discovery soon attracts the attention of treasure hunters who will do anything to uncover the cave’s location and claim its riches.

This book had a great concept, but I don’t think it fully delivered. The reader is kind of dropped into the story, and it felt like I was missing a lot of information—or like it was a sequel. I never felt like I got to know the characters or saw any meaningful connection or chemistry between them. Phoebe was supposed to be our heroine, but she was more of a collection of traits (wrong side of the tracks, no parents, pining for her friend Gabe) than a fully developed character. There were also an incredible number of coincidences tying her to an island over 9,000 miles away. The supernatural aspect of the plot and the body horror elements were off-putting and never fully explained. I really wanted to like this one, but it was a miss for me.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️

🎧 Narration Notes: The audiobook of Out of Air was read by Gail Shalan. For me, the voice acting felt a bit overwrought and overly dramatic.

A group of high school friends decide to spend their final Summer together on a remote island in Australia before they all go their separate ways. Although they are all experienced divers, they are both elated and overwhelmed when they discover a long searched for cave, rumored to possess hidden treasure. After emerging from the cave, Gabe and Phibs begin to hear whispering and sense that something inside them is changing and it’s out of their control.

Growing up in Carolina and Florida, I spent a great deal of time diving and boating in the Atlantic. Reiss beautifully illuminates life on the ocean with all its allure and danger. I felt the jitters in the descent and the exhilaration when they first entered the cave. Every detail was rich and vivid for me. The cover art had me transfixed with the intense blues that transported me back to my own dives. If you love being immersed in the deep blue, Out of Air just might be your passage while you are land-bound.
I received this as a free advanced review copy and submit this as my personal view. Many thanks to NetGalley for providing the ARC and to Rachel for the opportunity to review her debut novel.

Out of Air is an intriguing YA thriller that follows the Salt Squad, a group of 5 diver friends from Florida through a mysterious and almost supernatural sequence of events while they vacation off the coast of Australia. I've been in a bit of a reading slump and this book unexpectedly pulled me out of it. Reiss's writing did justice to the allure, beauty, and mystery of the ocean, and the setting felt realistic. While I didn't love the ending, I feel like Reiss did a great job wrapping up a lot of unanswered questions that kept you hooked through the book. With aspects of romance, found-family, magical realism, horror, and coming-of-age, this, to me, is an easy recommend for a wide variety of readers.
Sincere thank you to NetGalley and the St.Martin's Press for the chance to read this book in exchange for my honest review!
Reminded me of: Wilder Girls and Our Wives Under the Sea

Out Of Air by Rachel Reiss, this is a book about the salt squad five best friends who grew up in the keys in Florida four are from Key West where the rich kids come from and then Phoebe who comes from nowhere Island and lives there with her grandmother after her mom dropped her off at age 3 and was never heard of again. there’s poor girl Phoebe twins Gabe and will, Isabel in last but not least Lonnie. They all love deep sea diving and even free diving snorkeling in any other water activity you can do in the ocean. The beginning of the book is very promising we learn as a book goes from different points of the past to current day in Marmont Australia where they’re staying with Lonnie‘s uncle and using his boat to go out into the ocean to do some deep-sea diving. This is where they encounter a sunken cave that Lonnie told them about back in Florida but they had no idea that this holy Grail of treasure hunters would be something they find on their first dive in Australian Waters. phoebe has a unique knack for finding things as she did six months previously when she found five Spanish Holy Cross coins and where most people would be excited to find treasure, it caused her no amount of headache for her and her friends. unfortunately this time when finding the cave it’s no treasure but almost turned into an actual nightmare. It seems Lonnie didn’t tell them the whole story and once they learn it it’s going to be way too late. I really thought this book was a horror story and although at first there are many spooky and unsettling aspects not to mention the great depiction of underwater diving which made me want to try a night swim because that sounds so beautiful but having said that I did find a lot of the book was just too coincidental and there are too many things that went on answered like that whole shark attack… Not to mention the ending which had I’ve been prepared for this type of ending it probably would’ve said better with me but because I was waiting for scary and horror type moments it struck me odd. I also didn’t like the fact every time Phoebe was asked a question or one was posed to the group as a whole the had to go to some really adventurous lengths to answer them like when Phoebe found the coins they had to get in Will‘s Jeep and drive to totally another abandoned beach or another island just for her to let them know what she found. Then when she was asking another question to leave the dive shop on the tendon jump in the ocean and swim out before they could even discuss the answer and these are just two examples off the top of my head these kids were dramatic over the top and I am so sick of hearing about the poor little poor girl who hangs out with the well to do friends Phoebe seemed jealous and it made me wonder where were all her friends from her island did she just abandon them to hang out with these rich kids I mean she was 17 did she not have friends of her own? either way I still found most of the book interesting as well as the ending that were just some things that truly annoyed me about these five friends and some things just turned out to Pat for my liking. #Netgalley,#SaintMartin’sPress, #TheBlindReviewer, #MyHonestReview, #RachelReiss, #Out ofAir,

I don’t read a lot of contemporary YA fiction, but I can never resist an underwater horror novel. There’s nothing creepier to me than the unknown depths of the ocean, and Rachel Reiss definitely plays into that idea in Out of Air. In this aquatic thriller, a group of friends takes a graduation trip to the Australian coast to dive in some of the best waters the world has to offer. Phoebe and her friends skyrocketed to social media fame six months ago, when they made a surprising discovery on a dive off the coast of the Florida Keys, and they’re planning to film more content in Australia for their channel. But they dive a bit too deeply this time, discovering a mysterious and wondrous underwater cave – and when they surface, they bring something uninvited along with them.

Out of Air is a mish-mash of genres – high-seas adventure, coming-of-age, horror, thriller, family drama, and a bit of romance – all perfectly balanced in an engaging narrative that alternates between the past and the present. The underwater scenes are written so vividly; Rachel Reiss transports the reader to the depths of the ocean with stunning descriptions of aquatic life, juxtaposing the beauty of the underwater world with its inherent threats and the claustrophobic nature of diving.

The body horror is handled really well, the characters are interesting, and Reiss reveals some answers while keeping just enough unexplained so the book gives you this lingering feeling of unease. The conclusion left me feeling completely satisfied, and a little bit haunted. Out of Air has similar vibes to Our Wives Under the Sea and Annihilation, so if you enjoyed those books, definitely give this one a try. Even though YA isn’t my normal genre, I’m really glad I did. Thank you to Wednesday Books for the early reading opportunity.

I dislike books that begin after the big event that changed everything and the narrator keeps alluding to it until that event is explained sometime later. That almost automatically makes me ant to DNF the book. Either say what happened or explain it later in the book. Don’t keep dropping nuggets here and there. Also, I don’t think I’m the target audience for this book. I usually read young adult novels but this is out of my league. Another thing that irked me was the fact that these teenagers were so knowledgeable about diving and have no problem taking a boat out to the middle of nowhere without an adult. Besides that, I did like the fact that the story did mention South Florida and The Keys, places I’m quite familiar with.

Out of Air is a teen thriller that seemed like a cross between I Know What You Did Last Summer and The Abyss. And quite frankly it worked for me. From the beginning, I was pretty interested in these characters and these mysteries. And there were a lot of mysteries and unanswered questions. There was a lot of watery language used in the book and it kept the mystery of the sea in my head as I read. I'm not reading a lot of teen books these days, but this one was fast paced, the characters felt like teenagers, and Reiss kept the story clicking along. It's a short book and it didn't feel like any language or scenes were wasted. Everything fit into the overarching plot and for once a thriller had an actual ending. Reiss does wrap everything up with a nice little bow, but this is a good summer read.

Thank you to Wednesday Books and Netgalley for the arc for review purposes.

A solid four stars, Out of Air is a fun debut novel that I read in a little over a day.

I liked Phoebe, and getting to read from her point of view, though I'll admit that there were times where some of her decisions didn't make sense to me. I liked everyone in the Salt Squad, as the group of best friends affectionately call themselves, though Lani was my least favorite of them at times, not sorry.

In terms of the plot, there's a ton of action that happens in every chapter, enough to keep you turning the pages and wanting more after you've already put the book back down. I will say that some of the scenes that were supposed to be emotional fell a little flat for me, if I'm being honest. Some of it felt like telling more than showing. And some scenes felt repetitive, mostly in the dialogue.

Although this book is listed as horror, it's definitely more on the tame side (which is great for me, I'm not huge on being scared!) but I love a good "there's something horrifying in the sea" type of read, and Out of Air hit on the nails on the head for me. Overall, I had a fun time reading this, and I'd definitely check out more of Rachel Reiss in the future.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an e-ARC of this book! I also listened to part of the book via an early audio copy, which was great!

3.5 stars rounded up

Out of Air is a perfect book for teen readers who enjoy Outer Banks and stories with a bit of an adventure element. This is the story of a friend group who loves to dive in the ocean and what happens when they stumble upon some treasure, and then stumble upon a mysterious underwater cave. It is part thriller, a teeny bit of romance, a lot of found family, and some body horror for fans of that. So, a little bit of everything! I really enjoyed the descriptive writing and the ocean setting, as well as the fast-paced storyline.