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.

A taut and entertaining YA novel. Phibs and her pals are divers. They've explored underground caves, awakened something bad, and now, well, no spoilers from me. This is atmospheric (love the underwater sequences) and it mixes in a bit of horror/sci fi. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. A good read.

ARC REVIEW (5/13/25): out of air by rachel reiss 🌊 a group of scuba diving friends stumbles across lost treasure, a legendary cave, and a new type of power… that comes at a price.

I was RIDDLED with anxiety while reading this. I didn’t know I had a fear of getting stuck underwater and running out of air until now. there were lots of elements to this story- friendship, family, love, thriller and horror- all centered around a creepy underwater cave. I think I would've liked to see more of the actual treasure hunting on page 🦈

🫧 given that this is a young adult novel, I found the way adults took advantage of 16 year olds (on multiple occasions) concerning. yes, the world is scary, but you shouldn't have to think EVERY adult is out to get you while navigating your teens- the portrayal was a bit off. I also didn't enjoy the light elders with alzheimer's/ dementia were shown. as someone who currently has grandparents going through this, it just rubbed me the wrong way.

thank you wednesday books for a physical copy/ earc!

are you ready to take the plunge? 🤿 3 stars!

🌊Thank you so much @wednesdaybooks for the copy of Out of Air!

This book was trippy and stinking addictive. I was hooked from chapter one!

If you liked the tv show Lost, then I think you’d enjoy this book. It has eery ocean cave, treasure, friendship, romance, scuba diving, haunting whispers, and something lurking under their skin transforming them from the inside out.

This is outside my normal genre and I just enjoyed the ride! And if you know me, I don’t do super creepy, so I felt like this was the perfect level of suspense for me.

★ ★ ★ ★/5
Steam: kissing

Why did I request this book? I read the premise and saw that it includes many things that make me super nervous and yet, I clicked. And then read. and enjoyed it. And was nervous. A good twisty read about diving and one that I will recommend to my students because I honestly haven't read anything else like this before or about this setting! Thank you netgalley for this arc in exchange for my honest opinion.

My worst nightmare would be stuck under water and running out of air. The wonderfully descriptive writing had me vividly picturing the underwater scenes and feeling the panic. This was a haunting YA story with flashes to the past. There were lots of elements to this story- friendship, family, love, thriller, horror all based around a creepy underwater cave. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this advanced reader’s copy.

Out of Air is a YA horror mystery by author Rachel Reiss. Five friends who live for the ocean, diving connects and binds them. But with it being senior year and them all going off in different directions at the end of the summer cracks are forming in their friendships. Will this final dive be the one to break them or something else outside their control.

It took me a minute to get into this one but once all the eerie stuff started to happen I was on board. I enjoyed our main character Phoebe and her love interest Gabe and his brother. I never really connected to the other two female in the friend group but I didn't dislike them. I also felt like the whole : treasure hunter" danger was alright but not the main selling point for me. I was invested in the relationship between the friends and it's slow unravel.

Out of Air by Rachel Reiss is a YA horror mystery set in the ocean where anything could go wrong. It's filled with a group of 5 with friction among them, a mysterious and legendary cave, lost treasure, a sprinkle of romance, and a satisfying ending.

3.5 rounded to 4

"Out of Air" by Rachel Reiss follows a group of scuba diving friends who stumble across lost treasure, a legendary cave, and a new type of power that comes at a price. This chilling, gripping, intense, eerie, and thrilling page-turner had me hooked from the very beginning. I found myself unable to put the book down and was left feeling a sense of sadness when it came to an end. The story kept me on the edge of my seat, eagerly turning each page to uncover the mysteries that lay within.