Grateful to NetGalley and Tin House for the ARC!

Marta Khoury is a marine archeologist who has been contracted to go to Cairnroch, an island off the Scottish coast, to retrieve items and remains belonging to "Auld James" Purdie among the sunken HMS Deliverance. Marta is unnerved by a presence within the ship from her first dive and becomes convinced that the presence has followed her back to the island and is responsible for some of the unnatural events that occur once Auld James' remains and possessions make their way back to the island.

A creepy "locked room" thriller, with the main characters trying to find a way to explain the some of the spooky things happening on the island - is it a ghost or are the islanders banding against the outsider? This was a really good read!

This is easily one of my favorite reads of the year so far. And that says a lot because it seems that I'm feeling real drawn to gothic literary novels that take place on remote islands and/or involve some sort of mystery and a journey to frozen murky depths. Parts of this reminded me of "Wild Dark Shore," another favorite of the year, even more so than "Our Wives Under the Sea," which I'm seeing listed as a comp.

The pacing, the cultish religious world building, the endless cold... this is a book that you can read as a mystery in a remote place with a possible haunting, and it's also a deep dive into how we navigate grief and legacy and trauma and our collective history. What does it mean to excavate our heroes, when those heroes are monsters? How do we cope with our complicity in the pain we cause in the world—often more by our inaction than intention?

Salam writes in the afterword about the place for art in a moment when the world feels this fraught, and I'm so glad she allowed that feeling of claustrophobia into her work. I will remember Marta and Elsie for a long time, and I sure hope other folks do too. Even though they are flawed and searching for meaning and redemption on every page.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Hard for me to assign a numerical rating to this one, and it might change later. TL;DR is that if you are looking for an intriguing mystery/ghost story with a sapphic b-plot and lots of morally gray characters, definitely give this a look.

The overall mystery of the plot was engaging and kept me turning pages because I had to know how all of this was going to resolve. However, I always find it hard to connect to books where the main character is really a terrible person. Marta's justifications for constantly treating everyone around her like shit gets exhausting. Her self-centeredness is truly breathtaking at times. Not to say she hasn't been mistreated, because she has, but oh my god it does NOT justify what she does. I spent most of the book yelling at Elsie, who is an angel and possibly the only truly good person in the entire story (ok, Sophie is actually great too), to run tf away from her as fast as possible.

Mysteries succeed or fail on the resolution, and this one was... on the whole reasonably clever. There are plenty of holes if you start poking too hard, but there's also enough mystery left intact to fill those in if you should want to. I did feel like we got to "I love you" too fast, although perhaps not on Marta's part because it felt almost manipulative, which was in character. Elsie's characterization felt a little less consistent—she was a bit of an odd mix of sheltered growing up on a remote island and strangely canny at times.

I don't read a lot of horror but I didn't find this overly scary, more lots of tension. Maybe because, unlike Marta, I never believed in a ghost. Also because I found Marta so irrational most of the time it was easy to write off her fear somehow? But there are lots of creepy moments for sure.

Finally, although this is takes place in the 1960s in a very remote, religiously severe area, there's very little explicit or even implicit homophobia. The characters express a few concerns about being found out, but then it seems like everyone on the island already knows and no one cares, which was a little unbelievable. Also, I feel like Marta and Sophie probably would have experienced a lot more racism than what we see, which is basically none.

I ended up getting caught by surprise for the little bit of out and out horror we get towards the back third of this. At first you think the horror is going to be based in the fact that this takes place around the Cuban Missle Crisis on an isolated island in the North Sea, or the diving into an old wreck. And then I thought the horror might come from the interpersonal drama playing out (the possible end of the world, our main hooks up with a woman on the island, and then her ex who she's technically not divorced from shows up). But then we get a straight up haunting happening as everything starts to fall apart in a wider way, and then it gets fun. Pick this up when it comes out in October, you'll be in for a treat.

This was such an incredible and haunting story. I was really fascinated with Marta and enjoyed her as a main character. Her paranoia throughout the book was well written and kept me hooked. I also loved seeing how Marta and Elsie’s relationship progressed throughout the story. There were parts of the book that I felt went a bit slow, but ultimately there’s a good balance of exploring the horrors of the shipwreck mixed with the lore of the island itself. This book subverted my expectations in the best way, I would definitely recommend it!

Thank you NetGalley and Tin House for the arc

2.5

setting: Scotland
rep: sapphic Scottish-Palestinian protagonist; Scottish-Palestinian author

I was into the sound of the vibes of this book - isolated gothic setting, sapphic protagonist, underwater diving, horror - but for me it only partly delivered. it definitely isn't a horror book imo, it isn't even really creepy, and I felt like the author worked so much on capturing the cold atmosphere that the actual story was underdeveloped. it was a lot of build up to ... Nothing, and I don't feel we got to know the characters well at all. it felt very surface level, and I wish there had been more time underwater as that barely featured.

The Salvage has all of the best elements in a book: arctic mysteries, underwater explorations, messy bisexuals being haunted by creepy specters in an unwelcoming small community! All my favorite things!

The bones of this are great—it’s a fun ghost story amid interesting character explorations. I wish the writing had gone harder, both in plot and setting. Everything was passable, but it feels like it could have been worked on a little more to make it PHENOMENAL. The setting painted an adequate picture, yet I never felt like I was there. The book felt too long for the amount of story that we got out of it.

I’m picky because these are story elements that I’m very familiar with and read a lot already, but this will appeal to an audience new to the gothic genre.

richly gothic, gorgeously haunting, intriguingly horrific and quite well done. 4 stars. tysm for the arc, would recommend this book.

I was very lucky to be able to review this ARC thanks to NetGalley!

The Salvage was a slow burn that I wish burned a little brighter. The first half of the book was necessary setup, but I wish the punch landed harder at the climax. Salam did a great job of making the reader feel the cold in this book, and how scary the cold can be.

I did appreciate Elsie’s ability to crack the case at the end of the book with rationality. However, I was hoping for something a bit more jarring. Overall, this was a fun read, and I recommend it for a scary winter-season book.

I was drawn to The Salvage because of the gorgeous cover and description, but the story wasn't quite what I was expecting.

The Salvage is an atmospheric, slow-burning gem that lingers long after the final page. Anbara Salam has crafted a story that’s both intimate and expansive—part psychological mystery, part meditation on grief, obsession, and the stories we tell ourselves to survive.

Set aboard a salvage vessel in the remote ocean, the book carries an eerie, almost gothic sense of isolation. From the moment the crew discovers a long-lost shipwreck, the atmosphere thickens with tension—not just between the characters, but between past and present, truth and myth. I could feel the salt, the silence, the claustrophobic pressure of being trapped with people you’re not sure you can trust.

Salam’s writing is lush and precise, weaving together maritime folklore, psychological unease, and a slow unraveling of secrets. The protagonist’s voice is compelling—guarded, haunted, and deeply human. The emotional undercurrent runs deep, and when the final revelations surfaced, they hit like a rogue wave.

If you love fiction that blends literary elegance with creeping suspense, The Salvage is a must-read. It’s haunting, intelligent, and quietly devastating—the kind of book that drifts back into your thoughts when you least expect it.

The Salvage by Anbara Salam is a rich coastal mystery that dives into the past to uncover the truth about a town’s history, while drudging up the body of the town’s local hero. Salam’s writing style is poetic and artful, describing damp, icy winter scenes with a beauty that could transport you there in moments (and make you want to be there).

I think for a lot of it, we could have seen more dialogue into the history of the time because I found myself questioning timelines and social circumstances a lot. Was John Calvin popular with the Scottish church? There are brief nods to the social norm breakdowns as the love affair between Marta and Elsie begins to blossom, but this story is still set in the 1960s, in a highly religious country so I’d imagine their relationship would have been a lot more illicit than portrayed (which would kind of make it sexier?).

The main character is unlikeable/unredeemable, but I do wonder if that is the author’s intent. Then diving into it, I recognize the elements of Calvinism weaved through the story: total depravity (Ms. Eleanor and Francis), unconditional election and irresistible grace (the missile and the shelter), and the perseverance of the saints (the love of Auld James) and I think this was done (maybe not intentionally) but brilliantly. Meanwhile, Sophie the outsider looks at this with shock and Marta has been absorbed into its normality out of love for Elsie and the thought she “deserved” to be haunted (also very alive in Calvinism).

That is probably overanalysis, but just my thoughts.

A thought on the cover: I think green may be a better option as this colour is touched on throughout (i.e., the green sweater, green jacket, a green surcoat, etc.)

This book is a creepy, atmospheric, cold little adventure with a great setting and a really interesting premise. Our main character dives down to a famous shipwreck to retrieve the bones of a local legend and some of his possessions, and creepy complications ensue. I loved the premise, but I think the story could have been pulled off a little bit better. I didn't really enjoy following our main character, partially because I found her quite silly and partially because I found the story quite silly at times. Like I said, I loved the setting, most of the characters, and the atmosphere, but I wish more had been done with the spooky elements of this book, and honestly the ending really took away a lot of the impact that the story had.

(spoilers):
Before I say anything else I do want to say that I am a person who likes to nitpick and question details. my apologies i can't help it :3. I was annoyed by Marta's strange decisions; the sole object of her study and the reason she's on this island mysteriously goes missing, and she decides "nope, I better not tell anyone, I can find and retrieve all of these precious artifacts in this isolated community where everyone seems to mistrust me already and where if anything is discovered to be missing everyone will automatically blame me as an outsider." fr? She generally doesn't have any tact, and it makes her read as pretty young. I'm not sure how old she's supposed to be (if it's mentioned I've forgotten) but I would hope that someone who is old enough to be married for multiple years would be smart enough to bring a thick enough wetsuit to dive in cold ass water and not dive right after a serious respiratory illness ????? I thought she was going to freeze to death so many times.
There were a lot of themes in here that I would have liked to seen explored in more depth. The family connections between the Purdies and their ancestor, the socio-political climate (okay, they hid in a bunker because of the Cuban missile crisis, but that didn't actually matter outside of directly showing Marta that she is an outsider), the relationship between Marta and Elsie, etc. I especially would have liked to hear more about the Purdies and their relationship with the people on the island, because there was definitely some tension between the big rich family who lives in the castle versus the normal people. There were times where I could imagine myself in this setting, but there were also soo many times where I had to be like hey wait we're on a small Scottish island in 1962. It definitely does not feel like 1962 but this is probably a good thing because I don't need to hear a modern writer trying to recreate 60's Scottish English on paper.
At first the ending of this book really ticked me off, but then when I got to the end of the ending I started to reconsider... It would have been a total flop of a plot twist if the final answer was just lead poisoning, but I like the implication that that's not the actual answer and that there is something deeper going on with Purdie's artifacts. That being said, I don't think their plan to dump the artifacts and the body actually makes any sense given what the characters think they know about the ghost thing. Why would some Arctic spirit give a damn whether this colonizer's body was undisturbed? So either way I think the ending was lackluster.
Also am I out of touch or is it crazy that everyone was so supportive of Marta leaving her affair partner to drown in the ocean. What are we talking about. They went to the beach together and he went swimming and didn't come back so she just drove away and everyone is fine with that and tells her that she's not to blame?? This is why I want more details!! I thought it was a "he mysteriously disappeared" situation but then near the end of the book she mentioned remembering driving to the beach together that day and I was like wait girl what?? you were there at the time??

(end spoilers)

A lot of this is negative; I think it's a lot easier to talk about the things that didn't work rather than the things that did. I still had fun reading this and thought it had kernels of interesting stuff, and I love lesbians and stories set in remote locations, so it gets a 3

This has to be the top Horror book of 2025. This story was so compelling and interesting and terrifying at times. The character development was amazing, the ominous vibes were perfection, the romantic subplot was great. I loved reading this story, I enjoyed it so much.


Marta is sent to a island off Scotland to retrieve the remains and treasures of Captain Purdie, but when she's down there she sees someone with her. Once she comes back on land strange things start happening and the island's inhabitants also start behaving strangely, especially towards her. When she goes on a second dive to retrieve the remains, she notices things are missing and someone has stolen them. Her job is already on the line cause her husband that she's separated from is her boss and she ends up having to try to figure out who took the items, are the weird happenings supernatural, and how she can overcome her haunting past.


(I received this as a arc)

The Salvage is a slow, eerie burn in the best way. Marta, a diver documenting a sunken victorian ship off the coast of a tiny Scottish island, spots something…someone…inside the wreck on her first dive, and things just spiral from there. The isolation, the creeping cold, the sense that something is watching…it all builds into this quiet, unsettling tension that I couldn’t shake. The pacing is slow, but it seems intentionally so-it gives you space to sink into the atmosphere and into Marta’s head. I loved that the sapphic love story isn’t the main focus. It’s soft, real, and woven in without needing to be the BIG thing.

This book is less about jump scares and more about what haunts us on the inside. Perfect for a rainy day!!

This book was not what I expected. Originally, I thought it would be a spooky archeological novel with a Sapphic main character set in the 1960s and it was, but there was a lot more internalized drama that came with it.

First off, I want to say that the writing itself was done well. There were a lot of quotable lines and the author clearly describes the setting without it being boring. The spooky parts were interesting and what drew me in.

Unfortunately, the self-deprecating and unlikeable main character took me out of it. Marta has a guilty conscious because she made some terrible decisions, but I quickly got tired of her “woe is me” attitude and she constantly blew things out of proportion. I think the author chose this trait to increase tension and highlight Marta’s desperation, but because I didn’t really like her, I didn’t necessarily want her to succeed.

That being said, once I accepted that Marta was an unlikeable character, (and the plot started focusing more on the mystery and less on her personal life) I devoured the book. The ending wasn’t as satisfying as I wanted but not as disappointing as I feared.

All in all, I personally found this book to be okay, but I can easily see it being someone’s favorite.

e-ARC: 3⭐️ I was drawn to this book initially by its beautiful cover, and then furthermore when I read its description. Once I started reading, I was intrigued by the suspense and the tension created by so many unknown aspects at the beginning of the story.

Unfortunately, I ultimately had difficulty connecting to the characters and as some of the mysteries were revealed, I had a hard time staying engaged in the story.

That being said, this was very different stylistically from what I typically read and enjoy, and I do think there is an audience that will love this book.

Thanks to NetGalley and Tin House Books for the ARC!

Unfortunately I struggled a bit with this book. The premise and plot were very interesting, but I just didn’t really like Marta or connect with her. I wish the start of the book was also a bit more engaging. It’s not a bad read, just not for me.

*Thank you to NetGalley and Tin House Books for the ARC*

I liked this story and these characters so much that I had trouble putting this book down. If you are looking for a sapphic maritime historical thriller this book fits the bill.

Marta's personal and professional difficulties created a tension that was palpable and left me rooting for her. The horror/thriller aspects created a foreboding sense of dread that was amped up as the stakes became higher and higher but never unbelievable. Salam creates a small-town atmosphere that perfectly encapsulates how even neighbors that claim to know everything about one another can maintain shocking secrets. Marta's relationship with the people of Cairnroch was the best part of the book. The religious conviction of the Elected almost felt like a character in and of itself as the staunch adherence to sometimes contradictory beliefs inform almost every decision made by the major players. Marta's relationship with Elsie highlighted her "outsider" status while Elsie acts almost like a guide to the innerworkings of the society for both Marta and the reader. The sapphic romantic elements were cozy and pretty spicy for being closed door.

In three words: Icy, mysterious, and paranormal. The Salvage is a great read that may having you reconsidering the benevolence of every bump in the night.

Chilling, atmospheric, and beautifully written. A slow-burn gothic mystery set on a freezing Scottish island with ghostly dives, buried secrets, and a quietly electric romance. Utterly captivating.