Out of Air / Rachel Reiss / Book Review

OUT OF AIR

Phoebe Ray has always been at home underwater. She's got the ocean in her blood. As the Salt Squad's lead photographer, too, she's made something of a splash on social media. The future is bright, but...

Six months ago, something changed the dynamic of the Salt Squad. Six months ago, they found something on a dive. Six months ago, the bond between them was shaken, but they've put all that behind them. Or they're trying.

Now, in their final summer before college, the Salt Squad has big plans, plans to do what they do best: dive beneath the waves, looking for lost treasures. This has taken them to a distant Australian island, to the place of pirate legends and old seaside myths (that they definitely don't plan on exploring). But Phoebe has something of a sixth sense when it comes to the sea, and not everything wants to stay buried beneath the waves...

THOUGHTS

This book is such a change of pace when it comes to YA thrillers, and I adore that! The setting is evocative, obviously written by an author who has spent hours immersed in the waves. I just wish this book had embraced the horror aspects it presents. It felt too timid once it veered into body horror, and you really can't do body horror halfway. It's an all-or-nothing deal, and this book didn't give its all.

PROS

Watery Depths	Though this book didn't come together like I would have wanted, Rachel Reiss nonetheless creates a very vivid world here. Reading this book is like going on vacation, sinking your feet into the sand and enjoying the waves. It feels tangible, this seaside life, and I loved that! It's the perfect beachy, watery read.
Inside-Outside	This book quickly veers into a body horror territory, and one of the things Reiss gets really right is the sense of fate, unavoidable and set in stone. Without spoiling two much, two of the main cast find themselves... infected. And they get to watch each other slowly change for the worse. Readers get to see what's happening from the outside and the inside, from the narrator watching herself change just a bit behind another Salt Squad member. And that lag in transformation, that dawning horror, really does a lot of heavy lifting here. In a good way. It feels very much like when a character is bit in a zombie movie and running now on borrowed time. It can't last. The change is inevitable.
Generational	Since YA books are so focused on characters growing and coming into their own, family members are often left on the periphery to give those younger characters room to shine. That's just the nature of the beast. But in reality, family plays a big part in the lives of teens, and this book really highlights Phoebe's life with her grandmother. Her grandmother is on her mind, a part of her past, her present, and her future, too. Phoebe knows her fellow squad members will be off to college in the fall, but she's facing an immediate future as a caretaker now that her grandmother is facing mental decline. This felt very real and very important, and it fleshed out a character who might otherwise have been a run-of-the-mill YA thriller protagonist. Phoebe adores her grandmother. She was raised by this woman, and her future is being shaped by her, too.

CONS

This book really does move at a snail's pace. By halfway through the books, things are really only just starting to get started. There are stakes in this book, but you don't ever feel them since everything's just creeping along. And that's unfortunate, in a book that's meant to fall into the realm of thriller/horror.	Snail Pace
The setup to this book feels a little too tried-and-tried-again for anyone who has read any recent YA thrillers. Do we have a group of bougie friends? Yes, we do. Is our protagonist part of the group but also not (i.e. she isn't part of this rich-rich upper class)? Also yes. And are all of these friends supposedly really close but actually just kind of catty and mean to each other? Absolutely yes. So all said and done, these characters slot into familiar roles and don't really stand on their own. Which is a disappointment.	Familiar Setup
For as slow as this book was, it does start to come together... only to fall pretty flat at the ending. I wanted this book to lean into its thriller aspects. I would have adored this book embracing the horror is presents. I would have liked this book to be much of anything, but it doesn't really escalate. It doesn't really go anywhere. It doesn't really reach a climax, aside from some mild (and thrown-in-just-because) external threats at the eleventh hour. This book just doesn't do much, and that was sad. Especially because the potential was really, really here.	Anti-Climax

Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
6/10

Fans of Lauren Muñoz's Suddenly a Murder will adore following these well-to-do friends as their beach vacation takes a sharp nosedive toward life-or-death stakes. Those who loved Courtney Gould's What the Woods Took will love diving (literally) into a long-untouched wild space that should have been left well alone.

Details Publisher: Wednesday Books Date: May 13, 2025 Series: N/A Add to Goodreads Buy it HERE

Note: I was provided with an ARC by the publisher through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions here are my own.