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A review by karis321
Out of Air by Rachel Reiss
adventurous
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
~~Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC!~~
I was kinda excited when I got this, because a scuba-diving horror/thriller sounded so good to me. But, unfortunately, this didn't quite deliver on the premise like I hoped it would.
Despite the whole premise hinging on this group being friends, I don't think anyone in tis group genuinely liked each other except maybe Phoebe and Gabe, but even with them the romance was flat and more telling they loved each other rather than just showing us. I spent so much of the book being annoyed at everyone's secret keeping, Phoebe being jealous and spiteful at her friends' wealth, and just the lack of enjoyable, three dimensional personalities. There are also some villains who pop into the plot who are more caricatures than characters who are used as plot fodder; they exist for no other purpose.
The mystery was so weak and not explored well enough. We learn some vague backstory about the cave, only to get hints of connections, like the matter of Phoebe's mom, that are never fully answered by the end of the book whenPhoebe and Gabe accept they are fish people and stay in Australia to live out their lives. Phoebe figures her mom either died in the cave or turned fully fished, but the book is more interested in her realization she posted the pictures that sent the treasure hunters on her and her friends. Her not remembering she did that was such a contrived plot detail, only rivaled by the fact it was Gabe who kept the last pirate coin to sell it off and pay for her grandma's hospital bills. That annoyed me so much, because it was only after him revealing that did Phoebe realize who magically paid off all those bills. The plot structure of this book infuriates me so.
The only thing I somewhat liked was the seemingly faithful depictions of scuba diving. I wouldn't known since I haven't done it, but apparently the author is a deep sea diver herself, and it shows in the descriptions whenever the characters dive. It made the atmosphere heavy sometimes, but that's about it.
I was kinda excited when I got this, because a scuba-diving horror/thriller sounded so good to me. But, unfortunately, this didn't quite deliver on the premise like I hoped it would.
Despite the whole premise hinging on this group being friends, I don't think anyone in tis group genuinely liked each other except maybe Phoebe and Gabe, but even with them the romance was flat and more telling they loved each other rather than just showing us. I spent so much of the book being annoyed at everyone's secret keeping, Phoebe being jealous and spiteful at her friends' wealth, and just the lack of enjoyable, three dimensional personalities. There are also some villains who pop into the plot who are more caricatures than characters who are used as plot fodder; they exist for no other purpose.
The mystery was so weak and not explored well enough. We learn some vague backstory about the cave, only to get hints of connections, like the matter of Phoebe's mom, that are never fully answered by the end of the book when
The only thing I somewhat liked was the seemingly faithful depictions of scuba diving. I wouldn't known since I haven't done it, but apparently the author is a deep sea diver herself, and it shows in the descriptions whenever the characters dive. It made the atmosphere heavy sometimes, but that's about it.