Her Last Breath: A Novel

"What Stephen King did for an empty hotel in The Shining, Taylor Adams does for a treacherous cave in his bracing, breathtaking Her Last Breath."
โ€”BookPage

"Twisty, toxic, and totally original."
โ€”People

From the critically acclaimed author of No Exit and The Last Word comes a story of two friends who embark on an ill-fated caving expeditionโ€”and the dark truth of what happens deep underground.

After years of excuses, Tess has finally agreed to go caving with her best friend Allie. Their lives have diverged sharply since high schoolโ€”Allie is a self-made travel influencer, while Tess is a shy (and claustrophobic) legal assistant struggling to pay for law school. Maybe sheโ€™s a little jealous of Allie's globe-trotting life. Who wouldnโ€™t be?

As Tess and Allie descend into the depths, they realize theyโ€™re not alone. A stranger who claims to be a fellow caver harasses them. Confident, take-no-shit Allie insults the guyโ€”and he retaliates. Soon, Tess is trapped inside a narrow crawl space hundreds of feet underground, fighting to stay alive.

Twenty-four hours later, as a hospitalized Tess recounts her harrowing story of survival, the detective interviewing her shares new and shocking secrets about Allie's true past. Together, they begin to suspect the brutal attack wasnโ€™t so random after all.

Who was Allie, really? Why did this man target them? And did Tess really leave the danger behind when she escaped the cave?

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Published Feb 17, 2026

Average rating: 8.13

39 RATINGS

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Community Reviews

BennyBsMama
Mar 28, 2026
7/10 stars
I loved the way Taylor wrote this book. The different perspectives kept me intrigued. Lots of twists and turns.
Christine
Mar 23, 2026
8/10 stars
*4.5 stars*

Taylor Adams really knows how to weaponize a setting. This was such a claustrophobic, visceral experienceโ€”his descriptive style made me feel like I was trapped right along with the characters.
The Good:
Fast-paced & Engaging: I couldn't put it down.
Wild Twists: Genuinely caught me off guard!
The Not-So-Good:
Lost half a point because it dragged in a few spots where the tension should have stayed high.
Overall, a must-read if you love high-stakes dread!
@sweettea_and_a_book
Feb 23, 2026
9/10 stars
I finished the audiobook yesterday and the twists still have me dizzy AF! This book was deliriously, claustrophobically, anxiously SO DAMN GOOD!!!! It was really going down in that cave! ๐Ÿชจ OMFG itโ€™s been a long time since Iโ€™ve felt so pumped after finishing a book! This book took me thru there the entire time๐Ÿซ  The only thing I will note is that thereโ€™s a lot of details about the cave, and thereโ€™s a little slow start. But after that itโ€™s full speed ahead! You know the feeling when youโ€™ve finished binge watching a really good series and now youโ€™re excitedly looking for the next one to bring the same exact energy?! Thatโ€™s how Iโ€™m feeling right now! All I know is I HAVE to read every book this author has written because I have been missing out. Sheer genius! โ€œ....๐›๐ž๐ข๐ง๐  ๐š ๐ฌ๐ญ๐จ๐ซ๐ฒ๐ญ๐ž๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ž๐ซ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐š ๐ฌ๐จ๐ซ๐ญ ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐ฉ๐š๐ญ๐ก๐จ๐ฅ๐จ๐ ๐ข๐œ๐š๐ฅ ๐ž๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ญ๐ข๐ง๐ž๐ฌ๐ฌ. ๐˜๐จ๐ฎ ๐œ๐š๐งโ€™๐ญ ๐ฃ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ญ ๐ž๐ฑ๐ฉ๐ž๐ซ๐ข๐ž๐ง๐œ๐ž ๐ข๐ญ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ฌ๐ž๐ฅ๐Ÿ, ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐ก๐š๐ฏ๐ž ๐ญ๐จ ๐ฌ๐ก๐š๐ซ๐ž ๐ข๐ญ.โ€ I WANT ALL OF YOU TO SHARE THIS BOOK EXPERIENCE WITH ME!!!!

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