Her Last Breath

By: Taylor Adams

Narrator: Sophie Amoss

ISBN: 9780063394131

Publisher: William Morrow

Publication Date: 02/17/2026

Format:Hardcover

My Rating: 5 Stars (ARC)

FEB 2026 MUST-READ BOOKS

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 expedition—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 school—Allie is a self-made travel influencer, while Tess is a shy (and claustrophobic) legal assistant struggling to pay for law school. Maybe she’s a little jealous of Allie's globe-trotting life. Who wouldn’t be?

As Tess and Allie descend into the depths, they realize they’re not alone. A stranger who claims to be a fellow caver harasses them. Confident, take-no-shit Allie insults the guy—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 wasn’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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Praise for Taylor Adams

“An intricate thriller . . . Adams expertly manipulates readers’ expectations . . . a visceral tale of daring and deceit.”

- Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Readers will hold their breath with every page, desperate to see who survives. Fans of Adrian McKinty and C. J. Tudor will also find much to love in this adrenaline-fueled story, quite possibly Adams’s best yet.”

- Library Journal (starred review)

“Taylor Adams’s fourth stand-alone thriller moves at about 150 miles per hour until its closing scene, which is still and tender . . . A novel that’s part action flick and part affecting rumination on moral responsibility within families.”

- Washington Post

"If many thrillers suffer from an inability to live up to their initial promises, The Last Word is the opposite: It gets more clever and interesting as it goes along. It’s not just a suspenseful story about a woman in extremis fighting for her life, but a fine exercise in authorial misdirection and an incisive metacommentary on crime fiction and true-crime writing. Also, it’s unexpectedly moving." - The New York Times

“A white-knuckle, read-in-a-sitting thrill ride. In The Last Word, Taylor Adams ratchets up the tension to an unbearable pitch—then keeps going. Thriller fans, take note: You need to read this book!”

- Riley Sager, New York Times bestselling author of The House Across the Lake

“There’s a cinematic propulsion to No Exit that commands the reader’s attention, and Mr. Adams times his shocks with a sure hand.”

- Wall Street Journal

“No Exit is everything I want in a thriller: ingeniously crafted, unapologetically relentless, and shamelessly suspenseful. The twists go off like a series of expertly planted detonations and the tension never lets up. I was blown away. No Exit is a damn good time.”

- Joe Hill, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Fireman

About the Author

Taylor Adams is the author of several acclaimed thrillers including No Exit, Hairpin Bridge, and The Last Word. His works have been featured as Book of the Month Main Selections and Amazon Editor’s Picks. No Exit has been published in 32 languages and was recently adapted as a Hulu Original film directed by Damien Power (Killing Ground), produced by PGA-winner Scott Frank (Logan), and starring Havana Rose Liu (Bottoms), Danny Ramirez (Top Gun: Maverick), and Dennis Haysbert (Breakthrough).

His novels have been praised by critics at the The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post, and by bestselling authors including Joe Hill, Riley Sager, A.J. Finn, Michael Koryta, and Karen Dionne. “Taylor Adams is a master of suspense,” said Michael Koryta. “I’m already impatient to see what he does next.” Publishers Weekly wrote in their starred review: “Adams is a writer to watch.”

Adams lives in Washington State with his family. WEBSITE