Afloat

by Naadhira Zahari

A psychological thriller accompanied with verses where every secret is a shadow of a lie and every lie unveils a passageway to the truth.

Leah is wrecked with guilt when her estranged best friend was found dead one morning, floating in the swimming pool of their apartment complex. She had no choice but to find ways to get the police off her tracks along with coping with her grief.

Will Leah survive the ordeal and get away with the murder? Or is there more to the story than meets the eye—hiding darker truths behind closed doors?

120 pages, Paperback

First published January 30, 2026

About the author

Naadhira has been writing since she was 15 and has never stopped. She spends most of her time getting sucked in books and daydreaming about fictional characters. She’s a lover of words and languages and aspires to make all her dreams come true, specifically to publish all her stories. She can also be found on Bookstagram, Twitter and Blog at @legenbooksdary

Reviews

[lysareading · Rating 5 out of 5]

I got nothing to say SO JUST DIVE INTO IT BLINDLY!!! The blend of psychological thriller and mystery creates an incredibly suspenseful and hard-to-put-down reading experience (at least for me!)

I couldn’t agree more about the favouritism and Patricia-like behaviour (read: patriarchy) that shown just to justify what men can do that women can't. Men, ugh 🙄

Plus, this story stands out from the rest of Naadhira's work. The author once said that she wrote it when she was in anger, and the inspiration was based on a true crime case that was unsolved.

Genuinely, I love this book and I highly recommend it!

[Aleeqa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Afloat by Naadhira Zahari is a psychological thriller accompanied by verses where every secret is a shadow of a lie and every lie unveils a passageway to the truth.

Leah is convinced that she killed her best friend. Consumed by guilt and grief, she tried to find ways to get the police off her tracks.

I don’t know how to review this latest novella by @legendarybook without spoiling it!

What I can say is it is so good! The mystery kept the story going. There are mystifying verses before each chapter, and I keep screaming “What the hell is going on?!” in my head! Therefore, I put on my detective hat and try to figure things out, but I was lost until that one scene that clicks everything together. The writing effectively sets a dark and mysterious mood from the start. The atmosphere reminds me a bit of Strange Picture by Uketsu, I was scared that I would be pulled by another psychological horror.

At its core, the novella deals with trauma, patriarchy, and favouritism. It explores trauma through the protagonist’s fractured memories and overwhelming sense of guilt, showing how deeply a shocking event can affect the mind. Separately, the themes of patriarchy and favouritism are embedded in the story’s central conflict, highlighting how unequal power and biased treatment shape the characters’ fates.

This novella has become my favourite of Naadhira’s work. Hope her brother ticks her off again soon, so we can get more awesome writing from her. LOL.

[Elvina Zafril · Rating 5 out of 5]

Honestly, I’m still processing the ending of Afloat by Naadhira Zahari. If you love a psychological thriller that actually keeps you guessing, this is it.

The story starts when Leah finds her estranged best friend, Siew Fong, floating dead in their apartment’s swimming pool. From page one, you’re hit with this heavy sense of guilt and mystery. Is Leah just a grieving friend, or is she hiding something from the police?

What really hooked me was the writing style. It’s not just a standard story; there are these beautiful, haunting verses and diary like snippets between the chapters. It made me feel like I was snooping through someone’s private thoughts, which just made the suspense even better.

I usually pride myself on guessing the ending of thrillers, but Naadhira Zahari totally played me. Every time I thought I had the puzzle pieces figured out, I was wrong. The pacing is so fast, I managed to read this book in one sitting, and that final revelation was chef’s kiss. It was unexpected but so, so satisfying.

[Anastasia Bell · Rating 4 out of 5]

For a novella, Afloat captures guilt and mystery with remarkable precision, baiting readers to question what they think they know. The addition of handwritten scribbles adds a unique, intimate layer that makes the story even more engaging.

I truly enjoyed the book, feeling deeply for the characters and their struggles. As a middle child and a daughter, I relate closely to the themes of favoritism, and having been raised in a traditional family, I understand the weight of patriarchy, ego, and strict expectations.

Here’s to the days of being afloat, navigating life’s currents, and finally finding some calm toward the end.

[Naaytaashreads · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Siew Fong pressed for the elevator to go up, entered and that was the last time she ever saw him alive and breathing."
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I just finished Afloat - Naadhira Zahari and what can I say… it was SO good 😰🖤 I did not expect the read to be this dark, but it was — a heartbreaking kind of dark. It makes you uncomfortable in the best way, leaving you unsettled and sweating through all the unknowns between what is real and what is not. The mystery kept me completely hooked 🕵️‍♀️

The story begins with Leah finding her estranged best friend, Siew Fong, floating dead in their apartment’s swimming pool — and from that moment, all hell breaks loose 🌊

The diary-like snippets and poetic verses added such an eerie psychological layer, making everything feel more disturbing and immersive. The back and forth between chapters and Leah’s POV puts you in a constant state of confusion — whose thoughts are you actually listening to? This novella explores trauma, guilt, patriarchy, and favouritism, and how deeply these things are just the beginning of how they affect someone’s mental well-being. Watching Leah struggle with her memories and emotions was heartbreaking, confusing, and fascinating all at once. You don’t know what’s real, what’s suppressed, and what’s been rewritten by trauma 🧠

And when the plot twist finally happens… it makes you think deeply about the mind of the real culprit. It makes you question the definition of good and bad, and what is truly right and wrong. Not that I’m saying what happened was right, but it makes you take a step back and realise there is always something bigger beneath what we see on the surface
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The ending, when Leah hugged you-know-who… it was absolutely heartbreaking. It felt like a hug both of them needed — two people carrying different losses, different grief, but the same emotional weight. It was quiet, painful, and deeply human 🥀

Well done, Naadhira, for such an incredible release 🖤

[Anita Kumaran · Rating 5 out of 5]

My rating: 5 / 5 🌟

Afloat is an incredible book that packs a punch with an underlying commentary on patriarchy and injustice wrapped in a psychological thriller and a murder mystery at the heart of it.

Leah finds herself at the centre of the murder of her lifelong friend, Siew Fong who was found floating in the pool of their apartment. Leah wrestles with the guilt that she may have caused his death, indirectly or could it be… directly? 🤔

Naadhirah does an excellent job dropping pieces of the puzzles for the audience to pick up in order to make sense of the story and even try to solve it themselves. Her writing style clearly reflects what a seasoned writer she is! I thoroughly enjoyed how she crafted her plot and the main character’s inner workings all under 115 pages! It was descriptive without detracting from the action of the storyline! 🙌🏾🤩

One of my favourite parts were the pages which seemed like excerpts of a diary that were peppered in between chapters that certainly kept the intrigue going! The author even revealed that those were her own handwriting! 😍
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It truly added to the story and kept me turning the pages while offering a bit of respite between the chapters.

The reveal at the end was both heart wrenching and shocking to say the least. She has certainly delivered what she set out to which is the main message of her story (don’t want to reveal too much here…) 🤫🤐

All in all, I enjoyed this book thoroughly and it’s definitely a worthy read if you’re looking for a quick murder mystery or thriller type of story!

[Rahdika K · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 rounded up to 4.

This was so good. Kept me at the edge of my seat throughout the book. The twist I didn’t see coming caught me by surprise. As a novella, I think this was wonderful written.

I loved the book dedication too: “To the downfall of patriarchy and favouritism.”

Overall, if you are looking for a short psychological thriller with elements of complicated family dynamics and misogyny, this is the book for you.

[putriarisa._ · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5⭐️

The story carries a theme of patriarchy and feels more like a domestic thriller than a psychological one. The psychological part is quite light, as the story focuses more on the mystery and the investigation of the boy’s death.

I enjoyed the notes at the end of each chapter, as they gave small hints about who the real killer might be.

For a YA novel, it’s quite decent.