Their everyday lives turn complicated when Sven is hired by the actress Jola von der Pahlen, who needs to improve her diving skills to get the leading role in an upcoming film about Lotte Hass, and her abusive husband Theo Hast, a writer whose only novel was published ten years earlier.

[2] Lucy Popescu of The Independent wrote that Decompression builds suspension in ways that surprise the reader by changing direction.

[2] James Smart of The Guardian wrote that the unsympathetic main characters make the truth of what is going on feel irrelevant, but that the passages set underwater are well written and the book ends with "a scene of splendid drama".

[3] Kirkus Reviews wrote that the story developments are unpredictable and well put together, the book suspenseful and the characters nuanced, comparing Jola's and Theo's relationship to that of Martha and George in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

[4] Publishers Weekly called Decompression "a competent character study" about Sven's vulnerability and inability to handle the unexpected situation.