Under the searing sun, secrets simmer and betrayal lies thick in this claustrophobic, explosive new thriller from Sunday Times bestselling author Sabine Durrant
'A real scorcher. You won't want to miss this one!' HARLAN COBEN
'Gloriously dark and wildly engrossing' LISA JEWELL
'Sun-drenched and dripping with suspense, this is the perfect summer read’ LUCY CLARKE
Former journalist Matt Grimshaw's life is at a low ebb. He's been 'let go' by the paper where he's worked for years, and his relationship with his long-term girlfriend has come unstuck.
So when an invitation arrives from his two closest friends, Celia and Adam Murphy, to join them at their house in Greece, he jumps at it.
It may be harsh and unwelcoming on the Mani Peninsula but Matt determines to stay there for the whole summer and to write his much put-off screen-play.
But then the Murphys plus children arrive, and a wealthy newcomer to the area starts throwing loud and lavish parties in his big house across the bay.
As the nights become hotter and the parties wilder, everyone's motivations darken. Envy rises, resentments grow - until a terrible accident stops the summer in its tracks.
At least, it looks like an accident…
Set over one blazing Mediterranean summer, Sabine Durrant’s new thriller is tense, claustrophobic and utterly gripping.
About the Author
Sabine Durrant, the author of Having It and Eating It, is a British journalist best known for "The Sabine Durrant Interview" in The Guardian. She has also worked for The Observer, The Independent, The Daily Telegraph, and The Sunday Times.
Industry Reviews
A real scorcher. You won't want to miss this one!
Harlan Coben
Gloriously dark and wildly engrossing, I was swept up in the sticky, claustrophobic web of twisted emotions, unnerving obsessions, murder and lies that Sabine Durrant so brilliantly and skilfully creates in Dead Heat
Lisa Jewell
Tense, clever and so vividly written, I could really feel the deceit and betrayal sizzling under the hot Greek sun. I raced through it in one sitting
Ruth Mancini
An unputdownable, unguessable, sun-drenched thriller. No one captures the deadly foibles of the middle classes better than Sabine Durrant
Erin Kelly
No one writes sun-soaked seductive and obsession like Sabine Durrant. Better than every season of The White Lotus spun into one, and drenched with danger, sex, and revenge. Sensational summer reading
Sarah Hilary
Dead Heat is a sharply observed, sophisticated page-turner. Sun-drenched and dripping with suspense, this is the perfect summer read
Lucy Clarke
More hooks than a Greek fishing boat, a deliciously dark, modern Greek Gatsby, with a minotaur of a monster at its heart. Absolutely, page-turningly perfect. I burned my way through it
Julia Crouch
Drenched in atmosphere and menace, with complicated characters who change complexion with the light, subtle dynamics playing out just under the surface, and a Greek setting to die for. Literally
Tammy Cohen
Compelling, evocative and fiendishly smart, this unsettling literary thriller is a five-star triumph.
Isabelle Broom
I was gripped from the off by this twisting, beautifully written tale of love and friendship fracturing under the glare of the Greek sun and as the mood darkened and tensions rose I found I couldn't turn the pages fast enough. I loved it!
Marika Cobbold
No one writes suspense like Sabine Durrant. Dead Heat is perfection
Clare Mackintosh
Beautiful and evocative, this thriller hooked me with its dark and twisty take on love and obsession
Heidi Perks
I loved this book. The descriptions are so beautiful that you almost don’t notice the brilliance of the plotting
Elly Griffiths
There are very few thriller writers who I feel as fiercely and passionately loyal to as Sabine Durrant. Every book is a gem, polished to perfection, dark in all the right ways and riven through with so much sharp humanity, intense atmosphere and spellbindingly beautiful writing. She is, it's not an exaggeration to say, my favourite thriller writer, full stop.
Lisa Jewell
