Dead Heat by Sabine Durrant #DeadHeat @SabineDurrant @PenguinUKBooks @RandomTTours #CrimeFiction #BookReview

 

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.

Dead Heat by Sabine Durrant was published on 12 March 2026 by Century/Penguin. My thanks to the publisher who sent my copy for review as part of this #RandomThingsTours Blog Tour 

I have been a fan of Sabine Durrant's writing for many years now. I think she is one of our greatest crime fiction authors, yet so understated. I think we really need to shout louder about how fantastic her novels are.

I've been looking forward to reading Dead Heat since the proof copy dropped through my letterbox and knowing that it is, once again, set in Greece, only made the anticipation greater! 

I have not been disappointed! From its striking opening to its simmering, sun-drenched conclusion, Dead Heat is another masterclass in slow-burn suspense. This is a novel that quietly, confidently demands the reader's attention, drawing you into its world with a subtlety that is assured and utterly compelling.

The Greek setting is created with exquisite precision. The Mani Peninsula is not the idyllic escape one might expect; instead, it feels stark, remote, and faintly unforgiving. The author captures the harsh beauty of the landscape so vividly that you can almost feel the relentless heat pressing down on you as you read.  It’s a setting that is at the centre of the story, shaping mood and behaviour in ways that feel entirely authentic.

At the heart of the novel is Matt Grimshaw, whose personal and professional setbacks make his retreat to Greece feel like both an escape and a reset. As the summer unfolds and familiar faces gather, what initially appears to be a chance for rest and reinvention slowly shifts into something far more unsettling. The arrival of a wealthy outsider and the decadent parties that follow add another layer of unease, increasing the sense that something is quietly slipping out of control.

What this author does so brilliantly is build tension, not through dramatic twists or menace, but through atmosphere and character. There is a constant, low-level hum of unease running through every page. Conversations are loaded and relationships are strained. It’s this quiet tension; this sense that something is not quite right, that makes the novel so gripping.

The characterisation is particularly strong. No one is entirely likeable, yet each person is fascinating in their own flawed way. As resentments simmer and loyalties shift, the dynamics between them become increasingly fraught, adding to the novel’s claustrophobic feel despite the wide, open landscape.

Dead Heat is a beautifully crafted thriller that proves that suspense doesn’t need to be loud to be effective. Instead, it lingers, it unsettles, and it leaves a lasting impression. A five-star read that is as atmospheric as it is absorbing.

Dead Heat is Sabine Durrant’s seventh work of dark psychological suspense. Its setting,
part of the Greek Peloponnese, has obsessed her since she read Patrick Leigh Fermor’s travel book The Mani in her twenties. Her previous thrillers include Lie with Me which was a Sunday Times Top Ten bestseller, and Sun Damage, which was subject to a fierce film and TV bidding war and is currently in production with Bad Wolf and Disney.

Before becoming a full time novelist, Sabine Durrant worked in editorial at The Independent, The Sunday Times and The Guardian where she also wrote the weekly ‘Sabine Durrant’ interview with subjects as diverse as Archbishop Runcie, Stella McCartney and Jeff Goldblum. She has written two works of general fiction, including the bestselling Having it and Eating it, and two Connie Pickles novels for young adults. Her essay 'At Sea’, for the collection Truth or Dare, was a personal investigation into the life and death of her father, a pilot in the Fleet Air Arm, who disappeared off the Dorset coast a few months after she was born.

Sabine Durrant lives in south London with her husband, three adult children, one dog and two cats.