Book review: Dead Heat by Sabine Durrant

Dead Heat by Sabine Durrant is the first book I’ve read by the English author since 2018. I absolutely loved her very twisty Under Your Skin, which I read over a decade ago. Here 51-year old journalist Matt is staying in a guest cottage in Greece after losing his job and girlfriend when he becomes embroiled in a love triangle (or is that rectangle?) involving long-term friends, Adam and Celia, and a mega-rich newcomer to their usually peaceful seaside haven.

About this book

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…

My thoughts

Matt, as our narrator, paints Adam as a self-absorbed narcissist. He sees his faults, but struggles to stay angry with him despite the fact he regularly cheats on Celia…

‘I’m a wastrel,’ he told me once, a natural arsehole, but the fact that he admitted it was charming in itself. He was a chameleon; he had a sort of protean ability to adapt. With no beliefs or convictions of his own; he could be what people wanted. It’s how he was accepted so quickly I think. (10% through novel)

Adam’s horrified to discover that the newcomer (Reynash) is a boy he bullied at school, now a tech billionaire. Matt hopes Adam takes the opportunity to apologise for his childhood antics but of course he doesn’t and Celia’s growing friendship with Reynash sets them on a tragic path. In the background Matt befriends a young woman looking for her brother who disappeared with staying with Reynash (his boss).

Though I’m not a visual person or reader, I also still appreciated the setting here… the rugged natural beauty of the peninsular and Durrant’s able to contrast that with a sense of laconic opulence as Adam, Celia and Matt loll about near their pool, with secrets and seething anger lurking under the surface. When combined with Reynash’s lavish parties this gives off Great Gatsby-like vibes.

I didn’t find the characters particularly likeable however so struggled a little to engage with them as much as I would have liked. Adam’s akin to a big kid, Celia a purposeful enigma and Matt is the third wheel wanting a life that is not his. I was intrigued though and Durrant does a great job at foreshadowing a tragedy; a prologue lets us know there’s a death resulting in a murder trial, but we’re kept guessing for much of the novel.

Dead Heat by Sabine Durrant will be released by Penguin Books UK (Century) in March 2026.

I received an electronic copy of this book from the publisher for review purposes.