Review copy was received from NetGalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Radiant Heat by Sarah-Jane Collins Published by Berkley on January 23, 2024
Genres: Thriller
Pages: 352
Format: eARC
Source: NetGalley
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Alison is alive. She rode out the fire on the damp tiles of her bathroom, her entire body swaddled in a wet woolen blanket. The flames crackled around her, the bitter char of eucalyptus settling in the back of her throat. The wildfire devastated the Victoria countryside she calls home, and when Alison creeps out of her hiding place, she spots a soot-covered cherry red car in her driveway, and in it, a woman. She finds the woman’s bag. Simone Arnold. A piece of Alison’s full name and address. But why?
As Alison searches for answers across Australia’s harsh landscape, she soon learns that the fire isn’t the only threat she’s facing....
Radiant Heat is a term which means that people inside a vehicle may be cooked to death without any skin coming in contact with the actual fire to burn. A fire has just gone through the area and our main character sheltered in a full bath tub with a wet woolen blanket over herself. The fire turned and narrowly missed her home. Another woman in her home’s driveway was not so lucky.
Alison lives in a rural area of Australia. The setting and the natural aspects are interesting. I can’t say I really liked Alison but I can understand her sometimes. She has a lot of grief over her parents and now there are losses in the fire. She is an artist just starting to have some success.
I will say the police did not act very professionally or were not well developed characters over all. This is not a police procedural. It’s an amateur trying to figure out family and relationship issues which are not all police matters.
I don’t want to spoil the story of all the things that develop slowly over the story. There are some real surprises and twists. When she went to investigate some things herself, I think she was on the too stupid to live road. It makes sense she wants to know. In the end, she knows everything but I’m not sure it will give her the closure or comfort she wants. There was one big thing left a bit uncertain at the end.
I read all types of books but my favorites are urban fantasy and romantic suspense.I like some romance and some action / adventure / mystery in everything.I like sex in my books but please, only between TWO people.Intimate conversation is equally important to the sex in a book.It lets me see the characters.The other thing I enjoy is humor.
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Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
- 23-COYER
Oh my, not sure this is my cup of tea Anne thanks for sharing
It was interesting but hard to read at times.
Thanks for the review. It’s good to know this book is heavy, sometimes you have to be in the right frame of mind to read certain books.
It is a bit heavy, lots of unpleasant stuff and family drama, for sure.
Interesting backdrop with the Australian wildfires, but tough if you couldn’t completely cotton to the heroine or all her actions.
It was very interesting. I just didn’t like the main character very much. But I don’t have to like the MC for it to be a good book; it just makes it easier.
This sounds like a tough read, bummed it wasn’t more police procedural .
yes because police procedurals have an actual conclusion usually. This wasn’t that tidy.
It sounds like the fire parts could be intense! Thanks for sharing this review! Probably not my type of read though.
yes probably not your type of read. The things that happened seemed to be downers. I like that the MC got her answers but sad none of them were positive answers.
It’s too bad this one wasn’t a little better…especially at the end. I do like that Australian setting.
yes I love the mystery and the setting. It was interesting just kind of depressing because the answers weren’t good news.
The setting does sound interesting. Didn’t know the term radiant heat meant that. I think I would be frustrated by the main character’s actions if she veered off into TSTL territory.
yes she did. She got her answers but they weren’t good news so while the mystery and setting were great, the results were rather depressing.
I feel like I would struggle with this one.
I found it easy to keep reading, there were just things I didn’t like very well.