This was an intense book at times. Much like the fire that was raging in the beginning of the book.
At random times the story flips from present to past.
I found that a little annoying.
This felt like a domestic thriller which I’m not a big fan of. Thanks to the publisher for the early copy

Overall, I enjoyed the mystery of who the dead woman in Alison's driveway was and thought the book had some well done twists. The writing was a bit chaotic, making it so you had to try and place where you were in the timeline in every new scene. Alison's character was just unlikable and frustrating. Every decision she made was epically worse than her last and it never got better.

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley for access to this arc.

What would you do if someone died in your driveway looking for you? Yet, you don't recognize her but she looks like you? This is the start of Radiant Heat and it leads us the reader down a rabbit hole along with Alison. This is definitely a cat and mouse game and for me Alison always seemed behind her pursuer. I'm not sure I really liked Alison but I also felt that she was just lost and had lost a lot in the last year. I do feel like the ending left it open enough for there to be a sequel.

So this book started with such a great premise. I was all in on the setting and the fire, the mystery, the friends there to support. And then the story fell off and I never got back into it. The atmosphere was amazing. The main character was not. I hated her and every choice she made. Sometimes I like unlikeable character, not this one.
Pick this up if you like screaming at the MC to not make the stupid choice for the entire book. 2.5 stars rounded up.

Climate disaster and murder collide in this unique book, and I loved every second. Beautifully written, atmospheric and compelling.

Radiant Heat is defined as the heat that can be transferred from one body to another. When the novel opens, the reference implies literal heat- a wildlife destroying Alison’s Australian hometown. But as the story progress, it’s clear there’s something more sinister afoot. When Alison awakens from the fire unscathed, she notices a car in her driveway. Its passenger, a woman named Simone, not as lucky as Alison was- in more ways than one.

Upon closer investigation, Alison not only uncovers the woman who perished in her driveway’s identity, but it’s uncanny parallels between said woman’s life and her own. Convinced this is more than coincidence, Alison sets out to find the truth. But with her ex on her tail and the cops questioning her innocence, Alison quickly realizes she has to fight fire with fire in order to survive.

Radiant Heat is a hard to review book that I admittedly, went into all fired up. It’s first few chapters gave off a sci fi vibe that I won’t lie, had me intrigued. But as quickly as I became immersed by the promise of storytelling, the prophesied premise went away-in its place a predictable plot riddled with hard to follow character profiles. I stuck with the story, if only to get closure. Otherwise this reader was burned by Radiant Heat, a story that, unfortunately, didn’t spark a deeper interest.

This review was originally posted on Books of My Heart


Review copy was received from Netgalley . This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

3.5 hearts

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.

"When a catastrophic wildfire suddenly rips through a woman's hometown, she thinks she is lucky to have survived...until she finds a dead woman in her driveway, clutching a piece of paper with her name on it....

The blaze came out of nowhere one summer afternoon, a wall of fire fed by blustering wind. Yet, somehow, Alison is alive. She rode out the fire on the damp tiles of her bathroom, her entire body swaddled in a wet woolen blanket. As flames crackled around her, the bitter char of eucalyptus settled in the back of her throat, each breath more desperate than the last.

The wildfire that devastated the Victoria countryside Alison calls home sets in motion a chain of events that threatens to obliterate the carefully constructed life she is living. When Alison emerges from her sheltering place, she spots a soot-covered cherry red car in her driveway, and in it, a dead woman. Alison has never met Simone Arnold in her life...or so she thinks. So what is she doing here?

As Alison searches for answers across Australia's scorched bushlands, she soon learns that the fire isn't the only threat she's facing...."

Totally obsessed with Australia recently.

Allison, a 33 year old single woman, emerges from her home in Victoria, Australia after a bushfire engulfed the vegetation around her house. As she attempts to leave her property, she finds a car in her driveway with a dead woman inside. According the woman’s driver’s license, her name is Simone and she’s the same age as Allison. The assumption is that Simone died from the radiant heat of the fires but it’s soon discovered that Allison and Simone are connected.

Now rattled, Allison fears that her past may be closing in on her. She doesn’t want others to know what she’s been through but the death of this woman causes her to seek answers to find out why Simone was in her driveway.

This is a well written storyline but may be tough for some readers due to physical and mental abuse. Allison is tough yet emotionally weak. She processes her pain and trauma through painting. I liked Allison’s flawed character and appreciated her tenacity to protect her privacy all while trying to care for the few special people in her life. The author did a beautiful job with the atmospheric setting and the dynamics of a small town in this captivating debut!

Radiant Heat by Sarah-Jane Collins

Alison barely escaped a catastrophic wildfire alive and as she stumbles along her burned driveway to the road she comes across a car under a fallen tree. The lady inside the car is dead, she looks a bit like Alison and she has Alison's name and address in her purse. The death of the woman is horrific, although we'll learn later that she's just one of many who lost their lives. What we will also learn is what this woman means to Alison, that this woman is a sign that the past that Alison ran away from has caught up with her.

There is never a peaceful, easy moment in this story. Starting with the fire, we learn of all the death and devastation and meet people who've lost so much, family, friends, belongings, livelihoods. So much that has been lost can never be regained. Not only does Alison feel like the world has fallen from under her feet, so do all the people around her.

What I have to say about Alison is almost every single decision she makes, other than knowing just the right thing to do to live through the fire, is about the last decision I would make. One after another, everything she does seems like such a bad idea. So I can't get a good feel for Alison since I don't understand her, at all. But I do feel for her, for the life she's run away from, for the grief she's holding on to, for the intense fear and danger that surrounds her. Could things be different if she would open up to those who want to help her? I think so but we won't find out because Alison takes her own path, for better or worse.

This is a story about a fire, a lot of fires, actually. It's a story about people who want to help Alison even as they are suffering from their own fears and losses. There is someone bad out there, Alison needs help but she's so steeped in the mindset that no one can help her that she's going to do everything herself. Never could I feel comfortable as I read this story, the tension is almost unbearable.

Thank you to Berkley and NetGalley for this ARC.

Radiant Heat by Sarah-Jane Collins began with a raging wildfire in the Victoria area of Australia. Allison survives the fire but finds a young woman who isn't so lucky in a car parked in her driveway. The fire creates a claustrophobic atmosphere throughout the story, setting the perfect stage for the mystery.

As with most atmospheric tales, the pacing is relatively slow, and there is a back-and-forth in the timeline as Allison remembers relevant things from her past that might lead to the solving of the mystery of why the woman, who looks eerily similar to her, was in her driveway, to begin with. Full disclosure: I struggle with atmospheric thrillers. I love and appreciate the use of atmosphere in telling the tale. Still, my personality's go-go-ness balks at slowing down with the story.

However, I loved the setting. I rarely get to read books set in Australia and written by an Australian writer. It's always something special to me when a book comes along like this one. I also enjoyed the suspense, which kept me guessing what was happening, if the main character was in danger, and by whom. The suspense kept me engaged when the pace threatened to waylay me. Radiant Heat is a wonderful thriller for people who enjoy an atmospheric tale.

Sometimes the themes all run together, but I felt this one had a great premise and the characters were well thought out and developed. I just finished a book with burning, but this one had me captivated by the Australian landscape even after the catastrophic wildfire burned ravishingly through the land.
The main character tells her story of survival as she lays rolled up in a wet wool blanket on her bathroom tiled floor. As the winds shifted, she was spared definite doom. When she describes the smell, and the taste in her mouth, as well as the heat enveloped her, I felt as if I were there.

As she travels outside the house, she sees a car in her drive with a deceased woman in it. She sees her name and address on paper. Her past will come rushing back to her. She left behind an emotionally abusive relationship and thought she could outrun it.

The mystery behind the woman in her driveway has her searching for answers. This becomes an intense situation. With the police questioning her and a watcher in the background, this becomes a race against time with a dark web to unwind. The author does an incredible job building the story line to keep you reading. This is a must read!
Thank you NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

From the beginning, I felt like Alison was a compelling character. After she survives a bush fire, she finds a dead woman in her driveway, Alison doesn't know who she is, but the woman has her address. This makes Alison feel compelled to figure out who the woman is and why she would have been looking for Alison. While Alison is looking into the mystery of the woman, we learn more about her past, and the reasons she is the way she is. I liked seeing Alison dive into her past, and investigate on her own.
However it was hard for me to stay sucked in, we get introduced to a lot of characters, and it seemed like Alison just kept making the worst possible decisions, especially when it comes to Billy.
I did like where the story went, and the twists and turns, and I especially enjoyed the backdrop of Australia.

I definitely felt the heat of this one, scorching wildfires that ripped through the Australian bush, destroying everything in its path.

Alison has just escaped, huddled beneath a blanket in her bathroom, the fire turning just before it hits her house. As she slowly emerges, she heads for help in town. As she walks, she discovers a car in her driveway with a woman inside who isn’t as lucky as Alison. Who is this woman? Why was she coming to visit Alison? How are they connected?

The rest of the book sets out to share the answers to those questions. We learn more about Alison’s past and why she ended up in this town. There’s danger from another fire and danger in people who want something. I sped through this one, feeling anxious about how things would turn out.

This author is great at describing the setting and creating atmosphere, so I felt like I was in the hot, unforgiving terrain of Australia. The characters are complex, and I wanted to know their whole stories. The author also did a fantastic job with characters who don’t always make the best relationship decisions and attempted to explain why. The ending is a bit ambiguous, but I know how I wanted it to end.

This one will stay with me!

I loved this book! I will definitely recommend it. Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

An Australian bush fire destroys much of the area near Alison King's home but she survives by wrapping herself in a wet blanket. Oddly, a car is burnt in her driveway with a woman's body inside. Alison discovers a note in the woman's purse with Alison's name and address. Why? Alison has never seen this woman. This start of a fine mystery premise shifts into subplots of domestic violence and the author lingers too long on Alision's many personal issues along with including a fairly large cast with many players not adding purpose to the story. Still, Alison is somewhat of a sympathetic character in this novel that's more of a cautionary tale than a mystery.

A different kind of read for me.
It took me awhile to figure out what exactly was going on because the narrative flipped back and forth with no warning.
I didn’t particularly care for any of the characters in the novel, but the premise was interesting.
I thought Alison used Billy and was very unkind toward him despite the fact that he kept helping her.
It was interesting to read about Australia.

While this book explored intriguing themes, I found myself distracted by the writing style. The narrative's flow didn't align with my personal reading preferences, making it a bit difficult for me to get into the story. However, that is obviously on me and not the book. I recognize that it has great potential to captivate other readers and I encourage others to try it out!

"Radiant Heat" by Sarah-Jane Collins is a gripping psychological thriller that immerses readers in a world of suspense and intrigue. The novel follows protagonist Rachel, whose seemingly idyllic life takes a dark turn after a chance discovery. Collins weaves a complex narrative with well-drawn characters, exploring themes of deception, obsession, and the consequences of buried secrets. The tension builds steadily, keeping readers on the edge of their seats. Collins' evocative writing and skillful storytelling make "Radiant Heat" a compelling and atmospheric thriller, leaving a lasting impact with its twists and revelations, and showcasing the author's talent in the psychological suspense genre.

Escaping a raging Australian bush fire wasn’t the only horrendous thing Allison had to endure in her life, but did she really escape the fire or was something else waiting for her? Something from her past?

When she felt it was safe to leave her home, she found a dead woman sitting in her driveway with Allison‘s address written on a slip of paper.

Allison has no idea who this woman is, but it is the address of where Allison used to live.

We follow Allison as she tries to figure out what meaning this has, and she constantly feels someone is watching her.

Did she really know this woman? What is going on?

How are Allison and this woman connected?

We find out as Allison relives the past and lets us know what’s going on currently.

Her abusive boyfriend is trying to find her because he said she has something that he wants.

Allison knows nothing about what he could want, is frightened, runs, and tries to solve this on her own without giving all the information to the police.

RADIANT HEAT was somewhat confusing because of all the back-and-forth in time right in the same paragraph or chapter, but the writing was very good and the tension, the intrigue, and the underlying fact that something was going on that I needed to know kept me reading, even though it took until about 50% to pull you in.

It is worth the wait, but be aware there is domestic violence. 4/5

Thank you to the publisher for a copy of this book. All opinions are my own.