Portobello Book Blog

I loved Kate Riordan’s book The Heatwave which I read over a few hot days in summer 2020. You can read my review of that here. I read this one over a few hot days too although I was in Canada, not Italy where the book was set!

About the book

Two couples. One sweltering Italian villa . . .

Nick and Laura are the hosts: pretending their marriage isn’t on the rocks.

Madison and Bastian are the guests: neither is remotely who they claim to be.

Under the scorching Mediterranean sun, no secret is safe.

No betrayal goes unnoticed.

Two couples. But will either survive the summer . . .

My Thoughts

The short and intriguing prologue in the aftermath of an earthquake immediately grabbed my attention and made me eager to read on. Within the first few chapters the author is already dropping hints about past secrets and I was gripped. Nick and Laura have difficulties in their marriage but hoped to make a fresh start in Italy where they have restored an villa to run as a guest house, Villa Rosa. We meet them as they are welcoming their first guests, Americans Madison and Bastian.

No-one is quite who they say they are and who do you believe?! Each of the four main characters has a face they want to present but lots they want to hide. The story moves between the past and the present keeping this a pacy read. The dynamic between the couples all centring round Laura made this a thrilling ride as I wondered just what would happen between them all.

There’s a palpable sense of edginess throughout and more than an undercurrent of danger too with Nick’s involvement with one of the local families seeming a bad idea, but very difficult to get out of. This is a book is full of tension, sexy and mysterious. Summer Fever is a sultry, atmospheric thriller and definitely one for your summer reading list.

Summer Fever is published by Penguin Books
My thanks to Jen Harlow for sending me a copy for review.

About the Author

Kate Riordan is a writer and journalist. She is an avid reader of Daphne du Maurier and Agatha Christie, both of whom have influenced her writing. She lives in the Cotswolds, where she writes full-time. Her previous novels include The Girl In The Photograph, The Shadow Hour, The Stranger and The Heatwave, which was a Richard and Judy Book Club pick. Summer Fever is her fifth novel.