Adrift
The gripping and haunting new crime thriller from the award-winning author of The Last Thing to Burn
Will be published approx. on 19. February 2026
Book
Hardback
400 pages
978-1-5293-8289-1 (ISBN)
Description
'Haunting, heartbreaking, quietly terrifying. Unforgettable' CHRIS WHITAKER
Three of them adrift on the narrowboat.
Mother, son, and wickedness.
Peggy Jenkins and her teenage son, Samson, live on a remote stretch of canal in the Midlands. She is a writer and he is a schoolboy. Together, they battle against the hardness and manipulation of the man they live with. To the outside world he is a husband and father. To them, he is a captor.
Their lives are tightly controlled; if any perceived threat appears, their mooring is moved further down the canal, further away from civilisation. Until the day when the power suddenly shifts, and nothing can be the same again.
The author of the 'master class in suspense' (Shari Lapena, Sunday Times bestselling author) The Last Thing to Burn returns with a high-tension thriller about a family's descent into darkness that is perfect for fans of Denis Lehane and Lisa Jewell.
Three of them adrift on the narrowboat.
Mother, son, and wickedness.
Peggy Jenkins and her teenage son, Samson, live on a remote stretch of canal in the Midlands. She is a writer and he is a schoolboy. Together, they battle against the hardness and manipulation of the man they live with. To the outside world he is a husband and father. To them, he is a captor.
Their lives are tightly controlled; if any perceived threat appears, their mooring is moved further down the canal, further away from civilisation. Until the day when the power suddenly shifts, and nothing can be the same again.
The author of the 'master class in suspense' (Shari Lapena, Sunday Times bestselling author) The Last Thing to Burn returns with a high-tension thriller about a family's descent into darkness that is perfect for fans of Denis Lehane and Lisa Jewell.
Reviews / Votes
I was going to say I can't remember the last time a book had me in such a chokehold, until I could. It was The Last Thing To Burn. Heartbreaking, devastating, achingly beautiful ... simply stunning -- John Marrs Nothing is quite as it seems in this tale of a young boy caught between parents drowning at the very edges of normalcy. Suffused by a sense of menace from start to finish and devastating in its quiet rage. Powerful and poignant -- Vaseem Khan Well-drawn characters and excellent prose -- Sarah Pearse Devastatingly good. Tense as all the best thrillers are, but with an emotional heft that will leave you deeply moved. Will Dean's storytelling just gets better and better -- Jennie Godfrey Tense, claustrophobic, creepy as hell. I had to gallop through to the end just so that I could breathe again * Tammy Cohen * A powerful, compulsive novel about autonomy, family and freedom, Will Dean's writing continues to elevate the thriller genre * Anna Bailey * Will Dean has done it again with this thriller that doesn't let up for a second. He excels at creating unforgettably moving characters in terrifying circumstances. I was completely caught up in Peggy and Sam's struggle to survive their claustrophobic, dangerous situation. Vivid, heartbreaking, and written with a deep understanding of how complex a family's love can be, Adrift is pure suspense from start to finish * Jane Casey *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
United Kingdom
Product notice
Trade binding
Dimensions
Height: 241 mm
Width: 164 mm
Thickness: 38 mm
Weight
622 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-5293-8289-1 (9781529382891)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Will Dean
Adrift
The gripping and haunting new crime thriller from the award-winning author of The Last Thing to Burn
E-Book
02/2026
Hodder & Stoughton
€0.99
Available for download
Person
Will Dean grew up in the East Midlands and had lived in nine different villages before the age of eighteen. After studying Law at the LSE and working in London, he settled in rural Sweden where he built a house in a boggy clearing at the centre of a vast elk forest, and it's from this base that he compulsively reads and writes. His debut novel in the Tuva Moodyson series, Dark Pines, was selected for Zoe Ball's Book Club, shortlisted for the Guardian Not the Booker prize and named a Daily Telegraph Book of the Year. Red Snow was published in January 2019 and won Best Independent Voice at the Amazon Publishing Readers' Awards, 2019. Black River was shortlisted for the Theakstons Old Peculier Award in 2021. Will also writes standalone thrillers: The Last Thing to Burn, First Born, the top twenty hardback bestseller The Last Passenger and One at a Time.