'An emergency from its very first sentence ... A literary thriller that summons the survivalist terror of The Road' Patrick Somerville, author of This Bright River On a searing summer evening, Eddie Chapman has been stuck in a traffic jam for hours. There are accidents along the highway, but ambulances and police are conspicuously absent. When he decides to abandon his car and run home, he sees that the trees have been burned and the water in the stream bed is gone. Something is very wrong. When he arrives home, there is a power cut and no running water. The pipes everywhere, it seems, are dry. Eddie and his wife, Laura, find themselves thrust together with their neighbours while a sense of unease thickens in the stifling night air. Thirst takes place in the immediate aftermath of a mysterious disaster - the Chapmans and their community suffer the effects of the heat, their thirst and the terrifying realisation that no one is coming to help. As violence rips through the community, Eddie and Laura are forced to recall secrets from their past and question their present humanity. In crisp and convincing prose, Benjamin Warner compels readers to do the same.