A Guardian feature explores why "disaster holiday" fiction has become such a popular subgenre this summer, arguing that the gap between the relaxation people crave and the chaos, tension and self-confrontation holidays often deliver makes for compelling storytelling. Books editor Leon Craig surveys a wave of recent novels that use fraught getaways, from all-inclusive resorts to Mediterranean villas, to expose fractures in families, friendships and marriages, echoing the appeal of shows like The White Lotus.

The piece highlights several titles, including Claire Powell's All In, about a struggling couple on a paid-for Spanish break, and Chloë Ashby's Family Friends, in which a decades-long tradition of French holidays collapses under betrayal and old attractions. Other examples include Sabine Durrant's thriller Dead Heat, set in Greece, Deborah Levy's Hot Milk (recently adapted for film), Jo Hamya's The Hypocrite, William Rayfet Hunter's Sunstruck and Lucy Foley's The Midnight Feast, each using an idyllic setting to intensify class, race, family or relationship tensions.