Thriller Seekers

The International Thriller Writers (ITW) organization today released its list of contenders for the 2018 Thriller Awards in six categories.

Best Hardcover Novel:
• Ill Will, by Dan Chaon (Ballantine)
• The Long Drop, by Denise Mina (Little, Brown)
• The Breakdown, by B.A. Paris (St. Martin’s Press)
• Fierce Kingdom, by Gin Phillips (Viking)
• Final Girls, by Riley Sager (Dutton)

Best First Novel:
• Deep Down Dead, by Steph Broadribb (Orenda)
• Ragdoll, by Daniel Cole (Ecco)
• The Red Line, by Walt Gragg (Berkley)
• The Freedom Broker, by K.J. Howe (Quercus)
• The Lost Ones, by Sheena Kamal (Morrow)

Best Paperback Original Novel:
• Grievance, by Christine Bell (Lake Union)
• Stillhouse Lake, by Rachel Caine (Thomas & Mercer)
• The Resurrector, by Layton Green (Layton Green)
• Police at the Station and They Don’t Look Friendly, by Adrian Mckinty (Seventh Street)
• The Day I Died, by Lori Rader-Day (Morrow)

Best Short Story:
• “Too Much Time,” by Lee Child (from No Middle Name: The Complete Collected Jack Reacher Short Stories; Delacorte)
• “What Could Possibly Go Boing?” by Mat Coward (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, July/August 2017)
• “Charcoal and Cherry,” by Zoë Z. Dean (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, May/June 2017)
• “The Kill Switch,” by Willy Vlautin (from The Highway Kind: Tales of Fast Cars, Desperate Drivers, and Dark Roads, edited by Patrick Millikin; Hachette)
• “Test Drive,” by Ben H. Winters (from The Highway Kind: Tales of Fast Cars, Desperate Drivers, and Dark Roads)

Best Young Adult Novel:
• The Rains, by Gregg Hurwitz (Tor Teen)
• The Boy She Left Behind, by Gregg Olsen (Polis)
• To Catch a Killer, by Sheryl Scarborough (Tor Teen)
• The Delphi Effect, by Rysa Walker (Skyscape)
• Proof of Lies, by Diana Rodriguez Wallach (Entangled)

Best E-Book Original Novel:
• Second Chance, by Sean Black (Sean Black)
• Resurrection America, by Jeff Gunhus (Seven Guns Press)
• Trojan, by Alan McDermott (Thomas & Mercer)
• Witness, by Caroline Mitchell (Thomas & Mercer)
• A Fragile Thing, by Kevin Wignall (Thomas & Mercer)

ITW will broadcast the winners of these prizes on July 14, during ThrillerFest XIII at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in New York City.