Get Your Thrill On

Last evening, during a ceremony at ThrillerFest in New York City, the winners of the 2018 Thriller Awards were announced, as follows:

Best Hardcover Novel:
Final Girls, by Riley Sager (Dutton)

Also nominated: Ill Will, by Dan Chaon (Ballantine); The Long Drop, by Denise Mina (Little, Brown); The Breakdown, by B.A. Paris (St. Martin’s Press); and Fierce Kingdom, by Gin Phillips (Viking)

Best First Novel: The Freedom Broker, by K.J. Howe (Quercus)

Also nominated: Deep Down Dead, by Steph Broadribb (Orenda); Ragdoll, by Daniel Cole (Ecco); The Red Line, by Walt Gragg (Berkley); and The Lost Ones, by Sheena Kamal (Morrow)

Best Paperback Original Novel: Grievance, by Christine Bell
(Lake Union)

Also nominated: 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); and The Day I Died, by Lori Rader-Day (Morrow)

Best Short Story: “Charcoal and Cherry,” by Zoë Z. Dean (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, May/June 2017)

Also nominated: “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); “The Kill Switch,” by Willy Vlautin (from The Highway Kind: Tales of Fast Cars, Desperate Drivers, and Dark Roads, edited by Patrick Millikin; Hachette); and “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)

Also nominated: 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); and Proof of Lies, by Diana Rodriguez Wallach (Entangled)

Best E-Book Original Novel:
Second Chance, by Sean Black (Sean Black)

Also nominated: Resurrection America, by Jeff Gunhus (Seven Guns Press); Trojan, by Alan McDermott (Thomas & Mercer); Witness, by Caroline Mitchell (Thomas & Mercer); and A Fragile Thing, by Kevin Wignall (Thomas & Mercer)

Silver Bullet Award for Service: James Rollins

Thriller Master Award: George R.R. Martin

Congratulations to the victors and other nominees alike!

(Hat tip to Mystery Fanfare.)