Nominees for 2007 Thriller Awards

International Thriller Writers (ITW) just announced the nominees for this year's Thriller Awards. The winners will be revealed at ThrillerFest, this July in New York City.

The nominees are:

Best Novel
False Impression, Jeffrey Archer (St. Martin's Press)
Killer Instinct, Joseph Finder (St. Martin's Press)
Cold Kill, Stephen Leather (Hodder & Stoughton)
The Messenger, Daniel Silva (Putnam)
Beautiful Lies, Lisa Unger (Shaye Areheart Books/Bantam)

Best First Novel
Shadow of Death, Patricia Gussin (Oceanview Publishing)
Switchback, Matthew Klein (Orion)
A Thousand Suns, Alex Scarrow (Orion)
18 Seconds, George D. Shuman (Simon & Schuster)
Mr. Clarinet, Nick Stone (Michael Joseph Ltd/Penguin)

Best Paperback Original
Skeleton Coast, Clive Cussler with Jack DuBrul (Berkley Trade)
The Deep Blue Alibi, Paul Levine (Bantam)
An Unquiet Grave, P.J. Parrish (Pinnacle)
Headstone City, Tom Piccirilli (Spectra Books/Crown)
Mortal Faults, Michael Prescott (Onyx Books)

Best Screenplay
Inside Man: Russell Gewirtz
The Departed: William Monahan
The Good Shepherd: Eric Roth
Children of Men: Alfonse Cuarón, Timothy J. Sexton, David Arata,
Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby
Casino Royale: Neal Purvis, Robert Wade, Paul Haggis

Congratulations to all the nominees! Some very good books on there. (And several that I haven't even heard of.)

Comments

[spyscribbler]

I want to print it out and buy every one! Gosh, I really need more time in a day. I loved everyone that I've already read on the list, and I'll definitely check out the others.

Thanks for posting it!

[Roddy Reta]

That best first novel selection is pretty outrageous. Other than the Shuman novel, I don't believe any of the books have been released in the US by a major publisher.

On the other hand, I can't think of any thriller debuts in 2006 that were worth nominating instead. I guess it was a pretty weak year.

[David J. Montgomery]

What makes the selections for Best First outrageous?

I agree it was NOT a strong year for thriller debuts.

[Ali]

Dear Roddy,

Your comment -
"That best first novel selection is pretty outrageous. Other than the Shuman novel, I don't believe any of the books have been released in the US by a major publisher.

On the other hand, I can't think of any thriller debuts in 2006 that were worth nominating instead. I guess it was a pretty weak year."

Is somewhat annoying considering these are awards by the INTERNATIONAL THRILLER WRITERS [ITW], what part of INTERNATIONAL do you not understand?

Sheesh, so easy to be negative to a group of people who spent a long time reading a huge slug of books, and work hard and then in the end suffer from people with ignorant comments, with no constructive merit.

You should applaud the fact that books you've never heard of in your native USA have been selected - and you can now check them out as they have been brought to your attention.

Ali
www.shotsmag.co.uk

Oh, I was one of the judges.

[Roddy Reta]

I appreciate your hard work, Ali. Instead of outrageous, perhaps I should have said idiosyncratic. The US is the world's largest market, so nominating four books that are not easily obtainable in the US market is a bold move. But if they were truly the best books, then I think you did the right thing. I am certainly open to trying books outside of my native country, and I will seek these out.

[Ali]

Good Comment Roddy -

Also the books you mention are easily obtainable in the US via Amazon, B+N et. al and well worth expanding your reading for.

ITW is bold, and helping push the boundaries of Thrillers.

In the UK we are getting more and more translated books from Europe - and discovering some such as Jean Patrick Manchette's THE PRONE GUNMAN - Read more

Jean Patrick Manchette and Irish Booksellers
http://therapsheet.blogspot.com/2007/01/stand-up-booksellers-and-prone-gunmen.html

Also the Scandanavian's are big sellers in Crime Thrillers -

Also I feel for the writers who submitted for ITW as saying that being shortlisted mean't it was, and I quote 'I guess it was a pretty weak year.' is somewhat meanspirited when many of the books you acknoweldge were unfamilar to you.

Man, I read widely and have over the years discovered some real hidden treats.

Speaking of which - go out and rent the dvd of 'Harry, he's here to help' a french film with subtitles that out-Highsmith's Tom Ripley, but you've got to hunt these obscurities down.

Best

Ali
www.therapsheet.blogspot.com