ITW Thriller Awards Finalists Announced

The 2023 ITW Thriller Awards finalists have been announced!

The ITW Thriller Awards is an annual literary award program organized by the International Thriller Writers (ITW), a professional association of thriller writers and enthusiasts. The awards honor outstanding works of fiction in various categories of the thriller genre, including Best Hardcover Novel, Best First Novel, Best Paperback Original, Best Short Story, Best eBook Original Novel, and Best Young Adult Novel.

The ITW Thriller Awards were established in 2006 to recognize and celebrate the best in thriller fiction. Each year, a panel of judges made up of ITW members evaluates the nominated works and selects the winners. The awards ceremony takes place during ThrillerFest, a conference held by ITW in New York City.

The awards have become one of the most prestigious recognitions in the thriller genre, with past winners including big names like Dan Brown, Gillian Flynn, Stephen King, and James Patterson. The ITW Thriller Awards are considered a seal of approval for books in the thriller genre, and winning one can significantly boost an author’s career.

The winners of the ITW Thriller Awards will be unveiled during the 18th edition of ThrillerFest, which is set to take place on Saturday, June 3, 2023, at the Sheraton New York Times Square Hotel.

The finalists are:

Best Novel

• The Violence by Delilah Dawson
• Things We Do in the Dark by Jennifer Hillier
• The Fervor by Alma Katsu
• The Children on the Hill by Jennifer McMahon
• Two Nights in Lisbon by Chris Pavone
• Sundial by Catriona Ward

Best First Novel

• The Resemblance by Lauren Nossett
• Blood Sugar by Sascha Rothchild
• Dirt Creek / Dirt Town by Hayley Scrivenor
• A Flicker in the Dark by Stacy Willingham
• The Fields by Erin Young

Best Original Paperback Novel

• The Lies I Told by Mary Burton
• No Place to Run by Mark Edwards
• Unmissing by Minka Kent
• Anywhere You Run by Wanda M. Morris
• The Housemaid by Freida McFadden
• The Couple Upstairs by Holly Wainwright
• The Patient’s Secret by Loreth White

Best Short Story

• Russian for Beginners by Dominique Biebau
• Schrödinger, Cat by Anna K. Scotti
• The Gift by Barb Goffman
• Publish or Perish by Smita Harish Jain
• 33 Clues Into the Disappearance of My Sister by Joyce Oates
• Stockholm by Catherine Steadman

Best Young Adult Novel

• Our Crooked Hearts by Melissa Albert
• Sugaring Off by Gillian French
• Daughter by Kate McLaughlin
• What’s Coming to Me by Francesca Padilla
• I’m the Girl by Courtney Summers

Best E-Book Original Novel

• Evasive Species by Bill Byrnes
• The Couple at Causeway Cottage by Diane Jeffrey
• The Seven Truths of Hannah Baxter by Grant McKenzie
• The Hollow Place by Rick Mofina
• Fatal Rounds by Carrie Rubin

Congratulations to all of the nominees! For more on the awards, please visit ITW Thriller Awards.