LibGuides: Thriller Awards: Best First Novel (2006- )

International Thriller Writers Awards

Best First Novel

2020-2029

WINNER

Miracle Creek by Angie Kim

Miracle Creek by Kim, Angie
Call Number: Fiction K489m (Adult Fiction)
ISBN: 9780374156022
Publication Date: 2019-04-16
How far will you go to protect your family? Will you keep their secrets? Ignore their lies? In a small town in Virginia, a group of people know each other because they're part of a special treatment center, a hyperbaric chamber that may cure a range of conditions from infertility to autism. But then the chamber explodes, two people die, and it's clear the explosion wasn't an accident. A powerful showdown unfolds as the story moves across characters who are all maybe keeping secrets, hiding betrayals. Chapter by chapter, we shift alliances and gather evidence: Was it the careless mother of a patient? Was it the owners, hoping to cash in on a big insurance payment and send their daughter to college? Could it have been a protester, trying to prove the treatment isn't safe?
Miracle Creek [E-Book] by Angie Kim
Call Number: OverDrive
ISBN: 9780374717988
Publication Date: 2019-04-16

FINALISTS

My Lovely Wife by Samantha Downing
The Good Detective by John McMahon
The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides
American Spy by Lauren Wilkinson

My Lovely Wife [E-Book] by Samantha Downing
Call Number: Ficton D751m Ebook (OverDrive
ISBN: 9780451491749
Publication Date: 2019
Our love story is simple. I met a gorgeous woman. We fell in love. We had kids. We moved to the suburbs. We told each other our biggest dreams, and our darkest secrets. And then we got bored. We look like a normal couple. We're your neighbors, the parents of your kid's friend, the acquaintances you keep meaning to get dinner with. We all have our secrets to keeping a marriage alive. Ours just happens to be getting away with murder.
My Lovely WIfe [Streaming audiobook] by Samantha Downing
Call Number: Fiction D751m Audiobk
ISBN: 9781984846839
Publication Date: 2019

The Good Detective by John McMahon
Call Number: Fiction M47946g (Adult Fiction)
ISBN: 9780525535539
Publication Date: 2019-03-19
How can you solve a crime if you've killed the prime suspect? Detective P.T. Marsh was a rising star on the police force of Mason Falls, Georgia--until his wife and young son were killed in an accident. Since that night, caught in a spiral of grief and booze, he's lost the ability to see the line between smart moves and disastrous decisions. Such as when he decides to 'help out' an exotic dancer by confronting her abusive boyfriend. When the next morning he gets called to the scene of his newest murder case, he is stunned to arrive at the house of a dead man, the very man he beat up the night before. He could swear the guy was alive when he left, but can he be sure? What he does know is that his fingerprints are all over the crime scene. But the trouble is only beginning. P.T. and his partner Remy begin to suspect the murder is connected to a local arson and lynching; two days earlier, the dead body of a black teenager was found in a burned-out field, a portion of a blackened rope around his neck--and P.T. realizes he might have killed the #1 suspect of this horrific crime. Amid rising racial tension and media scrutiny, P.T. uncovers something sinister at the heart of the boy's murder--a conspiracy leading all the way back to the time of the Civil War. Risking everything to unravel the puzzle even as he fights off his own personal demons, P.T. races headlong toward an incendiary and life-altering showdown.
The Good Detective [E-Book] by John McMahon
Call Number: Fiction M47946g Ebook (OverDrive)
ISBN: 9780525535553
Publication Date: 2019
The Good Detective [Streaming Audioook] by John McMahon
Call Number: Fiction M47946g Audiobk (OverDrive)
ISBN: 9781984839763
Publication Date: 2019

The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides
Call Number: Fiction M6203s (Adult Fiction)
ISBN: 9781250301697
Publication Date: 2019-02-05
Alicia Berenson's life is seemingly perfect. A famous painter married to an in-demand fashion photographer, she lives in a grand house overlooking a park in one of London's most desirable areas. One evening, her husband, Gabriel, returns home late from work, and Alicia shoots him five times in the face and then never speaks another word. Alicia's refusal to talk, or give any kind of explanation, turns a domestic tragedy into something far grander, a mystery that captures the public imagination and casts Alicia into notoriety. The price of her art skyrockets, and she, the silent patient, is hidden away from the tabloids and spotlight at the Grove, a secure psychiatric unit in North London. Criminal psychotherapist Theo Faber is captivated by Alicia's story and jumps at the opportunity to work with her. His determination to get her to talk and unravel the mystery of why she shot her husband takes him down a path more unexpected, more terrifying than he ever imagined -- a search for the truth that threatens to consume him.
The Silent Patient [E-Book] by Alex Michaelides
Call Number: FIC MICHA ALE SI Ebook (OverDrive)
ISBN: 9781250301710
Publication Date: 2019-02-05
The Silent Patient [Streaming audiobook] by Alex Michaelides
Call Number: OverDrive Audiobook
ISBN: 9781250317537
Publication Date: 2019

American Spy by Wiklinson, Lauren
Call Number: Fiction W6869a (Adult Fiction)
ISBN: 9780812988284
Publication Date: 2020-03-17
1986, the heart of the Cold War. A young black woman working in an old boys' club, Marie Mitchell's FBI career has stalled out and her days are filled with monotonous paperwork. Given the opportunity to join a task force aimed at undermining Thomas Sankara, the charismatic revolutionary president of Burkina Faso whose Communist ideology has made him a target for American intervention, she says yes. In the year that follows Marie observes Sankara, seduces him-- and has a hand in the coup that will bring him down. But doing so will change everything she believes about what it means to be a spy, a lover, a sister, and a good American.

WINNER

Winter Counts by David Heska Wanbli Weiden

Winter Counts [E-Book] : a novel by David Heska Wanbli Weiden
Call Number: FIC WEIDE DAVH WI Ebook (OverDrive)
ISBN: 9780062968968
Publication Date: 2020-08-25
Virgil Wounded Horse is the local enforcer on the Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota. When justice is denied by the American legal system or the tribal council, Virgil is hired to deliver his own punishment, the kind that's hard to forget. But when heroin makes its way into the reservation and finds Virgil's nephew, his vigilantism suddenly becomes personal. He enlists the help of his ex-girlfriend and sets out to learn where the drugs are coming from, and how to make them stop. They follow a lead to Denver and find that drug cartels are rapidly expanding and forming new and terrifying alliances. And back on the reservation, a new tribal council initiative raises uncomfortable questions about money and power. As Virgil starts to link the pieces together, he must face his own demons and reclaim his Native identity. He realizes that being a Native American in the twenty-first century comes at an incredible cost.

FINALISTS

The Opium Prince by Jasmine Aimaq
Without Sanction by Don Bentley
The Bluffs by Kyle Perry
Ghosts of Harvard by Francesca Serritella

Without Sanction by Don Bentley
Call Number: FIC BENTL DON D1 (Adult fiction)
ISBN: 9781984805119
Publication Date: 2020-03-03
After surviving a clandestine operation that went tragically wrong, Matt Drake escaped Syria with his life, but little else. Now, to save the life of another, he must return to Syria and confront his biggest failure in a debut thriller Lee Child calls "sensationally good." Defense Intelligence Agency operative Matt Drake broke a promise. A promise that cost three people their lives and crippled his best friend. Three months later, he's paralyzed by survivor's guilt and haunted by the memories of the fallen. Matt may have left Syria, but Syria hasn't left him. In the midst of his self-imposed exile, Matt is dragged back into the world of espionage and assets that he tried to forget. A Pakistani scientist working for an ISIS splinter cell has created a terrifying weapon of mass destruction. The scientist offers to defect with the weapon, but he trusts just one man to bring him out of Syria alive--Matt Drake.

Ghosts of Harvard by Serritella, Francesca
Call Number: Fiction S488g (Adult Fiction)
ISBN: 9780525510369
Publication Date: 2020-05-05
Cadence "Cady" Archer arrives on Harvard's campus searching for answers about her brother, a schizophrenic genius who leapt from his dorm room window the year before. Eric's brilliance overshadowed Cady growing up, but she worshipped and adored him--even as he became more unstable, retreating deeper into his secretive work on multidimensional spacetime and isolating himself from everyone around him. Losing Eric has left a black hole in Cady's life, and while her choice to walk the same path threatens to break her family apart, she is driven to know why Eric killed himself. As Cady struggles under the enormous pressure that comes with being at Harvard, she begins to investigate her brother's life on campus. What was it that caused Eric to spiral into an irretrievable madness--the paranoia, the delusions, the illusory enemies--after he had been doing so well? Soon, her prying turns up clues that grow increasingly sinister. And then, as her suspicions mount, Cady begins to hear voices herself: three ghosts that walked the hallowed halls of Harvard, each from a different era of American history. That's when the panic sets in. Does she share Eric's illness, or are these voices real? And if she listens to these ghosts, will they lead to her brother--and the truth--or will they lead her down a path of her own destruction?
Ghosts of Harvard [E-Book] by Francesca Serritella
Call Number: FIC SERRI FRA GH Ebook (OverDrive)
ISBN: 9780525510376
Publication Date: 2020-05-05

WINNER

My Sweet Girl by Amanda Jayatissa

FINALISTS:

Girl A by Abigail Dean
Repentance by Eloísa Díaz
Damascus Station by David McCloskey
Bones of Hilo by Eric Redman

Girl A by Abigail Dean
Call Number: FIC DEAN ABI GI (Adult fiction)
ISBN: 9780593295847
Publication Date: 2021-02-02
Damascus Station by David Mccloskey
Call Number: FIC MCLOS DAV DA (Adult fiction)
ISBN: 9780393881042
Publication Date: 2021-10-05

WINNER

The Resemblance by Lauren Nossett

The Resemblance by Lauren Nossett
Call Number: FIC NOSSE LAU RE (Adult fiction)
ISBN: 9781250843241
Publication Date: 2022-11-08
Never betray the brotherhood. On a chilly November morning at the University of Georgia, a fraternity brother steps off a busy crosswalk and is struck dead by an oncoming car. More than a dozen witnesses all agree on two things: the driver looked identical to the victim, and he was smiling. Detective Marlitt Kaplan is first on the scene. An Athens native and the daughter of a UGA professor, she knows all its shameful histories, from the skull discovered under the foundations of Baldwin Hall to the hushed-up murder-suicide in Waddel. But in the course of investigating this hit-and-run, she will uncover more chilling secrets as she explores the sprawling, interconnected Greek system that entertains and delights the university's most elite and connected students. The lines between Marlitt's police work and her own past increasingly blur as Marlitt seeks to bring to justice an institution that took something precious from her many years ago. When threats against her escalate, and some long-buried secrets threaten to come to the surface, she can't help questioning whether the corruption in Athens has run off campus and into the force and how far these brotherhoods will go to protect their own.

FINALISTS

Blood Sugar by Sascha Rothchild
Dirt Town by Hayley Scrivenor
A Flicker in the Dark by Stacy Willingham

Blood Sugar by Sascha Rothchild
Call Number: FIC ROTHC SAS BL (Adult fiction)
ISBN: 9780593331545
Publication Date: 2022-04-19
“I could just kill you right now!” It’s something we’ve all thought at one time or another. But Ruby has actually acted on it. Three times, to be exact. Though she may be a murderer, Ruby is not a sociopath. She is an animal-loving therapist with a thriving practice. She’s felt empathy and sympathy. She’s had long-lasting friendships and relationships, and has a husband, Jason, whom she adores. But the homicide detectives at Miami Beach PD are not convinced of her happy marriage. When we meet Ruby, she is in a police interrogation room, being accused of Jason’s murder. Which, ironically, is one murder that she did not commit, though a scandal-obsessed public believes differently. As she undergoes questioning, Ruby’s mind races back to all the details of her life that led her to this exact moment, and to the three dead bodies in her wake. Because though she may not have killed her husband, Ruby certainly isn’t innocent.
Dirt Town by Hayley Scrivenor
Call Number: FIC SCRIV HAY DT
ISBN: 9781529080261
Publication Date: 2022
On a sweltering Friday afternoon in Durton, best friends Ronnie and Esther leave school together. Esther never makes it home. Ronnie's going to find her, she has a plan. Lewis will help. Their friend can't be gone, Ronnie won't believe it. Detective Sergeant Sarah Michaels can believe it, she has seen what people are capable of. She knows more than anyone how, in a moment of weakness, a person can be driven to do something they never thought possible. Lewis can believe it too. But he can't reveal what he saw that afternoon at the creek without exposing his secret. Five days later, Esther's buried body is discovered. What do we owe the girl who isn't there?
A Flicker in the Dark by Stacy Willingham
Call Number: FIC WILLI STA FL (Adult fiction)
ISBN: 9781250803825
Publication Date: 2022-01-11
When Chloe Davis was twelve, six teenage girls went missing in her small Louisiana town. By the end of the summer, her own father had confessed to the crimes and was put away for life, leaving Chloe and the rest of her family to grapple with the truth and try to move forward while dealing with the aftermath. Now twenty years later, Chloe is a psychologist in Baton Rouge and getting ready for her wedding. While she finally has a fragile grasp on the happiness she's worked so hard to achieve, she sometimes feels as out of control of her own life as the troubled teens who are her patients. So when a local teenage girl goes missing, and then another, that terrifying summer comes crashing back. Is she paranoid, seeing parallels from her past that aren't actually there, or for the second time in her life, is Chloe about to unmask a killer?

FINALISTS:

The Peacock and the Sparrow by I. S. Berry
The Golden Gate by Amy Chua
Scorched Grace by Margot Douaihy
Lenny Marks Gets Away with Murder by Kerryn Mayne
Perfect Shot : a Thriller by Steve Urszenyi

2010-2019

WINNER

Running From the Devil by Jamie Freveletti

FINALISTS

Fragment by Warren FAhy
Dead Men's Dust by Matt Hilton
Collision of Evil by John J. Le Beau
Dracula : the Un-Dead by Dacre Stoker

WINNER

Still Missing by Chevy Stevens

Still Missing by Chevy Stevens
Call Number: FIC STEVE CHE ST (Adult fiction)
ISBN: 9780312595678
Publication Date: 2010-07-06
On the day she was abducted, Annie O’Sullivan, a thirty-two-year-old Realtor, had three goals: sell a house, forget about a recent argument with her mother, and be on time for dinner with her ever-patient boyfriend. The open house is slow, but when her last visitor pulls up in a van as she’s about to leave, Annie thinks it just might be her lucky day after all. Interwoven with the story of the year Annie spent captive in a remote mountain cabin—which unfolds through sessions with her psychiatrist—is a second narrative recounting the nightmare that follows her escape: her struggle to piece her shattered life back together, the ongoing police investigation into the identity of her captor, and the disturbing sense that things are far from over. The truth doesn’t always set you free.

FINALISTS

The Things That Keep Us Here by Carla Buckley
The Poacher's Son by Paul Doiron
The Insider by Reece Hirsch
Drink the Tea by Thomas Kaufman

The Poacher's Son [CD] by Paul Doiron; John Bedford Lloyd (Read by)
Call Number: CD Fiction DO (Adult CD Audiobooks)
ISBN: 9781427208965
Publication Date: 2010-05-11
Game warden Mike Bowditch returns home one evening to find an alarming voice from the past on his answering machine: his father Jack, a hard drinking womanizer who makes his living poaching illegal game. An even more frightening call comes the next morning from the police: they are searching for the man who killed a beloved local cop the night before--and his father is their prime suspect.

WINNER

Spiral by Paul McEuen

FINALISTS

The Genesis Key by James Barney
She Can Run by Melinda Leigh
The Fund by T. H. Narea
Midnight Caller by Leslie Tentler

Midnight Caller [E-Book] by Leslie Tentler
Call Number: FIC TENTL LES C1 Ebook (OverDrive)
ISBN: 9781426884313
Publication Date: 2011-02-01
Late-night radio-show psychologist Rain Sommers is used to the crazies who call in to rage from the back alleys of the French Quarter and the shadows of the bayou. But one caller's chilling obsession with her and her long-ago murdered mother--an iconic singer beloved among the city's Goth community--has even the jaded Rain running scared as a sadistic serial killer known as the Vampire prowls New Orleans.FBI agent Trevor Rivette is convinced her midnight caller and the killer are one and the same. As it becomes disturbingly clear that the Vampire has a sick bloodlust only Rain can satisfy, she allows Trevor to get closer and closer. But he soon discovers that his secretive past and troubled present are intertwined--and that he may die trying to keep Rain's fate out of a madman's control.

WINNER

The 500 by Matthew Quirk

FINALISTS

Don't Ever Get Old by Daniel Friedman
The Professionals by Owen Laukkanen
The Expats by Chris Pavone
Black Fridays by Michael Sears

Don't Ever Get Old [Kindle] by Daniel Friedman; Nick Sullivan (Narrated by)
Call Number: Kindle-0580 (Request at Circulation Desk)
ISBN: 9781470829087
Publication Date: 2012-09-01
This is the first in a one-of-a-kind, spectacularly well-written mystery series featuring Buck Schatz, an eighty-seven-year-old retired Memphis cop with a know-it-all, plugged-in grandson as his sidekick.When Buck learns that an old adversary may have escaped Germany with a fortune in stolen gold, he decides to hunt down the fugitive and claim the loot...

The Professionals by Owen Laukkanen
Call Number: FIC LAUKK OWE PR (Adult fiction)
ISBN: 9780399157899
Publication Date: 2012-03-29
Four friends, caught in a terrible job market, joke about turning to kidnapping to survive. And then, suddenly, it’s no joke. For two years, the strategy they devise works like a charm—until they kidnap the wrong man. Now two groups are after them—the law, in the form of veteran state investigator Kirk Stevens and hotshot young FBI agent Carla Windermere, and an organized crime outfit looking for payback. As they crisscross the country in a series of increasingly explosive confrontations, each of them is ultimately forced to recognize the truth: The real professionals, cop or criminal, are those who are willing to sacrifice everything.

The Expats by Chris Pavone
Call Number: Fiction P339e (Adult Fiction)
ISBN: 9780307956354
Publication Date: 2012-03-06
An international spy thriller about a former CIA agent who moves with her family to Luxembourg where everything is suspicious and nothing is as it seems.
The Expats [E-Book] by Chris Pavone
Call Number: OverDrive E-Book
ISBN: 9780307956378
Publication Date: 2012

WINNER

Red Sparrow by Jason Matthews

Red Sparrow by Jason Matthews
Call Number: Fiction M439r v.1 (Adult Fiction)
ISBN: 9781476706139
Publication Date: 2014-12-09
In contemporary Russia, state intelligence officer Dominika Egorova has been drafted to become a “Sparrow”—a spy trained in the art of seduction to elicit information from their marks. She’s been assigned to Nathaniel Nash, a CIA officer who handles the organization’s most sensitive penetration of Russian intelligence. The two young intelligence officers, trained in their respective spy schools, collide in a charged atmosphere of tradecraft, deception and, inevitably, a forbidden spiral of carnal attraction that threatens their careers and the security of America’s valuable mole in Moscow.
Red Sparrow [CD] by Jason Matthews; Jeremy Bobb (Read by)
Call Number: CD Fiction MA (Adult Audiobook CD)
ISBN: 9781442365520
Publication Date: 2013-06-04

FINALISTS

Montana by Gwen Florio
Resolve by J. J. Nesley
Rage Against the Dying by Becky Masterman
The Edge of Normal by Carla Norton
Out of Range by Hank Steinberg
The Intercept by Dick Wolf

Rage Against the Dying (Brigid Quinn #1) by Becky Masterman
Call Number: FIC MASTE BEC Q1 (Adult Fiction)
ISBN: 9780312622947
Publication Date: 2013-03-12
Keeping secrets, telling lies, they require the same skill. Both become a habit, almost an addiction, that's hard to break even with the people closest to you, out of the business. For example, they say never trust a woman who tells you her age; if she can't keep that secret, she can't keep yours. I'm fifty-nine." Brigid Quinn's experiences in hunting sexual predators for the FBI have left her with memories she wishes she didn't have and lethal skills she hopes never to need again. Having been pushed into early retirement by events she thinks she's put firmly behind her, Brigid keeps telling herself she is settling down nicely in Tucson with a wonderful new husband, Carlo, and their dogs. But the past intervenes when a man named Floyd Lynch confesses to the worst unsolved case of Brigid's career--the disappearance and presumed murder of her young protgee, Jessica. Floyd knows things about that terrible night that were never made public, and offers to lead the cops to Jessica's body in return for a plea bargain. It should finally be the end of a dark chapter in Brigid's life. Except...the new FBI agent on the case, Laura Coleman, thinks the confession is fake, and Brigid finds she cannot walk away from violence and retribution after all, no matter what the cost.

The Edge of Normal by Carla Norton
Call Number: FIC NORTO CAR ED (Adult fiction)
ISBN: 9781250031044
Publication Date: 2013-09-10
In many ways, Reeve LeClaire looks like a typical twenty-two year old girl. She's finally landed her own apartment, she waitresses to pay the bills, and she wishes she wasn't so nervous around new people. She thinks of herself as agile, not skittish. As serious, not grim. But Reeve is anything but normal.
Ten years ago, she was kidnapped and held captive. After a lucky escape, she's spent the last six years trying to rebuild her life, a recovery thanks in large part to her indispensable therapist Dr. Ezra Lerner. But when he asks her to help another girl rescued from a similar situation, Reeve realizes she may not simply need to mentor this young victim—she may be the only one who can protect her from a cunning predator who is still out there, watching every move.

The Intercept (Jeremy Fisk #1) by Dick Wolf
Call Number: FIC WOLF DIC F1 (Adult fiction)
ISBN: 9780062064837
Publication Date: 2012-12-26
An adrenaline-fueled thriller debut in the tradition of Three Days of the Condor from the famed creator of TV's Law & Order, featuring NYPD Special Agent Jeremy Fisk, who is New York City's last hope against an ingenious, multi-pronged terrorist attack.
The Interept [Streaming audiobook] (Jeremy Fisk #1) by Dick Wolf
Call Number: FIC WOLF DIC F1 Audiobk (OverDrive)
Publication Date: 2013

WINNER

The Weight of Blood by Laura McHugh

The Weight of Blood by Laura Mchugh
Call Number: FIC MHUGH LAU WE (Adult fiction)
ISBN: 9780812995206
Publication Date: 2014-03-11
The Dane family's roots tangle deep in the Ozark Mountain town of Henbane, but that doesn't keep sixteen-year-old Lucy Dane from being treated like an outsider. Folks still whisper about her mother, a bewitching young stranger who inspired local myths when she vanished years ago. When one of Lucy's few friends, slow-minded Cheri, is found murdered, Lucy feels haunted by the two lost girls--the mother she never knew and the friend she couldn't protect. Everything changes when Lucy stumbles across Cheri's necklace in an abandoned trailer and finds herself drawn into a search for answers. What Lucy discovers makes it impossible to ignore the suspicion cast on her own kin. More alarming, she suspects Cheri's death could be linked to her mother's disappearance, and the connection between the two puts Lucy at risk of losing everything. In a place where the bonds of blood weigh heavy, Lucy must decide where her allegiances lie.
The Weight of Blood [E-Book] by Laura McHugh
Call Number: FIC MHUGH LAU WE Ebook (OverDrive)
ISBN: 9780812995213
Publication Date: 2014

FINALISTS

The Axeman's Jazz (The Axeman - U.S. title) by Ray Celestin
Invisible City by Julia Dahl
The Life We Bury by Allen Eskens
The Martian by Andy Weir

The Axeman : a New Orleans thriller based on a true story (UK Title: The Axeman's Jazz) by Celestin, Ray
Call Number: FIC CELES RAY AX (Adult fiction)
ISBN: 9781492609162
Publication Date: 2015-09-01
In a town jammed with voodoo and gangsters, a sense of intoxicating mystery often beckons from the back alleys. But when a real serial killer roams the sultry nights, even the corrupt cops can't see the clues. That is, until a letter from the Axeman himself is published in the newspaper, proclaiming that any home playing jazz music will be spared in his next attack.

Invisible City by Julia Dahl
Call Number: Fictino D131i (Adult Fiction)
ISBN: 9781250043399
Publication Date: 2014-05-06
Just months after Rebekah Roberts was born, her mother, an Hasidic Jew from Brooklyn, abandoned her Christian boyfriend and newborn baby to return to her religion. Neither Rebekah nor her father have heard from her since. Now a recent college graduate, Rebekah has moved to New York City to follow her dream of becoming a big-city reporter. But she's also drawn to the idea of being closer to her mother, who might still be living in the Hasidic community in Brooklyn. Then Rebekah is called to cover the story of a murdered Hasidic woman. Rebekah's shocked to learn that, because of the NYPD's habit of kowtowing to the powerful ultra-Orthodox community, not only will the woman be buried without an autopsy, her killer may get away with murder. Rebekah can't let the story end there. But getting to the truth won't be easy--even as she immerses herself in the cloistered world where her mother grew up, it's clear that she's not welcome, and everyone she meets has a secret to keep from an outsider. In her riveting debut, journalist Julia Dahl introduces a compelling new character in search of the truth about a murder and an understanding of her own heritage.

The Life We Bury [E-Book] by Allen Eskens
Call Number: FIC ESKEN ALL LI Ebook (OverDrive)
ISBN: 9781616149994
Publication Date: 2014-10-14
College student Joe Talbert has the modest goal of completing a writing assignment for an English class. His task is to interview a stranger and write a brief biography of the person. With deadlines looming, Joe heads to a nearby nursing home to find a willing subject. There he meets Carl Iverson, and soon nothing in Joe's life is ever the same.Iverson is a dying Vietnam veteran--and a convicted murderer. With only a few months to live, he has been medically paroled to a nursing home, after spending thirty years in prison for the crimes of rape and murder.As Joe writes about Carl's life, especially Carl's valor in Vietnam, he cannot reconcile the heroism of the soldier with the despicable acts of the convict. Joe, along with his skeptical female neighbor, throws himself into uncovering the truth, but he is hamstrung in his efforts by having to deal with his dangerously dysfunctional mother, the guilt of leaving his autistic brother vulnerable, and a haunting childhood memory. Thread by thread, Joe unravels the tapestry of Carl's conviction. But as he and Lila dig deeper into the circumstances of the crime, the stakes grow higher. Will Joe discover the truth before it's too late to escape the fallout?
The Life We Bury [Streaming audiobook] by Allen Eskens; Zach Villa (Narrated by)
Call Number: FIC ESKEN ALL LI Audiobk (OverDrive)
ISBN: 9781494593889
Publication Date: 2015-06-09

The Martian : a novel by Andy Weir
Call Number: Fiction W4255m (Adult Fiction)
ISBN: 9780804139021
Publication Date: 2014-02-11
Six days ago, astronaut Mark Watney became one of the first people to walk on Mars. Now, he's sure he'll be the first person to die there. After a dust storm nearly kills him and forces his crew to evacuate while thinking him dead, Mark finds himself stranded and completely alone with no way to even signal Earth that he’s alive—and even if he could get word out, his supplies would be gone long before a rescue could arrive. Chances are, though, he won't have time to starve to death. The damaged machinery, unforgiving environment, or plain-old "human error" are much more likely to kill him first. But Mark isn't ready to give up yet. Drawing on his ingenuity, his engineering skills—and a relentless, dogged refusal to quit—he steadfastly confronts one seemingly insurmountable obstacle after the next. Will his resourcefulness be enough to overcome the impossible odds against him?
The Martian [CD] : a novel by Andy Weir; R. C. Bray (Read by)
Call Number: CD Fiction WE (Adult Audiobook CD)
ISBN: 9781491523209
Publication Date: 2014-10-28
The Martian [E-Book] : a novel by Andy Weir
Call Number: YA F WEI-A Ebook (OverDrive)
ISBN: 9780804139038
Publication Date: 2014

WINNER

Bull Mountain by Brian Panowich

Bull Mountain by Brian Panowich
Call Number: FIC PANOW BRI BU (Adult fiction)
ISBN: 9780399173967
Publication Date: 2015-07-07
The Godfather meets Daniel Woodrell in this Southern debut, a multigenerational saga of crime, family, and vengeance. Clayton Burroughs comes from a long line of outlaws. For generations, the Burroughs clan has made their home on Bull Mountain in North Georgia, running shine, pot, and meth over six state lines, virtually untouched by the rule of law. To distance himself from his family's criminal empire, Clayton took the job of sheriff in a neighboring community to keep what peace he can. But when a federal agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms shows up at Clayton's office with a plan to shut down the mountain, his hidden agenda will pit brother against brother, test loyalties, and could lead Clayton down a path to self-destruction.
Bull Mountain [Streaming audiobook] by Brian Panowich; Brian Troxell (Narrated by)
Call Number: FIC PANOW BRI BU Audiobk (OverDrive)
ISBN: 9781490675817
Publication Date: 2015-07-14

FINALISTS

Little Black Lies by Sandra Block
The Drowning Game by L. S. Hawker
What She Knew by Gilly Macmillan
The Gates of Evangeline by Hester Young

What She Knew (Jim Clemo #1) by Gilly Macmillan
Call Number: FIC MMILL GIL C1 (Adult fiction)
ISBN: 9780606385367
Publication Date: 2015-12-01
In a heartbeat, everything changes… Rachel Jenner is walking in a Bristol park with her eight-year-old son, Ben, when he asks if he can run ahead. It’s an ordinary request on an ordinary Sunday afternoon, and Rachel has no reason to worry—until Ben vanishes. Police are called, search parties go out, and Rachel, already insecure after her recent divorce, feels herself coming undone. As hours and then days pass without a sign of Ben, everyone who knew him is called into question, from Rachel’s newly married ex-husband to her mother-of-the-year sister. Inevitably, media attention focuses on Rachel too, and the public’s attitude toward her begins to shift from sympathy to suspicion. As she desperately pieces together the threadbare clues, Rachel realizes that nothing is quite as she imagined it to be, not even her own judgment. And the greatest dangers may lie not in the anonymous strangers of every parent’s nightmares, but behind the familiar smiles of those she trusts the most. Where is Ben? The clock is ticking...

WINNER

The Drifter by Nick Petrie

FINALISTS

Deadly Kiss by Bob Bickford
Type and Cross by J. L. Delozier
Recall by David McCaleb
Palindrome by E. Z. Rinsky

WINNER

The Freedom Broker by K. J. Howe

FINALISTS

Deep Down Dead by Steph Broadribb
Ragdoll by Danielle Cole
The Red Line by Walt Gragg
The Lost Ones by Sheena Kamal

Ragdoll (Detective William Fawkes #1) by Daniel Cole
Call Number: FIC COLE DAN F1 (Adult fiction)
ISBN: 9780062653956
Publication Date: 2017-04-04
William Fawkes, a controversial detective known as The Wolf, has just been reinstated to his post after he was suspended for assaulting a vindicated suspect. Still under psychological evaluation, Fawkes returns to the force eager for a big case. When his former partner and friend, Detective Emily Baxter, calls him to a crime scene, he's sure this is it: the body is made of the dismembered parts of six victims, sewn together like a puppet--a corpse that becomes known as "The Ragdoll." Fawkes is tasked with identifying the six victims, but that gets dicey when his reporter ex-wife anonymously receives photographs from the crime scene, along with a list of six names, and the dates on which the Ragdoll Killer plans to murder them.

The Lost Ones by Kamal, Sheena
Call Number: FIC KAMAL SHE L (Adult Fiction)
ISBN: 9780062565907
Publication Date: 2017-07-25
It begins with a phone call that Nora Watts has dreaded for fifteen years--since the day she gave her newborn daughter up for adoption. Bonnie has vanished. The police consider her a chronic runaway and aren't looking, leaving her desperate adoptive parents to reach out to her birth mother as a last hope.

WINNER

The Chalk Man by C. J. Tudor

The Chalk Man [E-Book] by C. J. Tudor
Call Number: FIC TUDOR CJ CH Ebook (OverDrive)
ISBN: 9781524761004
Publication Date: 2018
In 1986, Eddie and his friends are on the verge of adolescence, spending their days biking in search of adventure. The chalk men are their secret code, stick figures they draw for one another as hidden messages. But one morning the friends find a chalk man leading them to the woods. They follow the message, only to find the dead body of a teenage girl. In 2016, Eddie is nursing a drinking problem and trying to forget his past, until one day he gets a letter containing a chalk man--the same one he and his friends saw when they found the body. Soon he learns that all his old friends received the same note. When one of them is killed, Eddie realizes that saving himself means figuring out what happened all those years ago. But digging into the past proves more dangerous than he could have known. Because in this town, everyone has secrets, no one is innocent, and some will do anything to bury the truth.
The Chalk Man [Streaming Audiobook] by C. J. Tudor
Call Number: FIC TUDO CJ CH Audiobk (OverDrive)
ISBN: 9780525526414
Publication Date: 2018

FINALISTS

The Terminal List by Jack Carr
Need to Know by Karen Cleveland
Caged by Ellison Cooper
Something in the Water by Catherine Steadman

The Terminal List by Jack Carr
Call Number: FIC CARR JAC T1 (Adult fiction)
ISBN: 9781501180811
Publication Date: 2018-03-06
A Navy SEAL has nothing left to live for and everything to kill for after he discovers that the American government is behind the deaths of his team in this ripped-from-the-headlines political thriller. On his last combat deployment, Lieutenant Commander James Reece's entire team was killed in a catastrophic ambush that also claimed the lives of the aircrew sent in to rescue them. But when those dearest to him are murdered on the day of his homecoming, Reece discovers that this was not an act of war by a foreign enemy but a conspiracy that runs to the highest levels of government. Now, with no family and free from the military's command structure, Reece applies the lessons that he's learned in over a decade of constant warfare toward avenging the deaths of his family and teammates. With breathless pacing and relentless suspense, Reece ruthlessly targets his enemies in the upper echelons of power without regard for the laws of combat or the rule of law.
The Terminal List [E-Book] by Jack Carr
Call Number: FIC CARR JAC T1 Ebook (OverDrive)
ISBN: 9781501180835
Publication Date: 2018-03-06

Need to Know by Karen Cleveland
Call Number: FIC CLEVE KAR NE (Adult fiction)
ISBN: 9781524797027
Publication Date: 2018-01-23
Vivian Miller is a dedicated CIA counterintelligence analyst assigned to uncover the leaders of Russian sleeper cells in the United States. On track for a much-needed promotion, she's developed a system for identifying Russian agents, seemingly normal people living in plain sight. After accessing the computer of a potential Russian operative, Vivian stumbles on a secret dossier of deep-cover agents within America's borders. A few clicks later, everything that matters to her--her job, her husband, even her four children--are threatened. Vivian has vowed to defend her country against all enemies, foreign and domestic. But now she's facing impossible choices. Torn between loyalty and betrayal, allegiance and treason, love and suspicion, who can she trust?
Need to Know [E-Book] by Karen Cleveland
Call Number: FIC CLEVE KAR NE Ebook (OverDrive)
ISBN: 9781524797034
Publication Date: 2018

Something in the Water by Catherine Steadman
Call Number: FIC STEAD CAT SO (Adult fiction)
ISBN: 9781524797195
Publication Date: 2018
Erin is a documentary filmmaker on the brink of a professional breakthrough, Mark a handsome investment banker with big plans. Passionately in love, they embark on a dream honeymoon to the tropical island of Bora Bora, where they enjoy the sun, the sand, and each other. Then, while scuba diving in the crystal blue sea, they find something in the water. . . . Suddenly the newlyweds must make a dangerous choice: to speak out or to protect their secret. After all, if no one else knows, who would be hurt? Their decision will trigger a devastating chain of events. . . .
Something in the Water [CD] by Catherine Steadman (Read by)
Call Number: CD Fiction ST (Adult CD Audiobooks)
ISBN: 9780525593584
Publication Date: 2018-06-19
Something in the Water [E-Book] by Catherine Steadman
Call Number: FIC STEAD CAT SO Ebook (OverDrive)
ISBN: 9781524797195
Publication Date: 2018
Something in the Water [Streaming audiobook] by Catherine Steadman
Call Number: FIC STEAD CAT SO Audiobk (OverDrive)
ISBN: 9780525593614
Publication Date: 2018

2006-2009

WINNER

Improbable by Adam Fawer

WINNER

Mr. Clarinet by Nick Stone

Mr. Clarinet (Max Mingus thriller #1) by Stone, Nick
Call Number: FIC STONE NIC M1 (Adult Fiction)
ISBN: 9780060897338
Publication Date: 2008-12-02
Hired by a powerful white Haitian family to find their young son, who has been missing for two years, Max Mingus struggles to set aside painful memories and tackles a web of local corruption that threatens his tenacious hold on sanity.

FINALISTS

Shadow of Death by Patricia Gussin
Switchback by Matthew Klein
A Thousand Suns by Alex Scarrow
18 Seconds by George D. Shuman

WINNER

Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill

Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill
Call Number: FIC HILL JOE HE (Adult fiction)
ISBN: 9780061147937
Publication Date: 2007-02-13
Judas Coyne is a collector of the macabre: a cookbook for cannibals . . . a used hangman's noose . . . a snuff film. An aging death-metal rock god, his taste for the unnatural is as widely known to his legions of fans as the notorious excesses of his youth. But nothing he possesses is as unlikely or as dreadful as his latest discovery, an item for sale on the Internet, a thing so terribly strange, Jude can't help but reach for his wallet.

FINALISTS

Interred With Their Bones by Jennifer Lee Carrell
Big City, Bad Blood by Sean Chercover
From the Depths by Gerry Doyle
Volk's Game by Brent Ghelfi

WINNER

Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith

Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith
Call Number: Fiction S6625c (Adult Fiction)
ISBN: 9780446402385
Publication Date: 2008-04-29
Stalin's Soviet Union is an official paradise, where citizens live free from crime and fear only one thing: the all-powerful state. Defending this system is idealistic security officer Leo Demidov, a war hero who believes in the iron fist of the law. But when a murderer starts to kill at will and Leo dares to investigate, the State's obedient servant finds himself demoted and exiled. Now, with only his wife at his side, Leo must fight to uncover shocking truths about a killer-and a country where "crime" doesn't exist.

FINALISTS

Calumet City by Charlie Newton
Criminal Paradise by Steven Thomas
Sacrifice by S. J. Bolton
The Killer's Wife by Bill Floyd

The Killer's Wife by Bill Floyd
Call Number: FIC FLOYD BIL KI (Adult fiction)
ISBN: 9780312373399
Publication Date: 2008-03-04
Six years after her courageous testimony helped put her husband on death row for a string of gruesome murders, Leigh Wren has almost succeeded in putting her past to rest. She has moved from the West Coast to North Carolina with her young son, adopting a new name and a new life. But the world that she has created for herself is shattered when the father of one of her ex-husband’s victims begins stalking her, then confronts her late one night. In the days that follow, he exposes Leigh, in newspapers and on television, to a startled North Carolina community. And just as her marriage to Randall Mosley, a man who became known to the world as a deviant serial killer, is brought back to light, a more deadly game of cat and mouse ensues.
A new killer has emerged, one whose methods are frighteningly similar to those used by Mosley, who is awaiting execution thousands of miles away. Leigh and her son appear to be in the assailant’s scope, and it becomes clear that he is more than a copycat killer—his targets are all tied to Leigh’s former life. With the clock ticking down and the victims of a new killer mounting, Leigh is forced to probe the darkest corridors of her past to protect her life and her son’s. She must also confront her own feelings of responsibility: Leigh has always professed her ignorance, but how complicit was she in her husband’s horrific murder spree, as it was taking place?
The Killer's Wife [CD] by Bill Floyd; Isabel Keating (Read by)
Call Number: CD Fiction FL (Adult CD audiobooks)
ISBN: 9781427202703
Publication Date: 2008-03-04

Thriller Awards

2020-2029

WINNER

Miracle Creek by Angie Kim

FINALISTS

My Lovely Wife by Samantha Downing

The Good Detective by John McMahon

The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides

American Spy by Lauren Wilkinson

WINNER

Winter Counts by David Heska Wanbli Weiden

FINALISTS

The Opium Prince by Jasmine Aimaq

Without Sanction by Don Bentley

The Bluffs by Kyle Perry

Ghosts of Harvard by Francesca Serritella

WINNER

My Sweet Girl by Amanda Jayatissa

FINALISTS:

Girl A by Abigail Dean

Repentance by Eloísa Díaz

Damascus Station by David McCloskey

Bones of Hilo by Eric Redman

WINNER

The Resemblance by Lauren Nossett

FINALISTS

Blood Sugar by Sascha Rothchild

Dirt Town by Hayley Scrivenor

A Flicker in the Dark by Stacy Willingham

FINALISTS:

The Peacock and the Sparrow by I. S. Berry

The Golden Gate by Amy Chua

Scorched Grace by Margot Douaihy

Lenny Marks Gets Away with Murder by Kerryn Mayne

Perfect Shot : a Thriller by Steve Urszenyi

2010-2019

WINNER

Running From the Devil by Jamie Freveletti

FINALISTS

Fragment by Warren FAhy

Dead Men's Dust by Matt Hilton

Collision of Evil by John J. Le Beau

Dracula : the Un-Dead by Dacre Stoker

WINNER

Still Missing by Chevy Stevens

FINALISTS

The Things That Keep Us Here by Carla Buckley

The Poacher's Son by Paul Doiron

The Insider by Reece Hirsch

Drink the Tea by Thomas Kaufman

WINNER

Spiral by Paul McEuen

FINALISTS

The Genesis Key by James Barney

She Can Run by Melinda Leigh

The Fund by T. H. Narea

Midnight Caller by Leslie Tentler

WINNER

The 500 by Matthew Quirk

FINALISTS

Don't Ever Get Old by Daniel Friedman

The Professionals by Owen Laukkanen

The Expats by Chris Pavone

Black Fridays by Michael Sears

WINNER

Red Sparrow by Jason Matthews

FINALISTS

Montana by Gwen Florio

Resolve by J. J. Nesley

Rage Against the Dying by Becky Masterman

The Edge of Normal by Carla Norton

Out of Range by Hank Steinberg

The Intercept by Dick Wolf

WINNER

The Weight of Blood by Laura McHugh

FINALISTS

The Axeman's Jazz (The Axeman - U.S. title) by Ray Celestin

Invisible City by Julia Dahl

The Life We Bury by Allen Eskens

The Martian by Andy Weir