International Thriller Writers Names Finalists for 2022 Thriller Awards

The International Thriller Writers (ITW), an honorary society that represents thriller authors from around the world, has announced the finalists for its 2022 Thriller Awards.

ITW will announce the winners at ThrillerFest XVII on Saturday, June 4, 2022 at the Sheraton New York Times Square Hotel, New York City.

The International Thriller Writers is an honorary society of authors, both fiction and nonfiction, who write books broadly classified as “thrillers.” This would include (but isn’t limited to) such subjects as murder mystery, detective, suspense, horror, supernatural, action, espionage, true crime, war, adventure, and myriad similar subject areas.

To be considered eligible for the 2022 Thriller Awards, the work must be a novel, short story, or audiobook that was published in English, for the first time, anywhere in the world, in the calendar year of 2021. The author must either be an active ITW member or the publisher must be an ITW-recognized publisher.

Here are the finalists, by genre:

BEST HARDCOVER NOVEL

Megan Abbott – The Turnout (Penguin/Putnam)
S. A. Cosby – Razorblade Tears (Flatiron Books)
Alice Feeney – Rock Paper Scissors (Flatiron Books)
Rachel Howzell Hall – These Toxic Things (Thomas & Mercer)
Alma Katsu – Red Widow (Penguin/Putnam)
Eric Rickstad – I Am Not Who You Think I Am (Blackstone Publishing)

BEST AUDIOBOOK

A. Cosby – Razorblade Tears (Macmillan) – narrated by Adam Lazarre-White
Samantha Downing – Sleeping Dog Lie (Audible Originals) – narrated by Melanie Nicholls-King and Lindsey Dorcus
Rachel Howzell Hall – How It Ends (Audible Originals) – narrated by Joniece Abbott-Pratt
Gregg Hurwitz – Prodigal Son (Macmillan) – narrated by Scott Brick
Nadine Matheson – The Jigsaw Man (HarperCollins) – narrated by Davine Henry

BEST FIRST NOVEL

Abigail Dean – Girl A (HarperCollins)
Eloísa Díaz – Repentance (Agora Books)
Amanda Jayatissa – My Sweet Girl (Berkley)
David McCloskey – Damascus Station (W.W. Norton & Company)
Eric Redman – Bones of Hilo (Crooked Lane Books)

BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL NOVEL

Joy Castro – Flight Risk (Lake Union)
Aaron Philip Clark – Under Color Of Law (Thomas & Mercer)
C. J. Cooke – The Lighthouse Witches (Berkley)
Jess Lourey – Bloodline (Thomas & Mercer)
Terry Roberts – My Mistress’ Eyes Are Raven Black (Turner Publishing Company)

BEST SHORT STORY

S.A. Cosby – “Not My Cross to Bear” (Down & Out Books)
William Burton McCormick – “Demon in the Depths” (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine)
Scott Loring Sanders – “The Lemonade Stand” (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine)
Jeff Soloway – “The Interpreter and the Killer” (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine)
John Wimer – “Bad Chemistry” (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine)

BEST YOUNG ADULT NOVEL

Maureen Johnson – The Box in the Woods (HarperCollins)
Nova McBee – Calculated (Wolfpack Publishing LLC)
Ginny Myers Sain – Dark and Shallow Lies (Penguin Young Readers)
Courtney Summers – The Project (Wednesday Books)
Krystal Sutherland – House of Hollow (Penguin Young Readers)

BEST E-BOOK ORIGINAL NOVEL

Greig Beck – The Dark Side: Alex Hunter 9 (Pan Macmillan)
John Connell – Where The Wicked Tread (John Connell)
Wendy Dranfield – Little Girl Taken (Bookouture)
E.J. Findorff – Blood Parish (E.J. Findorff)
S. E. Green – Mother May I (S. E. Green)
Andrew Kaplan – Blue Madagascar (Andrew Kaplan)
Karin Nordin – Last One Alive (HarperCollins)

ITW’s mission is “to bestow recognition and promote the thriller genre at an innovative and superior level for and through our Active members; to provide opportunities for mentoring, education and collegiality among thriller authors and industry professionals; and to grant awards for excellence in the thriller genre.”

One of the main purposes of the organization is to provide a way for successful, bestselling authors to help debut and midlist authors advance their careers. To that end, ITW has designed numerous, effective programs and events that promote debut and midlist writers and their work, sometimes in partnership with bestselling authors. In addition, ITW promotes literacy, gives money to worthy organizations, supports libraries, and advances the genre. Finally, it brings together almost a thousand writers, readers, publishers,  editors and agents at its annual conference, ThrillerFest, as well as at CraftFest, a writing workshop program, and AgentFest, where aspiring authors can meet and pitch top literary agents. Visit the ITW website for more information.