NYT Ranks the 50 Best Thrillers of the Century so Far (and I was honored to be one of the experts they asked)

You might have seen that the New York Times Books Section released a list of the 50 Best Thrillers of the 21st Century So Far. I have a gift link available for you here. 

Back in May I opened an email from the NYT inviting me to participate. It came with my own personalized survey link. It was a great honor and a lot of fun, but I am not surprised that Gone Girl came in at #1. It was my top pick too. 

Before we talk about this list more, I need to take everyone back to 2012 when Gone Girl came out. I was one of the first people to read this book. I had met Gillian through an event my library hosted with Karin Slaughter. She got me an early copy of Gone Girl and I said to her-- I loved this book, but I am not sure American readers are ready to hate everyone in a book. Thankfully I was wrong. 

Before it was released, we set up a one on one interview with her and me at the Berwyn Public Library (where I worked). You can still watch baby Gillian and baby Becky do this interview here on the Berwyn Public Library's YouTube channel. This interview is so old, it was back when YouTube limited free accounts to 15 mins per video max. Such fun memories. My kids were 10 and 7 back then! It was so long ago.

That interview ended up being on the exact day Gone Girl hit the bestseller list and changed Gillian's life and well, everything about the psychological suspense genre forever- and in ways we haven't seen since Hitchcock. 

Anyone who was working in publishing or working with readers in any way in 2012 understood what happened. The Psychological thriller changes from being driven by men and serial killer characters like Hannibal Lecter to the female driven, domestic suspense, fueled by the unreliable narrator that we have now. 

So, when I got the email and my private survey link to be a part of this NYT list, I knew immediately that Gone Girl was on my list. I also included Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, My Sister, the Serial Killer, SA Cosby ( I can't remember which title I submitted), 11/22/62, and In the Woods among others. I say among others because I really don't remember my full list. It was due around StokerCon and I figured it out on paper and then entered it before I left and threw the paper out.

When you go to the list (gift link), you will see this header:

As voted on by 291 crime novelists, editors, booksellers, librarians and other book lovers. See how their ballots stack up.

I may not have my list of books highlighted here like my pals Stephen Graham Jones, Victor LaValle, and Daniel Kraus, but I want everyone to know they did care about us librarians. They are not just saying they asked us, I know they did. I am thankful for that.

I also want to note that every title has some readalike options. 

Get this list ready for your patrons, make lists online in in your buildings. Everyone will be talking about this for at least the next few weeks. Oh and go add some more copies of Gone Girl right now. 

And thanks to the NYT for including me in the creation of this fun list.

What I'm Reading: Audiobook Reviews Round-Up

I talk about this in my training programs, but don't say it enough here, because I read and review books for my job it is not only hard to make time to read for fun, but also, and this is even more difficult, it is very hard to train my brain to just sit back and enjoy a story and not try to critique it as a professional reviewer.

Over the years I have worked very hard to figure out how to still enjoy reading. I have chronicled that journey for years through my Reading Resolutions post. If you want to read those, check out my first 2 posts of every year my using the drop down menus in the right gutter toward the bottom of every page.

But for those who want the short version, what I have learned is, if I listen to the books I want to read for fun my brain understands this. It doesn't try to be a critic. Reading with my ears is the trick my brain needs to enjoy a leisure read.

After I finish these audiobooks, I take notes in Goodreads. I do not write long formal reviews, but I do assign these titles 3 words. 

Today, I want to catch up with four audiobooks I have enjoyed recently by making them searchable here on the blog. I have listed them in the order in which I read them.

• Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke
• Three Words That Describe This Book: Trad Wife Trope, satire, thriller frame
• We Burned So Bright by TJ Klune
• Three Words That Describe This Book: end of the world, character centered, heartbreakingly beautiful
• Vigil by George Saunders
• Three Words That Describe This Book: full cast audio, gripping, contemplation of what it means to live a life
  
• The Ending Writes Itself by Evelyn Clarke
• Three Words That Describe This Book: book about publishing industry, intricately plotted mystery, multiple points of view

Booklist's May 2026 Issue is a Spotlight on Mysteries & Thrillers

May is the best time of year to get up to speed on Mysteries because for years this has been the most popular issue of Booklist, the May spotlight on Mysteries and Thrillers 

Below are the links to the content you can use to get up to speed on the current state of Mysteries and Thrillers. There are best lists and a theme based lists even articles. All focused on some of your most popular books.

Please note, I have added backlist access links as well because when you look at the last few years of best lists, a fuller picture of the genre emerges-- where it has been, where it is now, and where it might be going. Not to mention, you can use the last few years of lists to make a display or post an online list of great Mysteries and Thrillers your readers may have missed.

And don't forget, every issue of Booklist Magazine is a spotlight on a genre or format or topic, making every issue an invaluable resource beyond just the reviews.

Spotlight on Mysteries & Thrillers

Essentials: Holy Whodunits!

Top 10 Mysteries & Thrillers 2026: 2025, 2024, 2023, 2022

Top 10 Mystery & Thriller Debuts 2026: 2025, 2024, 2023, 2022

Trend Alert: Cozies Get a Glow-Up

Manga Essentials: More Detective Manga

Writers & Readers: A Mystery Demanded by Reality

Essentials: Social Media Mysteries

Top 10 Mysteries & Thrillers on Audio 2026: 2025, 2024, 2023, 2022

Features
Listen Up: Sounds Suspicious (unreliable narrators on audio)

Top 10 True Crime Books

High-Demand Hot List

Using Awards Lists As a RA Tool: International Thriller Awards

This is part of my ongoing series on using Awards Lists as a RA tool. Click here for all posts in the series in reverse chronological order. Click here for the first post which outlines the details how to use awards lists as a RA tool.  

International Thriller Writers released the nominees for their awards this week. Before we get their a reminder about ITW because they are unique among writers organizations. From their "About" page (which is extensive so click through and read more):

ITW represents professional thriller authors from around the world.

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.

What I love about ITW is that the are a group of writers focused around the appeal of their books rather than rigid genre lines. Another way to describe them is that they are focused around their readers. Readers jump between these "thrilling" genres without ever thinking about if it is a mystery, horror, suspense, psychological suspense, thriller, or whatever the publisher defines it as. 

So for that reason, you need to pay attention to who is getting nominated for their awards. All of them are titles that will appeal to a general library collection. In fact, I would bet you own most if not all already, but do you ever put these titles all on display together. Probably not.

Take advantage of this award list announcement to first, check your catalogs, and second, put up a "Thrilling Reads" display. Get all of the current nominated titles that are not currently checked out, up on display. And of course dig into the backlist of nominees, available on this page, to fill out that display, and keep it stocked, because these titles will fly off the shelf.

"Thrilling Reads" as a title for a book display both online and in the library will bring in a wide net of readers. You can start with these titles, but I would expand your reach by asking staff and patrons to share their favorite "thrilling reads." This is exactly the type of natural language conversation starter I advocate for in my training programs and here on the blog. Click here for more on how and why to do this. And here for every post tagged "Conversation Starters."

Before I post the nominees, please note, there are categories for YA and Audio here. The audio nomination also includes a list of the narrators, and as all of us who work with readers know, in these thriller genres, who is narrating matters. Some of the very best narrators work in these genres.

Below (and at this link) is the full list of nominees for this year. And here is the page to access all past nominees and winners.

Get up a "Thrilling Reads" display ASAP. Your patrons will appreciate you thinking less like a librarian who is caught up on "rules" and categories and think more like the readers you are trying to help.

(Yes that was one of my not so subtle digs at how we hurt ourselves too often. Click here for my general thoughts on that or here for my rant about how no one reads series titles in alphabetical order, and yet, we insist on shelving them that way because, well we say it is rules, but in reality, no one is enforcing said rule so get over yourself. And this specific example seems very important when we talk about thriller genres which are often in series.)

BEST STANDALONE NOVEL

Megan Collins — CROSS MY HEART (Atria)

Ruth Knafo Setton — ZIGZAG GIRL (Black Spring Press)

Gilly Macmillan — THE BURNING LIBRARY (William Morrow)

Sarah Pekkanen — THE LOCKED WARD (St. Martin’s Press)

Olivia Worley — SO HAPPY TOGETHER (Minotaur)

 

BEST SERIES NOVEL

James Byrne — CHAIN REACTION (Minotaur)

Robert Crais — THE BIG EMPTY (Penguin/Putnam)

John McMahon — HEAD CASES: A NOVEL (Minotaur)

Christopher Reich — THE TOURISTS (Thomas & Mercer)

Vincent Zandri — TERMINAL MOONLIGHT (Down & Out Books)

 

BEST FIRST NOVEL

Chris Chibnall — DEATH AT THE WHITE HART (Pamela Dorman Books)

Kelsey Cox — PARTY OF LIARS (Minotaur)

Sophie Stava — COUNT MY LIES (Gallery/Scout Press)

Zoe B. Wallbrook — HISTORY LESSONS (Soho Crime)

Liann Zhang — JULIE CHAN IS DEAD (Atria)

 

BEST AUDIOBOOK

S. A. Cosby — KING OF ASHES (Macmillan)

      Narrated by Adam Lazarre-White

Mark Edwards — THE WASP TRAP (Simon & Schuster)

      Narrated by John Hopkins, Anna Burnett

Marisa Kashino — BEST OFFER WINS (Macmillan)

      Narrated by Cia Court

Xan Kaur — WHEN DEVILS SING (Macmillan)

      Narrated by Michael Crouch, Anjali Kunapaneni,  Jennifer Pickens, Landon Woodson

CN Mabry, N’Dia Rae — THE CHEATER’S WIFE (Simon Maverick)

      Narrated by Ruffin Prentiss, Machelle Williams

Michael Robotham — THE WHITE CROW (Simon & Schuster)

      Narrated by Katy Sobey

 

BEST YOUNG ADULT NOVEL

Liz Lawson — MURDER BETWEEN FRIENDS (Delacorte Press)

Margot McGovern — THIS STAYS BETWEEN US (Penguin Young Readers)

Clay McLeod Chapman — SHINY HAPPY PEOPLE (Delacorte Press)

Diana Rodriguez Wallach — THE SILENCED (Delacorte Press)

Julie Soto — THE THRASHERS (Wednesday Books)

 

BEST SHORT STORY

Katrina Carrasco — LEVEL UP (Bywater Books)

Scott William Carter — THE SEDUCTION OF DR. DIMENSION (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine)

Lee Child — ELEVEN NUMBERS (Amazon Original Stories)

David Lagercrantz — FALSE NOTE (Amazon Original Stories)

Jessica Van Dessel — THE VIOLENT SEASON (Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine)

 

ITW will announce the winners at ThrillerFest XXI on Saturday, May 9, 2026 at the New York Hilton Midtown, New York City.

Booklist May 2025 Issue Is Their Annual Spotlight on Mysteries and Thrillers.

As I mentioned on the blog here earlier this week, this is the best time of year to get up to speed on Mysteries. Booklist knows this as well as May has always been their Spotlight on the genre.

Below is the TOC with links to the content you can use to get up to speed on the current state of Mysteries and Thrillers.

Please note, I have added backlist access links to the adult top 10 lists. Much like I said earlier this week about using the backlist of trends to get a fuller picture of where the genre has been, where it is now, and where it might be going, you need to look back at the last few years as well as be aware of the current "best" titles. 

And don't forget, every issue of Booklist Magazine is a spotlight on a genre or format or topic, making every issue an invaluable resource beyond just the reviews.

Booklist May 1&15, 2025 (click here for TOC)

FEATURE. First published May 1, 2025 (Booklist).

On the Cover
From Your Final Moments, by Jay Coles, published by Scholastic. Your Final Moments is reviewed in this issue’s Spotlight on Mysteries & Thrillers. Cover art created by Maeve Norton and directed by CJ Johnson. Used by permission of the publisher.

Spotlight on Mysteries & Thrillers
The Booklist Interview: Michael Connelly
Top 10 Mysteries & Thrillers (2024, 2023, 2022)
Top 10 Debut Mysteries & Thrillers (2024, 2023, 2022)
Essentials: Jane Austen–Inspired Mysteries
Essentials: Wealth Gap Mysteries
Top 10 Mysteries & Thrillers for Youth
Essentials: Kid Detectives
Now Hear This: Vikas Adam
Top 10 Mysteries & Thrillers on Audio (2024, 2023, 2022)

Features
Manga Essentials: Detective Manga
Talking With Kimm Topping
Booklist Backlist: Queer YA Graphic Novels

Booklist's Annual Mystery and Thriller Spotlight is Now LIVE!

The May 1 issue of Booklist is always one of the best of the year. It's focused on Crime Fiction and this year it also has a spotlight on True Crime.

I do have two big name reviews in this issue, but I will post them on Monday. Today I want to point you to all of the amazing RA resources that are included in this issue and all focused on titles that have some of the most checkouts at your library.

However, before I get to those details, please remember that every issue of Booklist is a spotlight on something. That spotlight means there are lists of the top books in those categories, for all ages of readers-- including audio-- all available right at your fingertips. That is not even considering that there are extra reviews of upcoming books for said spotlight in that issue as well.

And, to make this RA rich information even more accesible, Booklist now has a print magazine-- Booklist Reader. It is similar to Book Page in terms of how you distribute it to your patrons, but made by librarians for librarians, sharing their most useful RA material with your patrons, directly.

Back to the spotlight articles and lists though. They are always available for free-- both the current and backlist lists. So they are a literal treasure trove of vetted best titles in the categories that you, the library worker, most care about. Every title is annotated as well, so you have information about the book to share with its best reader immediately.

Here are the lists and articles for this current spotlight with 2 years of backlist access include by me to help you add to your collections and help readers:

• Top 10 Mysteries & Thrillers: 2024
• Links for 2023, 2022
• Top 10 Debuts Mysteries & Thrillers: 2024
• Links for 2023, 2022
• Top 10 Mysteries & Thrillers on Audio: 2024
• Links for 2023, 2022
• Top 10 True Crime Books: 2024
• Link for 2023 (only other year)
• Writers & Readers Shining the Light on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women

Using Awards Lists As a RA Tool: ITW Thriller Awards Nominees Edition

This is part of my ongoing series on using Awards Lists as a RA tool. Click here for all posts in the series in reverse chronological order. Click here for the first post which outlines the details how to use awards lists as a RA tool.  

Click here to see the 2024 nominees 

Apparently, this is turning into an awards list week on the blog. But The International Thriller Writers just announced their nominees and this is a not to miss award as resource for all public libraries.

Why?

Precisely because the award is so broad in the titles it considers. From the ITW's about page:

ITW represents professional thriller authors from around the world. 

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.

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.”

I highly recommend the ITW as a resource because as you can see in the section I bolded, this writers association represents a huge swath of popular authors and genres.

As a result, their awards lists are very helpful to identify books and authors that are perfect for a general public library audience.  Here is the current crop of nominees in 7 categories.

There also have a nice archive page linking to past nominees and winners here.

Below I have included the full nominee list to help you see how immediately useful these awards are as a way to understand a wide swath of books that are popular with a wide range of readers across many genre preferences. Also, I love the e-original and paperback original categories to find a little bit more off the radar titles that are still "sure bets."

Here is the full list:

BEST HARDCOVER NOVEL

S.A. Cosby – ALL THE SINNERS BLEED (Flatiron Books)
Robert Dugoni – HER DEADLY GAME (Thomas & Mercer)
J.T. Ellison – IT’S ONE OF US (Harlequin – MIRA Books)
Mick Herron – THE SECRET HOURS (Soho Crime)
Joe Ide – FIXIT (Mulholland Books)
C.J. Tudor – THE DRIFT (Ballantine Books)

BEST AUDIOBOOK

I.S. Berry – THE PEACOCK AND THE SPARROW (Atria)
Narrated by Pete Simonelli
Gregg Hurwitz – THE LAST ORPHAN (Macmillan)
Narrated by Scott Brick
Freida McFadden – THE HOUSEMAID’S SECRET (Bookouture)
Narrated by Lauryn Allman
James Patterson, Mike Lupica – THE HOUSE OF WOLVES (Hachette Audio)
Narrated by Ellen Archer
Emma Rosenblum – BAD SUMMER PEOPLE (Macmillan)
Narrated by January LaVoy

BEST FIRST NOVEL

I.S. Berry – THE PEACOCK AND THE SPARROW (Atria)
Amy Chua – THE GOLDEN GATE (Minotaur)
Margot Douaihy – SCORCHED GRACE (Zando)
Kerryn Mayne – LENNY MARKS GETS AWAY WITH MURDER (Bantam Books)
Steve Urszenyi – PERFECT SHOT: A THRILLER (Minotaur)

BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL NOVEL

Tracy Clark – HIDE (Thomas & Mercer)
Luke Dumas – THE PALEONTOLOGIST (Atria)
Tess Gerritsen – THE SPY COAST (Thomas & Mercer)
Lisa Gray – TO DIE FOR (Thomas & Mercer)
Jonathan Maberry – CAVE 13: A JOE LEDGER AND ROGUE TEAM INTERNATIONAL NOVEL (St. Martin’s Griffin)
J. Todd Scott – CALL THE DARK (Thomas & Mercer)

BEST SHORT STORY

Chris Bohjalian – SLOT MACHINE FEVER DREAMS (Amazon Original Stories)
J.T. Ellison – THESE COLD STRANGERS (Amazon Original Stories)
Smita Harish Jain – AN HONORABLE CHOICE (Wildside Press)
Richard Santos – RUSH HOUR (Akashic Books)
Lisa Unger – UNKNOWN CALLER (Amazon Original Stories)
Stacy Woodson – ONE NIGHT IN 1965 (Down & Out Books)

BEST YOUNG ADULT NOVEL

Sorboni Banerjee, Dominique Richardson – RED AS BLOOD (Wolfpack Publishing LLC)
Darcy Coates – WHERE HE CAN’T FIND YOU (Sourcebooks Fire)
Courtney Gould – WHERE ECHOES DIE (Wednesday Books)
Andrea Hannah – WHERE DARKNESS BLOOMS (Wednesday Books)
Elizabeth Wein – STATELESS (Little, Brown & Co.)

BEST E-BOOK ORIGINAL NOVEL

Jeff Buick – THE VULTURE FUND (Self-published)
Rona Halsall – THE BIGAMIST (Bookouture)
Matt Phillips – A GOOD RUSH OF BLOOD (RunAmok Books)
Lisa Regan – CLOSE HER EYES (Bookouture)
Robert Swartwood – THE KILLING ROOM (Blackstone Publishing)
Laura Wolfe – THE IN-LAWS (Bookouture)

Using Awards Lists As a RA Tool: Thriller Awards Edition

This is part of my ongoing series on using Awards Lists as a RA tool. Click here for all posts in the series in reverse chronological order. Click here for the first post which outlines the details how to use awards lists as a RA tool. 

The International Thriller Writers Awards were announced over the weekend and it was a sweep by women! The results are here via File 770, but below is the list of all of the nominees (via the Thriller Writers site which hasn't been updated yet) where I have bolded the winners and added links to my reviews where applicable (more on that below as well). 

After the awards list, please stick around for some comments by me that address the RA implications, and note, I have more to say than the usual things that come up in that link at the top of the page.

Click here for ITW Swards site

BEST HARDCOVER NOVEL

• The Violence, by Delilah S. Dawson (Del Rey)
• Things We Do in the Dark, by Jennifer Hillier (Minotaur)
• The Fervor, by Alma Katsu (Putnam)
• The Children on the Hill, by Jennifer McMahon (Simon & Schuster)
• Two Nights in Lisbon, by Chris Pavone (MCD)
• Sundial, by Catriona Ward (Macmillan)

BEST AUDIOBOOK

• Young Rich Widows, by Kimberly Belle, Fargo Layne, Cate Holahan, and Vanessa Lillie; narrated by Dina Pearlman, Karissa Vacker, Helen Laser, and Ariel Blake (Audible)
• The Lies I Tell, by Julie Clark; narrated by Anna Caputo and Amanda Dolan (Audible)
• The Photo Thief, by J.L. Delozier; narrated by Rachel L. Jacobs and Jeffrey Kafer (CamCat)
• Things We Do in the Dark, by Jennifer Hillier; narrated by Carla Vega (Macmillan Audio)
• The Silent Woman, by Minka Kent; narrated by Christine Lakin and Kate Rudd (Blackstone)

BEST FIRST NOVEL

• The Resemblance, by Lauren Nossett (Flatiron)
• Blood Sugar, by Sascha Rothchild (Putnam)
• Dirt Creek (aka Dirt Town), by Hayley Scrivenor (Flatiron)
• A Flicker in the Dark, by Stacy Willingham (Minotaur)
• The Fields, by Erin Young (Flatiron)

BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL NOVEL

• The Lies I Told, by Mary Burton (Montlake)
• No Place to Run, by Mark Edwards (Thomas & Mercer)
• Unmissing, by Minka Kent (Thomas & Mercer)
• The Housemaid, by Freida McFadden (Grand Central)
• Anywhere You Run, by Wanda Morris (Morrow)
• The Couple Upstairs, by Holly Wainwright (Pan Macmillan)
• The Patient’s Secret, by Loreth Anne White (Montlake)

BEST SHORT STORY

• “Russian for Beginners,” by Dominique Bibeau (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine [EQMM], March/April 2022)
• “The Gift,” by Barb Goffman (from Land of 10,000 Thrills, edited by Greg Herren; Down & Out)
• “Publish or Perish,” by Smita Harish Jain (EQMM, September/October 2022)
• “33 Clues Into the Disappearance of My Sister,” by Joyce Carol Oates (EQMM, March/April 2022)
• “Schrödinger, Cat,” by Anna Scotti (EQMM, March/April 2022)
• “Stockholm,” by Catherine Steadman (Amazon Original Stories)

BEST YOUNG ADULT NOVEL

• Our Crooked Hearts, by Melissa Albert (Flatiron)
• Sugaring Off, by Gillian French (Algonquin Young Readers)
• Daughter, by Kate McLaughlin (Wednesday)
• What’s Coming to Me, by Francesca Padilla (Soho Teen)
• I’m the Girl, by Courtney Summers (Wednesday)

BEST E-BOOK ORIGINAL NOVEL

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

Two other awards will be presented at ThrillerFest:

2023 THRILLERMASTER LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS

• Charlaine Harris
• Walter Mosley

2023 THRILLER LEGEND AWARD

• Minotaur Books
  
  

First I do not want to underplay how every book award when to an author who identifies as a woman. Every single award. This might not shock some of you out there, but I have been at this since 2000 and "Thrillers" were so man driven back then, I thought I would NEVER see this day.

Of course, all  of us, the people who help actual readers, have seen this shift toward women dominating Suspense for years, but it is creeping into all of the genres that the ITW covers. From their about page:

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.

This statement about which genres encompass the ITW leads me to another huge point I want to make about the top category-- Best Hardcover Novel-- there are 4 Horror novels in that category out of 6. This is also in line with the Edgars top category this year which had 2 of the 6 titles being Horror and 2 of the 5 titles in the first novel category as Horror as well.

Nothing proves the current trend of Horror not only being in a Renaissance within the genre itself, but also, it is reaching its tendrils out and grabbing attention to a wider range of readers. This is more than Becky wanting Horror to be popular, this is more than sales statistics, this is proof from a wider view and one that comes with critical acclaim attached.

I want to also remind you to use this list for collection development, but in particular, look hard at the Debut, E-book Originals, and YA authors categories. Those are titles you should be aware of and make sure you are adding to your collections. Especially make sure you get those E-Books into your digital collections as Thriller readers as a group tend to read in higher numbers in "E." And the publishers in those genre know this and are often releasing "E Originals." 

Now on to your regularly scheduled displays and lists comments of these awards posts. Please check out the ITW Awards website for backlist links. "Thrilling Reads" is a great Summer Reading display for in building and online no matter what your "theme" is for Summer. And "Thrilling" is vague enough that many things can be included-- just like we see with this award. Use this link to consider the pat 5 years of nominees and winners-- including titles that won for audio or lifetime, and considering other books by these authors-- will get you an high interest display or list ready in minutes.

[You can also add into your search the last 5 years of "Adrenaline" winners from RUSA CODES Reading List  for more options that are sure to fit the bill.]

But it should also inspire you to think outside the box about what "Thrilling" means as well. And the more broadly we all think about what books to suggest readers, the more options we make available to them, and ultimately, the more titles in our collection that circulate, hopefully connecting someone with a book they would never have found on their own, one that brings them great happiness.

Let's start this week off right with some Thrills and Chills!