Books of the Year FICTION: CRIME & THRILLER
WINNER THE DRY JANE HARPER ABACUS
Abacus was aware of The Dry before it went out on official UK submission, thanks to a tip-off from a colleague at Hachette Australia, and set itself up for acquisition before the UK auction even began, motivated by Harper’s plotting, characterisation and page-turning narrative. Once it had acquired the book, the team planned an extensive pre-
publication promotional campaign and printed 300 exclusive editions for the goody bags at the Harrogate Crime Festival in 2016. When Harper was then invited to take part in the festival, they organised a tour of Waterstones bookshops in the North of England. Also key to the book’s success were a digital advertising campaign with Total Media, a slot on “The Radio 2 Book Club” and coverage in the Sunday Times. The publisher used e-book price drops to drive reader reviews, which were then pushed through Twitter and Facebook advertising. The judges unanimously praised Harper’s novel, which one describes
as “an out-of-nowhere, word of mouth sensation that the publisher really capitalised on at the paperback stage”, adding: “The clever cover design helped position the title in its own unique space when much of the market is geared towards psychological thrillers.” Another said: “The Dry has it all: breathtaking and page-turning pace,
a sympathetic if mysterious main character, and a singularly unique and exotic setting.”
SHORTLIST
THE MIDNIGHT LINE LEE CHILD BANTAM PRESS Sales of The Midnight Line exceeded the previous year’s Jack Reacher novel by 8%.
THE GIRL BEFORE J P DELANEY QUERCUS FICTION Quercus acquired UK and Commonwealth rights to the bestselling The Girl Before, which sold in 42 territories.
BEHIND HER EYES SARAH PINBOROUGH HARPERFICTION Sarah Pinborough’s genre- busting crime novel sparked conversations online because of its shock ending.
SPOOK STREET MICK HERRON JOHN MURRAY John Murray wanted to make an impact not only with this book, the fourth in the Jackson Lamb series of novels, but with the series as a whole.
HE SAID/SHE SAID ERIN KELLY MULHOLLAND A rape trial takes centre stage in this thriller from Erin Kelly and Mulholland.
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THE BRITISH BOOK AWARDS WINNERS 2018
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