Ian Fleming Steel Dagger award nominees announced

The longlist of contenders for the coveted Steel Dagger Award has been announced! The prize, awarded annually to the best thriller published in the UK, is presented by the Crime Writers Association and sponsored by Ian Fleming Publications.

Whilst you wait in suspense for the shortlist to be revealed later this summer, why not make a start on reading these eight thrilling contenders?

DARE ME by Megan Abbott (Picador)

Dark, edgy and gripping. Characters drawn with startling flaws and humanity and a narrative that keeps you guessing.

THE SHADOW PATROL by Alex Berenson (Headline)

Ex-CIA series hero investigates drug dealing and links to the Taliban by US troops in Kabul. Up-to-the-moment, well-written, believable dialogue and sketches of places.

A FOREIGN COUNTRY by Charles Cumming (HarperCollins)

Contemporary spy thriller. Gripping premise, expertly sustained, lots of believable spycraft and memorable supporting characters.

THE FEAR INDEX by Robert Harris (Hutchinson)

Highly readable account of a scientist who once worked on the Hadron Collider and now runs a hedge fund. Intriguingly ambiguous take on the Frankenstein story.

THE DISPATCHER by Ryan David Jahn (Macmillan)

A Texas police dispatcher takes a 911 call from his fourteen-year-old daughter, who was kidnapped seven years ago, presumed dead. The tension never lets up.

UNCOMMON ENEMY by Alan Judd (Simon & Schuster)

A spy novel of the traditional type: ultra-sad, intelligent, cool, dealing with treachery of both the personal and the political.

THE CHILD WHO by Simon Lelic (Mantle)

A provincial lawyer takes on the case of a child who has murdered another child. The subject of the book is without question a difficult one, but handled with great skill. Good thrilling read.

REAMDE by Neal Stephenson (Atlantic Books)

A remarkable confection centred on a global computer game, it encompasses every conceivable aspect of thrillerdom. Admirable plotting, wit, characters and ambition

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