There’s surprises…and then there’s SURPRISES!
When The Demonologist was announced as a finalist for the International Thriller Writers Award for Best Hardcover Novel I took it as an enormous honor in itself, and never thought I stood any real chance of winning. Why would I? My fellow nominees were Lisa Gardner, Lee Child, Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child, Linda Castillo, my fellow Canuck and friend Owen Laukkanen and Stephen King. With a field like that, I was more than happy to just be a shoulder rubber.
Then, this weekend, I went down to New York for the awards banquet at ThrillerFest. Hundreds of colleagues, agents, and editors in a Manhattan hotel ballroom – many of whom I’ve read with admiration and who constitute the firmament of the world’s thriller writing. An audience I found myself addressing when I accepted the award.
It still feels a bit unreal. I feel so very privileged. It was a fun night, I tell you.
So thanks to the ITW, the judges, Jenny Milchman for being the one to say my name into the microphone, and for anyone else who may have had a hand in this. As I said at the awards banquet (and is captured here on video, even if you can’t quite hear me), it was the fifth most exciting night of my life. The others? My wedding day. The births of my two children. And one night I can’t discuss publicly.