The 2025 edition of the BestThrillers.com Book Awards, the world’s only thriller book award series specifically devoted to recognizing amazing mystery and thriller novels across 15 popular sub-genres, is now accepting submissions.
This year, seventy-six (76) deserving authors will be recognized for their outstanding achievements in fiction writing.
The 2025 Overall Book of the Year Winner will receive $1000 in cash, the iconic BestThrillers.com gold-and-black award seal for their book cover or website, top billing in our awards press release, inclusion in a BestThrillers.com weekly featured books newsletter and more.
Fifteen category winners will receive a winner’s seal for their book cover, a book post on BestThrillers.com, inclusion in our popular Best of the Year post and more. Categories include Action Thriller, Crime Thriller, Conspiracy Thriller, Detectives & Sleuths, Domestic Thriller, Fantasy & Sci-Fi, Historical Thriller, Horror and Supernatural, Legal Thriller, Medical Thriller, Military Thriller, Mystery, Paranormal Thriller, Psychological Thriller and Spy Thriller.
Up to sixty (60) category finalists will receive recognition on the website, a press kit including a silver finalist seal and a one-sentence quote from Bestthrillers.com for use in book marketing campaigns.
Who is eligible to enter?
Any English-language mystery or thriller published in 2024 or 2025 is eligible to enter. If your book is not yet published, pre-published manuscripts targeting a release prior to December 31, 2025 will be accepted. See detailed Contest Rules for more details.
Learn more about how to enter and win here.
Why Mystery and Thriller Book Awards?
Book awards are an important tool for helping authors stand out from the pack and building a readership.
But mystery and thriller authors are often precluded from the award scene because of genre bias. The literary world is brimming with prizes (check out our big list of book awards), but sadly, aside from a couple of specialized awards put on by great organizations, deserving mystery and thriller authors are largely shunned from the party.
How often do you see a crime thriller or psychological thriller take home the National Book Award, a Pulitzer, a Booker award or any of the other major prizes? It’s rare. In addition to genre bias, many mystery and thriller writers simply aren’t eligible for other book awards because of specialized requirements such as gender, religious point of view or career stage. It’s wonderful that so many specialized awards exist, but the result is that genre books rarely get a coveted gold seal.
Meanwhile, the mystery and thriller genre is the second-most read fiction category in the world, behind only Romance and Erotica. Like most fans, we see many highly outstanding books each year that deliver high-octane entertainment while also adding sophisticated insights into the human condition.
The industry also sees book awards as extremely important to career-building, especially for up-and-coming authors. In a 2025 BestThrillers.com report surveying over 1,000 authors, publishers and publicists, 94% reported that book awards were either important, very important or extremely important. This is no surprise, as winning or even being nominated for a prestigious book award lends credibility and prestige to a book and its author. It serves as an independent validation of the book’s quality, craftsmanship, and literary merit, which can significantly enhance its reputation in the eyes of readers, critics, and industry professionals.
How to Enter
Early entry is open until May 31 2025. The discount code EARLYENTRY will offer $20 savings at checkout, and multiple category entries will be awarded a 25% discount. The final deadline for entry is September 30 2025.
Select Past BestThrillers.com Book Award Winners & Finalists
Prior years’ winners and finalists include both established writers and first-time novelists. Independently published authors have also fared particularly well, as there is no barrier to entry or bias for or against traditionally published books. In addition, past winners and finalists have included writers from several countries and continents, including The United States, India, Belgium, Japan, Canada, the U.K. and Australia.
Book of the Year
5 Minutes to Die by RJ Patterson; The Forgotten Girl by Daco S. Auffenorde; The Money by David Shawn Klein; Girl Missing by Kate Gable
Action Thriller
Double Threat by Patrick Weill; Blaze In, Blaze Out by Joseph Lewis; The Pilate Scroll by Michael Byars Lewis; The Blue Hour Sanction by Landon Beach
Conspiracy Thriller
Ripple Effect by Amy Rivers; KGB Banker by William Burton McCormick and John Christmas; JK’s Code by Ronald S. Barak; Libertyland by Peter Sacks
Crime Thriller
Chasing Money by Michael Balter; Saint Bloodbath by Frederick Douglass Reynolds; Azabu Getaway by Michael Pronko; The Three Lives of Richie O’Malley by William Lobb
Fantasy & Sci-Fi
The Witchfinder’s Serpent by Rande Goodwin; Daemon Blood by Mary Maddox; All Hope of Becoming Human by Lonnie Busch;The Mirror Man by J.B. Manas; Quantum Alibi by Liam Fialkov
Historical Thriller
The Beauty Doctor by Elizabeth Hutchison Bernard; In The Lair of Legends by Dave Buzan; Blood Before Dawn by Daniel V. Meier, Jr; The Silver Waterfall by Kevin Miller
Horror & Supernatural
Gothic Revival Michael Mullin; Have You Seen Me? by Alexandrea Weis; Level Zero by Dan McDowell; Shadowed Horizons by Reily Garrett; Soul Seeker by Kaylin McFarren; Hell is in Me by Colleen Parkinson
Legal Thriller
Early Grave by Paul Levine; The Ambulance Chaser by Brian Cuban; Standby Counsel by Alexi Venice; Conspiracy Ignited by Raymond Paul Johnson.
Medical Thriller
The Goldilocks Genome by Elizabeth Reed Aden; The Deadly Deal by J. Lee; Waterborne by J. Luke Bennecke; The Achilles Gene by N.E. Miller
Military Thriller
Codename Parsifal by Martin Roy Hill; Cardinal Virtues by R.G. Roberts; Treason Flight by T.R. Matson; Heroic Measures by Joel Shulkin, MD
Mystery Novel
A Chain of Pearls by Raemi A. Ray; Death by Saxophone by Debbie Burke; FUGUE by Michael J. McLaughlin; Huron Breeze by Landon Beach
Political Thriller
That Was Then by M.K. Tod; The Unexpected Hostage by Allison McKenzie; The Doomsday Medallion by Avanti Centrae; Alejandro’s Lie by Bob Van Laerhoven
Psychological Thriller
THE GIRLS IN THE CABIN BY Caleb Stephens; Ashes in Venice by Gojan Nikolich; The Hiding Girl by Dorian Box; Come And Get Me by Marisa Rae Dondlinger
Spy Thriller
Yearn to Fear by Chas Murrell; Muir’s Gambit: A Spy Game Novel by Michael Frost Beckner; Bucharest Legacy: The Rise of the Oligarchs by William Maz; The Spy Who Hated Me by Haris Orkin
Sci-Fi Thriller
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