Another Awards Shortlist for Child 44

The Costa Book Awards 2008 shortlists have been announced and of particular interest to crime fiction fans is that the Man Booker Prize longlisted Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith has been shortlisted for the First Novel Award. The full shortlist is:

First Novel Award
Poppy Adams - The Behaviour of Moths
Sadie Jones - The Outcast
Jennie Rooney - Inside the Whale
Tom Rob Smith - Child 44

What the Costa judges said about Child 44:

"This gripping, unputdownable thriller is an exciting new addition to the genre."

Karen Chisholm concluded her Eurocrime review:

"there's been considerable research into the background of CHILD 44, but the book doesn't read as a research tome - it reads as a story of fear, manipulation, power struggles, petty jealousy, brutality, cruelty, madness, loss, survival and humanity."
Read the whole review, here.

All the categories and nominees for the Costa Book Awards 2008 can be found on the website.

Child 44 shortlisted for Desmond Elliott prize

Also courtesy of Publishing News:

CHILD 44 BY Tom Rob Smith is the William Hill 1/2 favourite to win the inaugural Desmond Elliott Prize, worth £10,000. Published in the UK by Simon & Schuster, it has appeared in 22 countries - though the novel, about a Stalin-era serial killer, is banned in Russia. Three film offers are on the table, including one from Ridley Scott. The other novels in contention are Gifted by Nikita Lalwani (Viking), with odds of 2/1, and Sunday at the Cross Bones by John Walsh (Fourth Estate), which is 3/1.

According to the Desmond Elliott Prize website:

The Desmond Elliott Prize is a new biennial prize for a first novel written in English and published in the UK. Worth £10,000 to the winner, the prize is named after the literary agent and publisher, Desmond Elliott.

Charismatic, witty, and waspish, Elliott lived his life with sparkle. He drank only champagne, always crossed the Atlantic on Concorde and lunched at Fortnum and Mason. His office was in Mayfair and he had houses in St James’s and on Park Avenue. Desmond Elliott’s ethos to support new writers will live on in the shape of the prize.

When choosing the winner, a panel of 3 judges will look for a novel which creates a “buzz”, a book with “word of mouth” appeal. In addition, the judges will look for the following qualities:

* a novel which is a page-turner but which makes you pause for thought
* an intelligent book with broad appeal

Child 44 is the only crime novel of the three and is reviewed on Euro Crime here.