.jpg)
So I'm reading the LA Times Calendar section this evening, and I flip to page 27 and am greeted with an enormous full-color ad for James Patterson's (and when I say "James Patterson" I also mean, "& Howard Roughan") new novel Honeymoon. Across the top of the ad it says, "The World's Most Chilling Novel. It's Official." There is then a huge photo of the book cover, which has the statement "2005 International Thriller of the Year" emblazoned beneath the title. The award info is then repeated in big bold type across the bottom of the ad itself.
Well that's odd, I thought. I've never heard of the International Thriller of the Year award. I've also never heard of a book garnering an award of this seemingly large measure before, you know, its been released. And, on top of that, my spidey sense tells me that there must be a few books more worthy than this one somewhere in the wide international world. So I did a little research. It seems the International Thriller of the Year award was handed out by Bookspan in October (Bookspan is, basically, the book of the month club now). Bookspan is owned by AOL-Time Warner and Bertelsmann. Little, Brown, Patterson's publisher, is owned by AOL-Time Warner. I also learned this is the first year the award has been bestowed, but that next year they're thinking of creating a new award called the Universal Interstellar Federation of Planets Book of the Millennium So Far and that oddsmakers in Vegas have Honeymoon running neck and neck with Whatever Patterson Does Next.
Comments