And the Winner Is...

We're pleased to announce that Fresh Kills by Bill Loehfelm is the winner of the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award. Praised by Elizabeth Gilbert as "a story of real psychological complexity" and hailed by Publishers' Weekly as "the next Dennis Lehane," this debut mystery (available for pre-order from Penguin) unfolds against the gritty backdrop of Staten Island as an estranged son struggles to find his father's killer and make peace with a terrible past.

›Read an exclusive essay and Q&A with author Bill Loehfelm

About the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award

The Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award is an opportunity for emerging fiction writers to join a community of authors on Amazon.com, showcase their work, and compete for a chance to get published.

Sponsored in partnership with Penguin Group (USA) and HP, the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award launched in October 2007 and received more than 5,000 initial entries. Of those, excerpts from over 800 fiction entries were eligible for Amazon.com customers to read, rate, and review, beginning in January 2008. Editors at Penguin Group (USA) reviewed the Top 100 semifinalists based on early customer reads and full manuscript reviews provided by Publishers' Weekly. In March 2008, the leading Top 10 finalists were selected for the customers' vote. A panel of experts--including a bestselling author, editor and publisher, literary critic, and literary agent--also weighed in with their reviews for each of the top 10 novels. The top three finalists--Dwight Okita (The Prospect of My Arrival), Harry Dolan (Bad Things Happen), and Bill Loehfelm (Fresh Kills) traveled to New York City for the first weekend in April, where Bill Loehfelm was revealed as the winner.

Be sure to stay tuned to this page for more updates from the contest team, the latest news on new books from ABNA authors, and the hottest threads from our author forum. You never know who's going to break through. . .

Congratulations to the Winning Customer Reviewers

• Rebecca Kyle, Knoxville, Tennessee
• Abigail Luciano, Lowell, Massachusetts
• Jarucia Jaycox Nirula, Seattle, Washington