Earlier this week, the International Thriller Writers (ITW) announced that Jeffery Deaver has won the Best Thriller of the Year Award for his novel, “The Bodies Left Behind.”

“Child 44″ by Tom Rob Smith won best first novel, and Alexandra Sokoloff won best short story for “The Edge of Seventeen.” In addition, David Morrell won the ThrillerMaster award and Brad Meltzer took the Silver Bullet Award.

Here’s more about the international group: “Until ITW, thriller authors had never organized. By nature, we tend to be loners, happy with our work and our families and a few close friends. But at the same time, because we’re a relatively small community in the vast world about which we write, we also yearn occasionally for collegiality.” (Via Booklist)