The Intrusions, in which the case of an abduction reveals online terrors, takes the 2018 Theakston Old Peculier prize

Stav Sherez wins crime novel of the year for 'moving the genre forward'

Stav Sherez has won the 2018 Theakston Old Peculier award for crime fiction with his novel The Intrusions.

The third outing for detectives Jack Carrigan and Geneva Miller begins when a young woman arrives at their west London police station, saying that her friend has been abducted from the seedy Bayswater hostel where they both live. Soon the investigators discover that someone has been using remote-access technology to gain control both of the women’s laptops and their lives.

Chair of judges Lee Child, creator of the Jack Reacher thrillers, paid tribute to the novel’s “brilliant and organic blend of ancient terror and suspense, with modern issues as its core”.

“Sherez is well known for the sheer quality of his prose,” Child said, “and outdid himself here.” The Intrusions was the standout novel that “couldn’t possibly be ignored” on an exceptionally strong shortlist, he continued. “He has moved the genre forward with this one – a happy day for crime fiction.”

Writing in the Guardian, Laura Wilson hailed a timely plot driven by “online gaslighting, misogyny and obsession” as “utterly riveting and truly terrifying … you may never look at your computer in quite the same way again.”

Alongside Child on the panel were WH Smith’s Nick Johnson, the Mail on Sunday’s books editor Matt Nixson, BBC Radio 2’s Joe Haddow and the prize’s executive director, Simon Theakston. A public vote counts for one fifth of the final decision.

Sherez received the £3,000 award, along with an engraved oak beer cask, at a ceremony marking the opening of the Harrogate crime writing festival. He joins a roster of winners including Denise Mina, Mark Billingham and last year’s winner, Chris Brookmyre.

After a writing career spanning almost 30 years, the former lawyer John Grisham took the 2018 award for an outstanding contribution to crime fiction, won by Lee Child in 2017. Simon Theakston hailed Grisham, who has sold 300m copies of his legal thrillers around the world, as “truly a giant of the genre”.

“His appearance at the Old Peculier crime writing festival marks the first time he’s visited Yorkshire,” Theakston said, “something that will be remembered in Harrogate history for many years to come.”