In Matthew Pearl’s brilliant and cunning new novel, THE AWARD, David Trent represents anyone out there who has ever wanted something for as long as they could remember only to be constantly disappointed.

In this case, it is making a living as a fiction writer. Trent also dreams of being a bestselling author of some renown, and he will not let anything like his own mediocrity at his craft stand in the way of those dreams. Pearl provides us with a quote from poet Nikita Gill to open the book that is very telling: “Writers are dangerous people.”

"THE AWARD is perhaps the most devilishly scathing indictment of the publishing industry that I have ever read.... [T]he plight and journey that David Trent takes is truly edge-of-your seat suspenseful."

David and his girlfriend, Bonnie, move into the top floor of a three-story Victorian in the prestigious Cambridge section of Massachusetts. The place is sparse without a proper entrance or stairwell, and it includes access to an upper level that is little more than an alcove. It is also extremely cold, as the tenants on the main floor control the thermostat. For David, it is an easy decision to take the space and its high rent because their downstairs neighbor is none other than his idol --- award-winning fiction writer Silas Hale.

David has shown that he will do anything to achieve his goals and has no ethical or moral qualms holding him back. He got into his MFA program by forging a letter of recommendation from a famous author he had once met who said pleasant things about his writing. Even with that behind him, his new scheme of utilizing Silas as a mentor is not working out well. When he confronts him with the temperature situation, Silas shows him the door and suggests that he invest in more efficient windows like they had when they first moved in. This is extremely disheartening to David as he has been telling other writers that Silas is already mentoring him.

However, things begin to take a positive turn for David when his first novel, The Crises, is published and receives some nice initial notice. Unfortunately, his luck does not hold out for long. His personal life is in disarray when Bonnie breaks off their engagement and leaves their new place after she learns about his failure to properly handle the temperature issue and later lies to her about it. If there was one thing that might get Bonnie back, it would be receiving an award. This becomes a reality when he is informed that his book has won the Boston Literary Prize for Best First Novel. The break he has been craving for so long has finally arrived.

But after telling Bonnie and everyone he knows personally and professionally about the award, David receives some incredibly jarring news that ultimately will have tragic consequences. The final third of the book becomes a snowball of events that place David in and out of peril on multiple occasions and impacts the lives of everyone around him in the process. Nothing is predictable, and Pearl toys with readers in this dark and diabolical novel that grabs you by the throat and never releases its hold.

THE AWARD is perhaps the most devilishly scathing indictment of the publishing industry that I have ever read. Captured in the guise of a psychological thriller, the plight and journey that David Trent takes is truly edge-of-your seat suspenseful. In the hands of Matthew Pearl, it becomes a scandalous read that is memorable and well worth devouring.