Andreas Pflüger, Zoran Drvenkar, and Lavie Tidhar Receive Honours in the 2025 German Crime Fiction Prize
News28.12.2025
Suhrkamp authors Andreas Pflüger, Zoran Drvenkar, and Lavie Tidhar have taken out honours in the 2025 German Crime Fiction Prize.
Andreas Pflüger received first place in the »National« category for his thriller Colder. Jury member Alf Mayer had the following to say about the judges’ decision: »Andreas Pflüger is the reigning grand master of a dying literary genre – the thriller. This is also true internationally, which is quite rare for a German author. There is (almost) no one left who writes these kinds of finely crafted and well-honed thrillers today.«
Zoran Drvenkar takes second place in the »National« category, with Asa. »Zoran Drvenkar is an outstanding thriller writer,« said judge Ulrich Noller. »Asa is incredibly well written, brilliantly plotted, superbly staged, it is crafted with the most extraordinary skill. You read the entire book with a constant sense of amazement.« Meanwhile, in the »International« category, Lavie Tidhar took first place with Adama.
This year represents the 42nd installation of the German Crime Fiction Prize, which was launched in 1985 and seeks to recognise authors of novels that break new ground for the genre through skilful and original writing. The jury is overseen by the Bochum Crime Fiction Archive and is made up of leading crime fiction critics and booksellers.
Andreas Pflüger received first place in the »National« category for his thriller Colder. Jury member Alf Mayer had the following to say about the judges’ decision: »Andreas Pflüger is the reigning grand master of a dying literary genre – the thriller. This is also true internationally, which is quite rare for a German author. There is (almost) no one left who writes these kinds of finely crafted and well-honed thrillers today.«
Zoran Drvenkar takes second place in the »National« category, with Asa. »Zoran Drvenkar is an outstanding thriller writer,« said judge Ulrich Noller. »Asa is incredibly well written, brilliantly plotted, superbly staged, it is crafted with the most extraordinary skill. You read the entire book with a constant sense of amazement.« Meanwhile, in the »International« category, Lavie Tidhar took first place with Adama.
This year represents the 42nd installation of the German Crime Fiction Prize, which was launched in 1985 and seeks to recognise authors of novels that break new ground for the genre through skilful and original writing. The jury is overseen by the Bochum Crime Fiction Archive and is made up of leading crime fiction critics and booksellers.