Adrenaline

Read-alikes: 
“The Chestnut Man” by Søren Sveistrup
“Hades” by Candice Fox
“Shutter” by Ramona Emerson

Short List
“The Antiquity Affair: A Novel” by Lee Kelly and Jennifer Thorne
“Blood Sisters” by Vanessa Lillie
“Going Zero: A Novel” by Anthony McCarten

“The Last Word: A Novel” by Taylor Adams

Fantasy

Read-alikes: 
“Assassin’s Apprentice” by Robin Hobb
“The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms” by N. K. Jemisin
“In the Shadow of Lightning” by Brian McClellan

Short List
“The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi: A Novel” by Shannon Chakraborty
“Starling House” by Alix E. Harrow
“Thornhedge” by T. Kingfisher

“Untethered Sky” by Fonda Lee

Historical Fiction

Read-alikes:
"The Book of Longings" by Sue Monk Kidd
"Empress Orchid" by Anchee Min
"The Surgeon’s Daughter" by Audrey Blake

Short List
“The Bookbinder: A Novel” by Pip Williams

“Essex Dogs” by Dan Jones

“Hang the Moon: A Novel” by Jeannette Walls

“Looking for Jane” by Heather Marshall

Horror

Read-alikes:
"The Haunting of Hill House" by Shirley Jackson
"It Will Just Be Us" by Jo Kaplan
"She is a Haunting" by Trang Thanh Tran

Short List
“Black River Orchard: A Novel” by Chuck Wendig

“How to Sell a Haunted House” by Grady Hendrix

“Out There Screaming: An Anthology of New Black Horror” edited by Jordan Peele

“The Reformatory: A Novel” by Tananarive Due

Mystery

Read-alikes:
"The Widows of Malabar Hill" by Sujata Massey
"The Bangalore Detectives Club" by Harini Nagendra
"A Rising Man" by Abir Mukherjee

Short List
“Death Comes to Marlow: A Novel” by Robert Thorogood

“Grave Expectations” by Alice Bell

“Mother-Daughter Murder Night: A Novel” by Nina Simon

“The Tumbling Girl” by Bridget Walsh

Relationship Fiction

Read-alikes:
"Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe" by Fannie Flagg
"The Summer Seekers" by Sarah Morgan
"A Thousand Miles to Graceland" by Kristen Mei Chase

Short List
“The Collected Regrets of Clover” by Mikki Brammer*

“Maame” by Jessica George*

“The Museum of Ordinary People” by Mike Gayle

“The Sweet Spot: A Novel” by Amy Poeppel

Romance

Read-alikes:
"Can’t Escape Love" by Alyssa Cole
"The Love Con" by Seressia Glass
"Royal Holiday" by Jasmine Guillory

Short List
“10 Things That Never Happened” by Alexis Hall

“Business or Pleasure” by Rachel Lynn Solomon

“Curves for Days” by Laura Moher

“We Could Be So Good: A Novel” by Cat Sebastian

Science Fiction

Read-alikes:
"Africa Risen: A New Era of Speculative Fiction" ed. by Sheree Renée Thomas and Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki
"Escaping Exodus" by Nicky Drayden
"Noor" by Nnedi Okorafor

Short List
“Infinity Gate: Book One of the Pandominion” by M. R. Carey

“The Meister of Decimen City” by Brenna Raney

“The Scourge Between Stars” by Ness Brown

“Where Peace is Lost: A Novel” by Valerie Valdes