Canada Reads and Thrillers: Not a Good Fit?

The sample size is two, so this is a limited basis on which to draw a conclusion, but it’s interesting: last year Samantha M. Bailey’s domestic suspense thriller was the first book eliminated from the Canada Reads competition, and this year it’s Iain Reid’s Foe.

I haven’t read Foe, which is a thriller written in a more dystopian/apocalyptic mode. Here’s the summary from Becky Robertson’s review in Quill & Quire:

“Foe takes place some time in the future, as indicated by tidbits Reid disperses throughout – cars are self-driving, owning livestock is prohibited, and private companies are experimenting with interplanetary human settlements. This last development is of direct concern to the novel’s protagonist, a grain farmer named Junior, who along with his wife, Hen, receives an abrupt visit from a representative of one of these companies. Junior learns he’s been selected to travel to space, willingly or otherwise. Leading up to the mission, he will be monitored closely, for a number of reasons – one of them particularly unsettling (no spoilers here).”

Robertson’s review is not especially positive; she complains about tedious plotting and weak characterization but concedes that “a final, additional twist makes for a dramatic conclusion to a deliberately paced tale.”

I’ve read Bailey’s novel and wrote about it, along with my concerns about Canada Reads, last year.

Watch Out for Her, which I finished reading after sharing that post) is a strong domestic suspense novel, with decent twists and at least somewhat believable characters. It’s not a sub-genre that depends on deep characterization, but Bailey does ratchet up the suspense and sense of peril in a satisfying manner.

So is it premature to draw a conclusion?

The inclusion of crime fiction (both thrillers, so far) is welcome on Canada Reads, but the panellists seem to find it easier to discard genre fiction. Perhaps these books seem too slight to be put forward as the one book all Canadians should read?