This is a cover that people have fretted about.. The publisher probably knew that they had a ‘winner’ on their hands and they were desperate not to mess it up. Hence the careful use of all the tricks in the ‘Crime / Thriller genre designers toolbox’.

First there is the quote from another respected author in the genre – especially good because it includes the word ‘thrilling’.

Then, more obviously there is the use of red type set against a contrasting background colour. In this case a snowy railway track (industrial imagery is always useful in Crime /Thriller covers)

Obviously the lettering had to be distressed to add a sense of drama and fear. But then comes the master stroke – the manic scribbled circles of red pen around the number 44. This is incredibly eye-catching and delivers a real sense of urgency. This is enough to make the cover special because even though the cover is playing by all the rules it still feels special. (See Panic by Jeff Abbott for another excellent version of the same thing)

But then the Publishers lost their bottle and just couldn’t stop themselves from adding the dark shadowy man. Yes this is another trick of the trade but it simply wasn’t necessary here. Most people don’t even notice him (so strong is the typography) but when they do, I hope that like me, they are disappointed that the publisher didn’t have the balls to rely on the typography alone. Instead they have bolted on the fashionable cover cliché of the moment and turned a potentially great cover into just another good one.