{{Short description|2007 crime novel by Australian author Katherine Howell}} {{Use Australian English|date=December 2025}} {{Use dmy dates|date=December 2025}} {{Infobox book| | name = Frantic | title_orig = | translator = | image = Frantic (novel) (Book Cover).jpeg | caption = | author = Katherine Howell | cover_artist = | country = Australia | language = English | series = | genre = Crime novel | publisher = Pan Macmillan | release_date = 1 May 2007 | media_type = Print | pages = 282 pp. | isbn = 9781405037976 | preceded_by = - | followed_by = The Darkest Hour | awards = 2008 Davitt Award, Best Adult Novel, winner }}
'''''Frantic''''' is a 2007 crime novel by Australian author Katherine Howell.<ref name=NLA>{{cite web |title=''Frantic'' by Katherine Howell (Pan Mac 2007)|publisher=National Library of Australia |url=https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/3887250|access-date=14 December 2025}}</ref>
It is the first novel in the author's Ella Marconi series of crime novels.<ref>{{cite web|title= ''Ella Marconi series'' by Katherine Howell|publisher= Austlit|url=https://www.austlit.edu.au/austlit/page/C662083|access-date= 17 December 2025}}</ref>
It was the winner of the Davitt Award for Best Adult Novel in 2008.<ref name=Davitt>{{cite web|title="Davitt Award Winners 2001-2025" |publisher= Sisters in Crime|url=https://sistersincrime.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Davitt-Winners_cumulative-table_2025.pdf|access-date= 17 December 2025}}</ref>
==Synopsis== Sophie Phillips, a Sydney-based paramedic, has had her policeman husband shot and her child abducted. Her case is taken up by Detective Ella Marconi. It appears that Sophie's family has become the victim of police corruption that seems to cover the whole of the police department, right to the top.
==Critical reception==
Discussing recent Australian crime fiction in ''The Canberra Times'' reviewer Jeff Popple called this novel "a busy page-turner full of action and dramatic incidents. The pacing is brisk and the plotting is not too subtle".<ref>{{cite web|title="Stretching the tangles in twists and turns" |publisher= The Canberra Times, 12 May 2007|url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/1019964477|access-date= 17 December 2025|id= {{ProQuest|1019964477}}}}</ref>
In ''The Courier-Mail'' Reg Anderson found the novel to be "a ripper of a yarn, told with verve and feeling for the characters and place."<ref>{{cite web|title="Books Fiction" |publisher= The Courier-Mail, 9 June 2007|url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/353974164|access-date= 17 December 2025|id= {{ProQuest|353974164}}}}</ref>
== Publication history ==
After the novel's initial publication in 2007 by Pan Macmillan<ref name=NLA /> it was reprinted by the same publisher in 2008<ref>{{cite web|title= ''Frantic'' by Katherine Howell (Pan Mac 2008) |publisher= National Library of Australia|url= https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/4200446 |access-date= 17 December 2025}}</ref> and in 2011.<ref>{{cite web|title= ''Frantic'' by Katherine Howell (Pan Mac 2011) |publisher= National Library of Australia|url= https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/5117875 |access-date= 17 December 2025}}</ref>
The novel was also translated into German in 2008 and French in 2009.<ref name=Austlit>{{cite web|title= Austlit — ''Frantic'' by Katherine Howell|publisher= Austlit|url=https://www.austlit.edu.au/austlit/page/C600645|access-date= 14 December 2025}}</ref>
== Awards ==
* 2008 Davitt Award for Best Adult Novel, winner<ref name=Davitt />
== Notes == * Dedication: For Phil H. and Phil G.<ref name=Austlit />
==See also== * 2007 in Australian literature
==References== {{reflist}}
{{Davitt Award – Best Adult Novel}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Frantic}} Category:Australian crime novels Category:2007 Australian novels Category:2007 English-language novels Category:Davitt Award–winning works