Hatchet jobs on Rushdie and Amis up for award The other five are take-downs of works by Richard Bradford, AN Wilson, Andrew Motion, Rachel Cusk and Naomi Wolf. Amis's novel found little favour with critics across the board: The Daily Telegraph described it as "helplessly off course and out of date" and the New York Observer simply described it as a "bad book." Ron Charles asked of it: "Does any other truly great writer make us wonder whether his brilliant parts are worth the wearisome whole?" Commenting on this year's shortlist, the Omnivore editor Anna Baddeley said: "Critics" quills were noticeably sharper in 2012 ... But there is still a long way to go. Book reviews are, in the main, too fawning and dull. Fellow editor Fleur Macdonald stressed that "the prize was set up to encourage fearless and honest reviewing," adding, "the scandals over dodgy Amazon reviews highlight the need for trustworthy critics." The first Hatchet Job of the Year Award took place in February 2012 and was awarded to Adam Mars-Jones for his review of By Nightfall by Michael Cunningham. The winner will be announced on February 12 and he or she will receive a year's supply of potted shrimp.