The book was selected as one of the best or notable books of 2017 by the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Time, Entertainment Weekly, Boston Globe, Bloomberg, San Francisco Chronicle, NPR, PBS, Seattle Times, Smithsonian, GQ, Slate, Buzzfeed, Vogue, Cosmopolitan, Outside, The Week, Star Tribune, Newsday, Kirkus, Library Journal, Marshall Project, Parade, History, Paste, Powells, and Barnes and Noble. Vulture named it the best thriller of the year. And both Amazon and Shelf Awareness chose it as the single best book of 2017. According to Literary Hub, it was also the best reviewed nonfiction book of the year.

In its citation, the judges for the National Book Award wrote that Killers of the Flower Moon is “structured taut as a noir, researched like an indictment, and written with hard-boiled empathy.” The book also won an Edgar Award for best true mystery, a Spur Award for best work of historical nonfiction, and an Indies Choice Award for best adult nonfiction book of the year, and it was a recipient of the Oklahoma Book Award and the Oklahoma Historical Society’s prize for outstanding book on Oklahoma history. In addition, it was finalist for an Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction.