TheBestseller
Observatory

Best Sellers

Hardcover Fiction

Week of October 16, 1988

FictionNonfiction
WeekMonth
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1
THE CARDINAL OF THE KREMLIN
Tom Clancy

THE CARDINAL OF THE KREMLIN

by Tom Clancy · Putnam

12 wks at #1 · 11 on list

Jack Ryan, CIA analyst, must rescue Colonel Filitov, America's highest agent in the Kremlin, from the KGB as the race to build the first Star Wars missile defense system continues.

2
BREATHING LESSONS
Anne Tyler
Cover of BREATHING LESSONS

BREATHING LESSONS

by Anne Tyler · Knopf

4 wks on list

Meet Maggie Moran. Nearing fifty and married with two children, she and her husband drive from Baltimore to Deer Lick to attend the funeral of a friend one hot summer day. During the course of the journey, with its several unexpected detours into the lives of old friends and grown children, Maggie's eternal optimism and her inexhaustible passion for sorting out other people's lives and willing them to fall in love is severely tested... **ANNE TYLER HAS SOLD OVER 8 MILLION BOOKS WORLDWIDE** 'Anne Tyler takes the ordinary, the small, and makes them sing' Rachel Joyce 'She knows all the secrets of the human heart' Monica Ali 'A masterly author' Sebastian Faulks 'I love Anne Tyler. I've read every single book she's written' Jacqueline Wilson

5
SPOCK'S WORLD
Diane Duane
Cover of SPOCK'S WORLD

SPOCK'S WORLD

by Diane Duane · Pocket

6 wks on list

A crisis on the planet brings the U.S.S. Enterprise and Mr. Spock to Vulcan in its time of need. The entire history of Vulcan and its innermost secrets are laid bare in the struggle to save the Federation and Vulcan.

6
3
KOKO
Peter Straub
Cover of KOKO

KOKO

by Peter Straub · Dutton

3 wks on list

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Ghost Story comes “an inspired thriller” (The Washington Post) about four Vietnam vets linked by a shattering secret and their global hunt to track down a brutal killer. Koko. Only four men knew what it meant. Now they must stop it. They were Vietnam vets—a doctor, a lawyer, a working stiff, and a writer. Very different from each other, they are nonetheless linked by a shared history and a devastating secret. Now, they have been reunited and are about to embark on a quest that will take them from Washington, D.C., to the graveyards and fleshpots of the Far East to the human jungle of New York, searching for someone from the past who has risen from the darkness to kill and kill and kill.

7
1
THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS
Thomas Harris
Cover of THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS

THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS

by Thomas Harris · St. Martin's

6 wks on list

An ingenious, masterfully written novel, Thomas Harris's The Silence of the Lambs is a classic of suspense and storytelling and the basis for the Oscar award-winning horror film starring Jodie Foster as Clarice Starling and Anthony Hopkins as Dr. Hannibal Lecter. A serial murderer known only by a grotesquely apt nickname—Buffalo Bill—is stalking particular women. He has a purpose, but no one can fathom it, for the bodies are discovered in different states. Clarice Starling, a young trainee at the F.B.I. Academy, is surprised to be summoned by Jack Crawford, Chief of the Bureau's Behavioral Science section. Her assignment: to interview Dr. Hannibal Lecter, a brilliant psychiatrist and grisly killer now kept under close watch in the Baltimore State Hospital for the Criminally Insane. Lecter's insight into the minds of murderers could help track and capture Buffalo Bill. Smart and attractive, Starling is shaken to find herself in a strange, intense relationship with the acutely perceptive Lecter. His cryptic clues—about Buffalo Bill and about her—launch Clarice on a search that every reader will find startling, harrowing, and totally compelling.

11
NEW
FINAL FLIGHT
Stephen Coonts
Cover of FINAL FLIGHT

FINAL FLIGHT

by Stephen Coonts · Doubleday

1 wks on list

The most daring -- and deadly -- terrorist plot of all time is about to unfold aboard the supercarrier USS United States. If it succeeds, the balance of nuclear power will tilt in favor of a remorseless Arab leader. And it looks as if no one can stop it - except navy "jet jock" Jake Grafton. "Cag " Grafton is one helluva pilot. His F-14 Tomcat is one helluva plane. But some of Jake's crewmates have already vanished. A woman reporter who boarded the ship in Tangiers may not be who she claims to be. And Jake may have to disobey a direct order from the President himself for one spine-tingling, hair-raising Final Flight.

14
2
TRACKS
Louise Erdrich
Cover of TRACKS

TRACKS

by Louise Erdrich · Holt

2 wks on list

Set in the early 1900s, Tracks follows a North Dakota Indian tribe and its struggle to keep their land out of the hands of an encroaching white society.

15
DOCTORS
Erich Segal
Cover of DOCTORS

DOCTORS

by Erich Segal · Bantam

12 wks on list

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Writing with all the passion of Love Story and power of The Class, Erich Segal sweeps us into the lives of the Harvard Medical School's class of 1962. His stunning novel reveals the making of doctors—what makes them tick, scheme, hurt . . . and love. From the crucible of med school’s merciless training through the demanding hours of internship and residency to the triumphs—and sometimes tragedies—beyond, Doctors brings to vivid life the men and women who seek to heal but who must first walk through fire. At the novel’s heart is the unforgettable relationship of Barney Livingston and Laura Castellano, childhood friends who separately find unsettling celebrity and unsatisfying love—until their friendship ripens into passion. Yet even their devotion to each other, even their medical gifts may not be enough to save the one life they treasure above all others. Doctors—heartbreaking, witty, inspiring, and utterly, grippingly real—is a vibrant portrait that culminates in a murder, a trial . . . and a miracle.

Historical bestseller data sourced from the New York Times Book Review, archived by Hawes Publications.