TheBestseller
Observatory

Best Sellers

Hardcover Fiction

Week of January 19, 1997

FictionNonfiction
WeekMonth
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1
AIRFRAME
Michael Crichton
Cover of AIRFRAME

AIRFRAME

by Michael Crichton · Knopf

5 wks at #1 · 5 on list
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5
THE DEEP END OF THE OCEAN
Jacquelyn Mitchard
Cover of THE DEEP END OF THE OCEAN

THE DEEP END OF THE OCEAN

by Jacquelyn Mitchard · Viking Press

17 wks on list

"Masterful...A big story about human connection and emotional survival" - Los Angeles Times The first book ever chosen by Oprah's Book Club Few first novels receive the kind of attention and acclaim showered on this powerful story—a nationwide bestseller, a critical success, and the first title chosen for Oprah's Book Club. Both highly suspenseful and deeply moving, The Deep End of the Ocean imagines every mother's worst nightmare—the disappearance of a child—as it explores a family's struggle to endure, even against extraordinary odds. Filled with compassion, humor, and brilliant observations about the texture of real life, here is a story of rare power, one that will touch readers' hearts and make them celebrate the emotions that make us all one.

4
2
EXECUTIVE ORDERS
Tom Clancy
Cover of EXECUTIVE ORDERS
7
NEW
THE CLINIC
Jonathan Kellerman
Cover of THE CLINIC

THE CLINIC

by Jonathan Kellerman · Bantam

1 wks on list

In this riveting follow-up to the "New York Times bestseller "The Clinic, Jonathan Kellerman proves once again why he is "crime fiction's hottest author." And psychologist Dr. Alex Delaware confronts an almost unimaginably cruel, arrogant, and obsessed killer who takes as much pleasure in matching wits with the police as in robbing human life. The slightly retarded fifteen-year-old daughter of a diplomat dies on a school field trip--forced or lured into a deserted corner of the Santa Monica mountains and killed in cold blood. Her father adamantly denies the possibility of a political motive, which leaves LAPD detective Milo Sturgis and his longtime friend psychologist Alex Delaware to pose the question: Why? There are no signs of struggle, no evidence of sexual assault--and there are no easy answers. Just one innocent youngster...dead. The victim's father is so intent on controlling the investigation that Alex and Milo start to wonder if he wants to bring out the truth--or make sure it stays buried. Then there is another killing, and within days Alex finds himself ensnared in one of the darkest, most menacing cases of his career. Driven to find answers, he and Milo will work closely with Inspector Daniel Sharavi, the brilliant Israeli police detective introduced in Jonathan Kellerman's "The Butcher's Theater. In the end, though, it is Alex who will go undercover, alone, to expose the smug brutality of a murderous conspiracy and a terrifying contempt for human life. Weaving together the threads of a mystery that lead from a child's murder to a young scientist's suicide, Jonathan Kellerman draws one of the most chilling, frighteningly realistic portraits of evil you willever experience.

9
1
THE FALLEN MAN
Tony Hillerman
Cover of THE FALLEN MAN

THE FALLEN MAN

by Tony Hillerman · HarperCollins

7 wks on list

Investigating the discovery of a skeleton at one of the holiest places in Navajo religion, Jim Chee and the newly retired Joe Leaphorn realize that the body is that of a missing person from one of Joe's long-unsolved past cases. 350,000 first printing. $300,000 ad/promo. Tour.

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6
THE CHRISTMAS BOX
Richard Paul Evans
Cover of THE CHRISTMAS BOX

THE CHRISTMAS BOX

by Richard Paul Evans · Simon & Schuster

23 wks on list

Since it was first published, more than seven million people have been touched by the magic of The Christmas Box, a holiday classic that is as beloved in our time as A Christmas Carol was in Dickens's. When Richard Paul Evans wrote The Christmas Box, he intended it as a private expression of love for his two young daughters, Jenna and Allyson. Though he often told them that he loved them, he didn't feel that they could ever really understand the depth of his feelings until they had experienced the joy of rearing their own children, and by that time their relationship would have changed forever. In writing The Christmas Box, he hoped that at some time in the future they would read the book and know of their father's love. As Evans began to write, he was amazed at the inspiration that flowed into his mind and heart. He completed the moving story of a widow and the young family who comes to live with her in less than six weeks, and bound twenty copies to give as Christmas presents to family and friends. In the following weeks, those twenty copies were shared and passed along from family to family, from friend to friend, and what began as a tale for two little girls became a message of miracles, hope, and healing for people throughout the world.

12
NEW
BLOOD AND HONOR
W.E.B. Griffin
Cover of BLOOD AND HONOR

BLOOD AND HONOR

by W.E.B. Griffin · Putnam

1 wks on list

As did his three immensely popular series Brotherhood of War, The Corps and Badge of Honor, W.E.B. Griffin's novel of World War II espionage Honor Bound became an immediate bestseller: "A superior war story" (Library Journal) "whose twists and turns keep readers guessing until the last page" (Publishers Weekly). Now the characters of Honor Bound are back, in an adventure as exciting as anything Griffin has written. It is April 1943, and Marine aviator Cletus Frade, Army demolition's wizard Anthony Pelosi, and communications expert David Ettinger are thrust again into the lethal nest of intrigue that is wartime Buenos Aires. A clandestine German vessel sets sail to resupply submarines in the South Atlantic...as a massive shipment of money earmarked for postwar Reich makes its way to South America...and a coup designed to topple the government reaches critical mass. In the midst of it all, the German-ordered assassination of Cletus Frade's father demands only one response: revenge. Threading their way carefully between Axis and Allied sympathizers, and even between rival OSS and FBI factions, the three solidiers must strive their utmost not only to fulfill their missions--but just to stay alive. And for that, even their utmost may not be enough... Written with all the energy and expertise that Griffin's readers have come to expect, filled with drama and authentic heroes, Blood and Honor is a captivating novel sure to please fans old and new.

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