TheBestseller
Observatory

Best Sellers

Hardcover Fiction

Week of September 16, 2001

FictionNonfiction
WeekMonth
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1
VALHALLA RISING
Clive Cussler
Cover of VALHALLA RISING

VALHALLA RISING

by Clive Cussler · Putnam

4 wks at #1 · 3 on list
2
NEW
ENVY
Sandra Brown

ENVY

by Sandra Brown · Warner

1 wks on list
3
2
THE SMOKE JUMPER
Nicholas Evans
Cover of THE SMOKE JUMPER

THE SMOKE JUMPER

by Nicholas Evans · Delacorte Press

2 wks on list

Set against the backdrop of the American West and the wilds of Africa, The Smoke Jumper is an epic story of friendship, passion and honour that charts three people's quest for happiness and self-discovery. Evans is also the author of The Horse Whisperer.

5
NEW
SHOCK
Robin Cook
Cover of SHOCK

SHOCK

by Robin Cook · Putnam

1 wks on list

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • In this “infectious medical thriller” (Kirkus Reviews) from the renowned author of Coma, two young women, curious about their donated eggs, uncover a plot more sinister than either of them could have imagined. . . . “Leave it to doctor-turned-novelist Robin Cook to scare us all to death.”—Los Angeles Times Graduate students Deborah Cochrane and Joanna Meissner respond to a campus newspaper ad that promises to solve their financial problems: An exclusive, highly profitable fertility clinic northwest of Boston is willing to pay top dollar to a few attractive, slim, athletic Ivy League egg donors. But second thoughts and curiosity prompt the two women to find out more about their donated eggs. Obtaining employment at the clinic under aliases, they soon discover the horrifying aims of its research, immediately putting their lives—and their sanity—irrevocably at risk. . . .

6
3
HEMLOCK BAY
Catherine Coulter
Cover of HEMLOCK BAY

HEMLOCK BAY

by Catherine Coulter · Putnam

4 wks on list

Madness and murder rip through the suspense novel by the bestselling author Catherine Coulter. FBI Agent Dillion Savich is on a challenging case involving the kidnapping of two teenage boys when trouble boils up in his personal life. His younger sister Lily has crashed her car into a redwood in California's Hemlock Bay. Is it another suicide attempt, the second since the loss of her young daughter some seven months before? Savich and Sherlock discover that four of Lily's paintings, left to her by their very famous grandmother, artist Sarah Elliot, now worth millions, are at the heart of an intricate conspiracy. Lily and art broker Simon Russo are thrust into ever widening circles of danger that radiate from a notorious collector's locked room. Dillion Savich and his sister Lily both have to face their worst fears to survive.

7
NEW
LAKE WOBEGON SUMMER 1956
Garrison Keillor

LAKE WOBEGON SUMMER 1956

by Garrison Keillor · Viking Press

1 wks on list

Many books have been written about the Battle of Britain and the events leading up to it. Some are autobiographies by fighter pilots, some are by historians writing in hindsight, researching documents and including personal memories of the participants. The author of this book was a World War II Spitfire pilot who has previously written and lectured about this battle, and he has presented a thesis in defence of Air Chief Marshal Sir Hugh Dowding, the Chief of Fighter Command.

8
4
CANE RIVER
Lalita Tademy

CANE RIVER

by Lalita Tademy · Warner

11 wks on list
9
1
THE FORGOTTEN
Faye Kellerman
Cover of THE FORGOTTEN

THE FORGOTTEN

by Faye Kellerman · Morrow

3 wks on list

The unofficial caretaker of her small storefront synagogue, Rina is shocked when she receives a morning call from the police. The modest place of worship has been desecrated with anti-Semitic graffiti and grisly Nazi death-camp photographs. Rina's husband, Lt. Peter Decker, is also rocked by this outrage, which cuts close to the spiritual heart of his family, but he can't let his emotions get in the way of his duties. A suspect is soon in custody. Seventeen-year-old Ernesto Golding is one of L.A.'s children of wealth and privilege, a rich kid obsessed with haunting suspicions about the origins of his Polish paternal grandfather, who moved to Argentina after the Third Reich collapsed. Charges are brought against Ernesto, a deal is cut, and the vandalism case is eventually closed. Still, Decker has never abandoned the possibility that others were involved in the desecration. And his hunch is confirmed when, six months later, Ernesto is found brutally murdered along with his therapist, Dr. Mervin Baldwin, at the psychologist's exclusive nature camp that caters to the wealthy's troubled children. Suspicion falls immediately on Baldwin's psychologist wife, Dee, who has vanished mysteriously. Further probing by Decker fails to produce quick answers and simple solutions. For Decker and Rina, unraveling the truth behind Ernesto's violent death becomes more terrifying with each sinister twist, pushing them into the ghastly world of ruthless parents and damaged youths. Slowly, lethal secrets with roots in the horrors of a past generation surface, propelling Peter and Rina into a dreaded journey of dark and evil -- and of ultimate retribution.

11
5
THE WOMAN NEXT DOOR
Barbara Delinsky
Cover of THE WOMAN NEXT DOOR

THE WOMAN NEXT DOOR

by Barbara Delinsky · Simon & Schuster

5 wks on list

Three married couples each confront crises of loyalty and love when their lovely young neighbour, widowed a year ago and apparently still unattached, turns up pregnant.

13
6
ANY WAY THE WIND BLOWS
E. Lynn Harris
Cover of ANY WAY THE WIND BLOWS

ANY WAY THE WIND BLOWS

by E. Lynn Harris · Doubleday

8 wks on list

When her wedding to John “Basil” Henderson didn’t come off as planned, Yancey Harrington Braxton flew off to L.A. and remade herself as mega-diva Yancey B. And Basil started concentrating on his career as a high-powered sports agent. But then Yancey’s first single, “Any Way the Wind Blows,” hit the charts, and now it threatens to blow Basil’s cover--if anyone learns who it’s really about. And it looks like the gorgeous (and ambitious) hunk Bart Dunbar might just have it all figured out.

14
2
BLUE DIARY
Alice Hoffman
Cover of BLUE DIARY

BLUE DIARY

by Alice Hoffman · Putnam

6 wks on list

Alice Hoffman, the bestselling author of The Rules of Magic, asks how we can find the courage to face the unthinkable in this compelling New York Times Notable Book. When Ethan Ford fails to show up for work on a brilliant summer morning, none of his neighbors would guess that for more than thirteen years, he has been running from his past. His true nature has been locked away, as hidden as his real identity. But sometimes locks spring open, and the devastating truths of Ethan Ford's history shatter the small-town peace of Monroe, affecting family and friends alike. Now, the police are at the door. Ethan Ford's life as an irreproachable family man and heroic volunteer fireman has come to an end—and Jorie Ford's life is coming apart. Some of the residents of Monroe are rallying behind Ethan. But others, including his wife and son, and wondering what remains true when so much is shown to be false—and how capable we really are of change.

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