TheBestseller
Observatory

Best Sellers

Hardcover Fiction

Week of January 11, 2004

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1
THE DA VINCI CODE
Dan Brown
Cover of THE DA VINCI CODE

THE DA VINCI CODE

by Dan Brown · Doubleday

59 wks at #1 · 41 on list

THE #1 WORLDWIDE BESTSELLING PHENOMENON, WITH MORE THAN 85 MILLION COPIES SOLD “Blockbuster perfection . . . a gleefully erudite suspense novel.” —The New York Times “A pulse-quickening, brain-teasing adventure.” —People While in Paris, Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is awakened by a phone call in the dead of the night. The elderly curator of the Louvre has been murdered inside the museum, his body covered in baffling symbols. As Langdon and gifted French cryptologist Sophie Neveu sort through the bizarre riddles, they are stunned to discover a trail of clues hidden in the works of Leonardo da Vinci—clues visible for all to see and yet ingeniously disguised by the painter. Even more startling, the late curator was involved in the Priory of Sion, a secret society whose members included Sir Isaac Newton, Victor Hugo, and Da Vinci, and he guarded a breathtaking historical secret. Unless Langdon and Neveu can decipher the labyrinthine puzzle—while avoiding the faceless adversary who shadows their every move—the explosive, ancient truth will be lost forever. Robert Langdon returns in The Lost Symbol, Inferno, Origin, and The Secret of Secrets (coming soon)!

2
THE FIVE PEOPLE YOU MEET IN HEAVEN
Mitch Albom
Cover of THE FIVE PEOPLE YOU MEET IN HEAVEN

THE FIVE PEOPLE YOU MEET IN HEAVEN

by Mitch Albom · Hyperion

14 wks on list

Plot Eddie is a wounded war veteran, an old man who has lived, in his mind, an uninspired life. His job is fixing rides at a seaside amusement park. On his 83rd birthday, a tragic accident kills him, as he tries to save a little girl from a falling cart. He awakes in the afterlife, where he learns that heaven is not a destination. It's a place where your life is explained to you by five people, some of whom you knew, others who may have been strangers. One by one, from childhood to soldier to old age, Eddie's five people revisit their connections to him on earth, illuminating the mysteries of his "meaningless" life, and revealing the haunting secret behind the eternal question: "Why was I here" Personal Details Collection Status In Collection Index 10 Read It Yes Links Amazon US Product Details LoC Classification PS3601.L335F59 2003 Dewey 813/.6

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THE BIG BAD WOLF
James Patterson
Cover of THE BIG BAD WOLF

THE BIG BAD WOLF

by James Patterson · Little, Brown

6 wks on list

The 19th national bestseller by Patterson marks Alex Cross's debut with the FBI. His first case: beautiful women across the country are being kidnapped and possibly sold into slavery. Behind this depraved scheme stands The Wolf, a master criminal who brings a new reign of terror to organized crime.

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BLEACHERS
John Grisham
Cover of BLEACHERS

BLEACHERS

by John Grisham · Doubleday

16 wks on list

Books are leather-bound, signed and numbered, with printed endpapers, gold stamping, a slipcase, and a ribbon marker. High school all-American Neely Crenshaw was probably the best quarterback ever to play for the legendary Messina Spartans. Fifteen years have gone by since those glory days, and Neely has come home to Messina to bury Coach Eddie Rake, the man who molded the Spartans into an unbeatable football dynasty. Now, as Coach Rake's "boys" sit in the bleachers waiting for the dimming field lights to signal his passing, they replay the old games, relive the old glories, and try to decide once and for all whether they love Eddie Rake--or hate him. For Neely Crenshaw, a man who must finally forgive his coach--and himself--before he can get on with his life, the stakes are especially high.

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TROJAN ODYSSEY
Clive Cussler
Cover of TROJAN ODYSSEY

TROJAN ODYSSEY

by Clive Cussler · Putnam

5 wks on list

Dirk Pitt battles his most dangerous foe ever - with help from a very unexpected source. Long hailed as the grandmaster of adventure fiction, Clive Cussler has continued to astound with the intricate plotting and astonishing set pieces of his novels. Now, with a surprising twist, he gives us his most audacious work of all. At the end of Valhalla RisingDirk Pitt discovered, to his shock, that he had two grown children he had never known, 23-year-old fraternal twins born to a woman he thought had died in an underwater earthquake. Both have inherited his love of the sea- the girl, Summer, a marine biologist- the boy, himself named Dirk, a marine engineer. And now they are about to help their father in the adventure of a lifetime.

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ODD THOMAS
Dean Koontz
Cover of ODD THOMAS

ODD THOMAS

by Dean Koontz · Bantam

3 wks on list

Meet Odd Thomas, the unassuming young hero of Dean Koontz’s dazzling New York Times bestseller, a gallant sentinel at the crossroads of life and death who offers up his heart in these pages and will forever capture yours. “The dead don’t talk. I don’t know why.” But they do try to communicate, with a short-order cook in a small desert town serving as their reluctant confidant. Sometimes the silent souls who seek out Odd want justice. Occasionally their otherworldly tips help him prevent a crime. But this time it’s different. A stranger comes to Pico Mundo, accompanied by a horde of hyena-like shades who herald an imminent catastrophe. Aided by his soul mate, Stormy Llewellyn, and an unlikely community of allies that includes the King of Rock ’n’ Roll, Odd will race against time to thwart the gathering evil. His account of these shattering hours, in which past and present, fate and destiny, converge, is a testament by which to live—an unforgettable fable for our time destined to rank among Dean Koontz’s most enduring works.

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BLOW FLY
Patricia Cornwell
Cover of BLOW FLY

BLOW FLY

by Patricia Cornwell · Putnam

11 wks on list

Leaving Virginia in search of peace and quiet, Dr. Kay Scarpetta journeys to Florida, where a series of baffling murders entangles her in an international conspiracy that confronts her with the most unexpected circumstance of her life.

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SAFE HARBOUR
Danielle Steel
Cover of SAFE HARBOUR

SAFE HARBOUR

by Danielle Steel · Delacorte Press

8 wks on list

Pip, at age 11, has lost her father and brother and her mother is overcome by grief. Pip cares for her mother as best she can but she is lonely until a local artist offers to teach her to draw. At first her mother is not pleased until she sees how much joy he has brought to their lives. But fate strikes another blow--will they be able to recover this time?

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THE HORNET'S NEST
Jimmy Carter
Cover of THE HORNET'S NEST

THE HORNET'S NEST

by Jimmy Carter · Simon & Schuster

6 wks on list

The first work of fiction by a President of the United States—a sweeping novel of the American South and the War of Independence. In his ambitious and deeply rewarding novel, Jimmy Carter brings to life the Revolutionary War as it was fought in the Deep South; it is a saga that will change the way we think about the conflict. He reminds us that much of the fight for independence took place in that region and that it was a struggle of both great and small battles and of terrible brutality, with neighbor turned against neighbor, the Indians’ support sought by both sides, and no quarter asked or given. The Hornet’s Nest follows a cast of characters and their loved ones on both sides of this violent conflict—including some who are based on the author’s ancestors. At the heart of the story is Ethan Pratt, who in 1766 moves with his wife, Epsey, from Philadelphia to North Carolina and then to Georgia in 1771, in the company of Quakers. On their homesteads in Georgia, Ethan and his wife form a friendship with neighbors Kindred Morris and his wife, Mavis. Through Kindred and his young Indian friend Newota, Ethan learns about the frontier and the Native American tribes who are being continually pressed farther inland by settlers. As the eight-year war develops, Ethan and Kindred find themselves in life-and-death combat with opposing forces. With its moving love story, vivid action, and the suspense of a war fought with increasing ferocity and stealth, The Hornet’s Nest is historical fiction at its best, in the tradition of such major classics as The Last of the Mohicans.

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THE MURDER ROOM
P. D. James
Cover of THE MURDER ROOM

THE MURDER ROOM

by P. D. James · Knopf

6 wks on list

Hired as a bodyguard to faded actress Clarissa Lisle, the recent recipient of numerous death threats, Cordelia Gray accompanies the actress to an island castle, whose owner collects funeral paraphernalia.

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SHEPHERDS ABIDING
Jan Karon
Cover of SHEPHERDS ABIDING

SHEPHERDS ABIDING

by Jan Karon · Viking Press

10 wks on list

Having pursued intellectual matters all of his life, Father Tim discovers the joys of working with his hands when he discovers a worn-out nativity scene and begins to restore it.

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NEW
POMPEII
Robert Harris
Cover of POMPEII

POMPEII

by Robert Harris · Random House

4 wks on list

A sweltering week in late August. Where better to enjoy the last days of summer than on the beautiful Bay of Naples? All along the coast, the Roman Empire's richest citizens are relaxing in their luxurious villas. The world's largest navy lies peacefully at anchor in Misenum. The tourists are spending their money in the seaside resorts of Baiae, Herculaneum and Pompeii.Only one man is worried. The engineer Marcus Attilius Primus has just taken charge of the Aqua Augusta, the enormous aqueduct which brings fresh water to a quarter of a million people in nine towns around the Bay. Springs are failing for the first time in generations. His predecessor has disappeared. And now there is a crisis on the Augusta's sixty-mile main line - somewhere to the north of Pompeii, on the slopes of Mount Vesuvius.Attilius - decent, practical, incorruptible - promises Pliny, the famous scholar who commands the navy, that he can repair the aqueduct before the reservoir runs dry. But as he heads out towards Vesuvius he is about to discover there are forces which even the world's only superpower can't control. Pompeii recreates in spellbinding detail one of the most famous natural disasters of all time. And by focusing on the characters of an engineer and a scientist, it offers an entirely original perspective on the Roman world.

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