TheBestseller
Observatory

Best Sellers

Hardcover Fiction

Week of August 29, 2004

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

THE DA VINCI CODE

by Dan Brown · Doubleday

59 wks at #1 · 74 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)!

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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

47 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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SKINNY DIP
Carl Hiaasen
Cover of SKINNY DIP

SKINNY DIP

by Carl Hiaasen · Knopf

5 wks on list

Chaz Perrone might be the only marine scientist in the world who doesn't know which way the Gulf Stream runs.

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VISIONS IN DEATH
J. D. Robb
Cover of VISIONS IN DEATH

VISIONS IN DEATH

by J. D. Robb · Putnam

2 wks on list

#1 New York Times bestselling author J. D. Robb presents the fifth thrilling novel in her futuristic In Death series—where even in an age of cutting-edge technology, old beliefs die hard. Conducting a top secret investigation into the death of a fellow police officer has Lieutenant Eve Dallas treading on dangerous ground. She must put professional ethics before personal loyalties. But when a dead body is placed outside her home, Eve takes the warnning personally. With her husband, Roarke, watching her every move, Eve is drawn into the most dangerous case of her career. Every step she takes makes her question her own beliefs of right and wrong—and brings her closer to a confrontation with humanity's most seductive form of evil...

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LOST CITY
Clive Cussler with Paul Kemprecos
Cover of LOST CITY

LOST CITY

by Clive Cussler with Paul Kemprecos · Putnam

3 wks on list

Leader of the NUMA Special Assignments team, Kurt Austin must work with a former KGB spy to save the United States from a lunatic with a generations-spanning grudge in this novel in the #1 New York Times-bestselling series. Kurt Austin is preparing for an interview while aboard a research vessel in the Black Sea. But his television spot suddenly becomes a rescue mission when the waiting film crew is attacked on a nearby island. With little information on the attackers, and no clue to their true agenda, Austin is forced to turn to an unlikely source: his old KGB Cold War adversary Vladimir Petrov. According to Petrov, the island is actually an old submarine base that’s been commandeered by clever mobster-turned-billionaire-businessman Mikhail Razov. Razov is certain he descends from the great Romanov family and he’s out to reclaim his rightful position as czar of Russia. With a powerful resource called “fire ice”, discovered by his mining company, Razov may just have the ammunition he needs to take over the modern world. To stop him, Austin will have to work with Petrov. And he’ll have to find out fast how much trust he can offer an old nemesis in this thrilling adventure that “goes down like a chilled Stolichnaya martini.” (Kirkus Reviews)

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ANGELS & DEMONS
Dan Brown
Cover of ANGELS & DEMONS

ANGELS & DEMONS

by Dan Brown · Atria

5 wks on list

World renowned harvard symbologist Robert Langdon must uncover clues that point to the resurgance of an ancient secret society.

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“R” IS FOR RICOCHET
Sue Grafton
Cover of “R” IS FOR RICOCHET

“R” IS FOR RICOCHET

by Sue Grafton · Marian Wood/Putnam

R is for Ricochet is the eighteenth in the Kinsey Millhone mystery series by Sue Grafton. Kinsey Millhone, employed by Nord Lafferty to drive his daughter home from her incarceration at the Californian Institute for Women, marvels at the simplicity of the task. But Reba Lafferty emerges feisty and rebellious, and Kinsey is soon fighting to prevent her charge from breaking the conditions of her parole. As she finds herself befriending the ex-gambler, ex-alcoholic and ex-con, Kinsey discovers that Reba had taken the fall for her boss, also her lover, when he conducted a highly-crafted money laundering scam. Alan Beckwith has so far escaped the clutches of the FBI. Now they believe he is laundering money for a Columbian drug cartel - they just need the proof. When Kinsey is asked by the police to persuade Reba to unveil crucial evidence guaranteed to put Beckwith behind bars, she doesn’t expect cooperation. But when she hears of shocking new information about her lover, Reba is suddenly all too eager to do everything she can to ruin him. Embroiled in a cunning challenge of wits, and meanwhile bemused by her own blossoming romance, Kinsey must try to control the bitter, angry Reba as she launches her dangerous revenge . . .

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THE RULE OF FOUR
Ian Caldwell and Dustin Thomason
Cover of THE RULE OF FOUR

THE RULE OF FOUR

by Ian Caldwell and Dustin Thomason · Dial Press

14 wks on list

Tom Sullivan, about to graduate from Princeton, is haunted by the violent death of his father, an academic who devoted his life to studying one of the rarest, most complex and most valuable books in the world. Coded in seven languages, the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, an intricate mathematical mystery and a tale of love and arcane brutality, has baffled scholars since 1499. Tom's friend Paul is similarly obsessed and when a long-lost diary surfaces, they finally seem to make a breakthrough. But only hours later, a fellow researcher is murdered and the two friends suddenly find themselves in great danger. Working desperately to expose the book's secret, they slowly uncover a Renaissance tale of passion and blood, a hidden crypt and a secret worth dying to protect.

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SHEM CREEK
Dorothea Benton Frank
Cover of SHEM CREEK

SHEM CREEK

by Dorothea Benton Frank · Berkley

2 wks on list

Meet Linda Breland, single parent of two teenage daughters. The oldest child, Lindsey, who always held her younger sister in check, is leaving for college soon. And Gracie is giving her nightmares. It's time for one last family holiday. Between the married men, the cold New Jersey winters, her pinched wallet and her ex-husband who has married a beautiful, successful woman ten years younger than she is-Linda has given up thinking of her own needs. But on this holiday, welcomed by her generous and advice-dispensing sister Mimi, Linda slowly begins to discover a sweeter rhythm of life. And then there's Brad Jackson, a former investment banker with a restaurant on Shem Creek. Like everyone else, Brad's got a story of his own, but could it now involve Linda too?

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BRIMSTONE
Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
Cover of BRIMSTONE

BRIMSTONE

by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child · Warner

2 wks on list

Behind the gates of a fabulous Hamptons estate, FBI Special Agent Pendergast comes upon the carnage of a gruesome – and seemingly supernatural – crime. The smouldering remains of infamous art critic Jeremy Grove, a melted cross branding his chest, are found in a locked, barricaded attic. The hoofprint singed into the floorboards and the smell of brimstone recall the legendary horrors that befall those who make a pact with the Devil. Pendergast combs New York, hoping for a simple explanation: a villain who is merely human. But his search takes him beyond the exclusive clubs and luxury penthouses of Manhattan to the crumbling, legend-shrouded castles of the Italian countryside, where – 30 years before – four men may have conjured something unspeakable.

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STAR
Pamela Anderson
Cover of STAR

STAR

by Pamela Anderson · Atria

2 wks on list

Centrefold icon and small-screen legend Pamela Anderson reveals what really happens when A-list meets D-cup, in a daringly sexy and playful novel that bares all about tinseltown.

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RENEGADE
Diana Palmer
Cover of RENEGADE

RENEGADE

by Diana Palmer · Harlequin

2 wks on list
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TEN BIG ONES
Janet Evanovich
Cover of TEN BIG ONES

TEN BIG ONES

by Janet Evanovich · St. Martin's

Janet Evanovich is the hottest author in America, and her Stephanie Plum novels have taken the nation by storm! #1 New York Times #1 Wall Street Journal #1 Los Angeles Times #1 Entertainment Weekly #1 Publishers Weekly She's accidentally destroyed a dozen cars. She's a target for every psycho and miscreant this side of the Jersey Turnpike. Her mother's convinced she'll end up dead . . . or worse, without a man. She's Stephanie Plum, and she kicks butt for a living (well, she thinks it sounds good to put it that way. . . .). It begins as an innocent trip to the deli-mart, on a quest for nachos. But Stephanie Plum and her partner, Lula, are clearly in the wrong place at the wrong time. A robbery leads to an explosion, which leads to the destruction of yet another car. It would be just another day in the life of Stephanie Plum, except that she becomes the target of a gang---and of an even scarier, more dangerous force that comes to Trenton. With super bounty hunter Ranger acting more mysteriously than ever (and the tension with vice cop Joe Morelli getting hotter), she finds herself with a decision to make: how to protect herself and where to hide while on the hunt for a killer known as the Junkman. There's only one safe place, and it has Ranger's name all over it---if she can find it. And if the Junkman doesn't find her first. With Lula riding shotgun and Grandma Mazur on the loose, Stephanie Plum is racing against the clock in her most suspenseful novel yet. Ten Big Ones is page-turning entertainment, and Janet Evanovich is the best there is.

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