TheBestseller
Observatory

Best Sellers

Hardcover Fiction

Week of September 25, 2005

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POLAR SHIFT
Clive Cussler with Paul Kemprecos
Cover of POLAR SHIFT

POLAR SHIFT

by Clive Cussler with Paul Kemprecos · Putnam

2 wks at #1 · 2 on list

NUMA operative Kurt Austin takes on a madman fronting as an evironmentalist in this #1 New York Times-bestselling series. Sixty years ago, an eccentric Hungarian genius discovered how to artificially trigger such a shift in the polar ice caps, which could cause massive eruptions, earthquaks, and even climate changes. But then his work disappeared, or so it was thought. Now, the charismatic leader of an antiglobalization group plans to use it to give the world’s industrialized nations a small jolt, before reversing the shift back again. The only problem is, it cannot be reversed. Once it starts, there is nothing anyone can do. Austin, Zavala, and the rest of the NUMA Special Assignments Team must make strange alliances to protect this technology from being exploited by their new and power-hungry nemesis before the entire planet is made to pay. Rich with all the hair-raising action and endless imagination that have become Cussler’s hallmarks, Polar Shift is a wonderful thriller—indeed, “vintage Cussler.”

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

THE DA VINCI CODE

by Dan Brown · Doubleday

130 wks 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 HISTORIAN
Elizabeth Kostova
Cover of THE HISTORIAN

THE HISTORIAN

by Elizabeth Kostova · Little, Brown

13 wks on list

The record-breaking phenomenon from Elizabeth Kostova is a celebrated masterpiece that "refashioned the vampire myth into a compelling contemporary novel, a late-night page-turner" (San Francisco Chronicle). Breathtakingly suspenseful and beautifully written, The Historian is the story of a young woman plunged into a labyrinth where the secrets of her family’s past connect to an inconceivable evil: the dark fifteenth-century reign of Vlad the Impaler and a time-defying pact that may have kept his awful work alive through the ages. The search for the truth becomes an adventure of monumental proportions, taking us from monasteries and dusty libraries to the capitals of Eastern Europe—in a feat of storytelling so rich, so hypnotic, so exciting that it has enthralled readers around the world. “Part thriller, part history, part romance...Kostova has a keen sense of storytelling and she has a marvelous tale to tell.” —Baltimore Sun

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POINT BLANK
Catherine Coulter
Cover of POINT BLANK

POINT BLANK

by Catherine Coulter · Putnam

3 wks on list

Agents Lacey Sherlock and Dillon Savich are up against an unstable villain with a very long memory in this FBI Thriller from #1 New York Times bestselling author Catherine Coulter. The explosive action kicks off as treasure-hunting FBI agent Ruth Warnecki is on the trail of stolen Confederate gold hidden in Winkel’s cave in western Virginia. She never expects to find herself chin-deep in a grisly murder that leaves her nearly dead and rocks the town of Maestro. Then, at a stake-out in Maryland, FBI agents Dillon Savich and Dane Carver are nearly killed in a horrific explosion while attempting to rescue kidnap victim, Pinky Womack. They are led to Arlington National Cemetery where they not only find Pinky, but Savich also takes a fateful call on his cell from an old man out to kill both him and Sherlock. The thing is they have no clue why. Pitted against an insane killer and his psychotic teenage girlfriend, Savich and Sherlock find themselves fighting a hate-driven villain with a grudge worth killing for...

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HIGH DRUID OF SHANNARA: STRAKEN
Terry Brooks
Cover of HIGH DRUID OF SHANNARA: STRAKEN

HIGH DRUID OF SHANNARA: STRAKEN

by Terry Brooks · Del Rey/Ballantine

1 wks on list

The High Druid of Shannara trilogy draws to a thrilling close as a young hero nears completion of his trial by fire, a banished ruler fights for her life in a wilderness of dread, and forces of darkness and light square off in a battle unto death for the right to absolute rule. Prepare to be spellbound by the masterly hand of bestselling legend weaver Terry Brooks, conjuring at the peak of his skills. For reasons known only to himself, the King of the Silver River has charged young Penderrin Ohmsford, barely more than a boy, with the daunting task of rescuing his aunt, Grianne, Ard Rhys of the Druid order, from her forced exile in the terrifying dimension of all things damned: the Forbidding. With the noble dwarf Tagwen and the prodigal elven princess Khyber Elessedil by his side–and with the outcome of the bloody war between the Federation and the Free-born at stake–Pen has accepted his mission without question. But not without risk . . . or sacrifice. Because Shadea a’Ru, the ruthless Druid responsible for imprisoning the true Ard Rhys and usurping leadership at Paranor, has sent her agents and assassins in relentless pursuit of Pen and his comrades. And in securing the talisman he needs to breach the Forbidding, Pen has paid a devastating price. Now if the Free-born forces–already decimated by the Federation’s death-dealing new weapon–should fall, Shadea’s domination of the Four Lands will be assured. Nothing short of Pen’s success can turn the tide. But Pen’s challenge grows greater when he learns that his parents, Bek Ohmsford and Rue Meridian, have fallen into Shadea’ s hands. He must try to help them–but once within the walls of Druid’s Keep, where Shadea’s minions and dark magic lurk at every turn, Pen’s survival is far from assured. Yet it will all pale in comparison to the horrors that wait inside the Forbidding–horrors poised to break free upon the Four Lands when the time is right. . . . BONUS: This edition contains an excerpt from Terry Brooks's The Measure of the Magic.

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CHILL FACTOR
Sandra Brown
Cover of CHILL FACTOR

CHILL FACTOR

by Sandra Brown · Simon & Schuster

4 wks on list

The #1 "New York Times" bestselling author of "The Crush" returns with a suspenseful thriller in which a woman's life is in jeopardy . . . . and time is running out.

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SLOW BURN
Julie Garwood
Cover of SLOW BURN

SLOW BURN

by Julie Garwood · Ballantine

2 wks on list

When a woman returns to her tiny hometown after a long absence, she is stunned to find herself implicated in a decades-old murder and is left in the position of not knowing whom she can trust, or whom she should fear the most.

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LIFEGUARD
James Patterson and Andrew Gross
Cover of LIFEGUARD

LIFEGUARD

by James Patterson and Andrew Gross · Little, Brown

9 wks on list

In order to have money that will help him get the woman of his dreams, Ned Kelly agrees to help his cousin commit robbery; however, something goes wrong and he has to go on the run.

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VANISH
Tess Gerritsen
Cover of VANISH

VANISH

by Tess Gerritsen · Ballantine

3 wks on list

FBI agent Gabriel Dean rushes into action to protect his pregnant wife, homicide detective Jane Rizzoli, when she is taken hostage along with others at the hospital by Nicholas Tennant, a black-ops agent in possession of high-level government secrets.

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REFLECTIONS OF A PEACEMAKER
Mattie J. T. Stepanek
Cover of REFLECTIONS OF A PEACEMAKER

REFLECTIONS OF A PEACEMAKER

by Mattie J. T. Stepanek · Andrews McMeel

2 wks on list

Mattie J. T. Stepanek lived and died a child, but he had the spirit of a giant. Affected by a rare and fatal neuromuscular disease, Mattie lived almost fourteen years but in that time became a poet, best-selling author, peace activist, and a prominent voice for the Muscular Dystrophy Association. Before his death in June 2004, his five volumes of Heartsongs poetry sold more than a million copies. Reflections of a Peacemaker: A Portrait Through Heartsongs is the final collection of Heartsongs that Mattie was working on when he died. It includes the last poem Mattie penned along with a special collection of unpublished poetry, photographs, and artwork spanning the decade from when he began writing Heartsongs at age three. Culled from the thousands of poems, essays, and journal entries Mattie left behind, the entries in Reflections of a Peacemaker create a portrait of Mattie in his own words. In these poems he explores disability, despair, and death but also the gifts he finds in nature, prayer, peace, and his belief in something "bigger and better than the here and now." The poems are grouped by theme such as playful, stormy, sacred, and final Heartsongs, with each section introduced by a personal tribute from the likes of Maya Angelou, Oprah Winfrey, Larry King, and former President Jimmy Carter. In the words of Mattie's mother, Jeni Stepanek, who has published Reflections of a Peacemaker at her son's request, "In reading these poems we enter Mattie's world and gain insight through a child who somehow balanced pain and fear with optimism and faith."

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THE MERMAID CHAIR
Sue Monk Kidd
Cover of THE MERMAID CHAIR

THE MERMAID CHAIR

by Sue Monk Kidd · Viking Press

23 wks on list

43-årige Jessie Sullivan, som lever et begivenhedsløst liv i Atlanta med mand og en datter, bliver kaldt hjem til sin barndoms ø Egret, da moderen Nelle Skærer sine fingre af; hun konfronteres med minderne om faderens død i en bådulykke, som hun altid har følt sig delvis ansvarlig for, og moderen har hun aldrig stået særlig nær.

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