TheBestseller
Observatory

Best Sellers

Hardcover Fiction

Week of July 8, 2007

FictionNonfiction
WeekMonth
Jump to
2
1
A THOUSAND SPLENDID SUNS
Khaled Hosseini
Cover of A THOUSAND SPLENDID SUNS

A THOUSAND SPLENDID SUNS

by Khaled Hosseini · Riverhead

5 wks on list

1 New York Times bestselling author. Main selection of the Book-of-the-Month Club and Literary Guild. Both born in Afghanistan a generation apart and with very different ideas about love and family Mariam and Laila are brought together by war by loss and by fate. As they endure the ever escalating dangers around them - in their home as well as in the streets of Kabul - they form a bond that will ultimately alter the course of their lives and the lives of the next generation. With heart-wrenching power and suspense Hosseini shows how a woman's love for her family can move her to shocking and heroic acts of self-sacrifice and that in the end it is love or even the memory of love that is often the key to survival. "Searing ... forceful ... harrowing." - Publishers Weekly starred. "Unimaginably tragic Hosseini's magnificent second novel is a sad and beautiful testament to both Afghani suffering and strength. Readers who lost themselves in The Kite Runner will not want to miss this unforgettable follow-up." - Booklist starred

3
1
BLAZE
Richard Bachman
Cover of BLAZE

BLAZE

by Richard Bachman · Scribner

2 wks on list

Master storyteller Stephen King (writing as Richard Bachman) presents this gripping and remarkable New York Times bestselling crime novel about a damaged young man who embarks on an ill-advised kidnapping plot—a work as taut and riveting as anything he has ever written. Once upon a time, a fellow named Richard Bachman wrote Blaze on an Olivetti typewriter, then turned the machine over to Stephen King, who used it to write Carrie. Bachman died in 1985 (“cancer of the pseudonym”), but this last gripping Bachman novel resurfaced after being hidden away for decades—an unforgettable crime story tinged with sadness and suspense. Clayton Blaisdell, Jr., was always a small-time delinquent. None too bright either, thanks to the beatings he got as a kid. Then Blaze met George Rackley, a seasoned pro with a hundred cons and one big idea. The kidnapping should go off without a hitch, with George as the brains behind their dangerous scheme. But there's only one problem: by the time the deal goes down, Blaze's partner in crime is dead. Or is he?

4
1
DOUBLE TAKE
Catherine Coulter
Cover of DOUBLE TAKE

DOUBLE TAKE

by Catherine Coulter · Putnam

2 wks on list

It's been more than six months since her husband's brutal death, and Julia Ransom is just beginning to breathe again. She loved her husband, renowned psychic August Ransom, but the media frenzy that followed his murder sapped what little strength she had left. Standing at the railing along San Francisco's Pier 39, a respectable-looking man distracts her with conversation before violently attacking her and throwing her over the railing. Special Agent Cheney Stone saves her from a watery grave, but he senses a connection between her assault and her husband's death, and sets out to serve as her protector while reopening August Ransom's murder investigation.

5
2
THE NAVIGATOR
Clive Cussler with Paul Kemprecos
Cover of THE NAVIGATOR

THE NAVIGATOR

by Clive Cussler with Paul Kemprecos · Putnam

3 wks on list

Turn-of-the-century detective Isaac Bell pursues a blood-thirsty bank robber—and perhaps one of the world’s first sociopaths—in the first novel in the #1 New York Times-bestselling series. In 1906, the western states of America suffer a string of bank robberies by a single man who then cold-bloodedly murders any and all witnesses, and vanishes without a trace. Fed up by the depredations of “The Butcher Bandit,” the U.S. government brings in the best man it can find: a tall, lean, no-nonsense detective named Isaac Bell, who has caught thieves and killers from coast to coast. But Bell has never had a challenge like this one. From Arizona to Colorado to the streets of San Francisco during its calamitous earthquake and fire, he pursues a fiend who seems to draw pleasure from the challenge and a woman who may to hold the key to the man’s identity. As Bell begins to suspect a new term used among top psychologists, sociopath, may describe his target, the Butcher Bandit turns the chase around on him. The hunter becomes the hunted. And soon, it will take all of Bell’s skills not merely to prevail . . . but to survive. Filled with intricate plotting, Cussler’s signature dazzling set pieces, and not one but two extraordinary villains, The Chase is the master working at the height of his powers.

6
THE GOOD GUY
Dean Koontz
Cover of THE GOOD GUY

THE GOOD GUY

by Dean Koontz · Bantam

4 wks on list

Timothy Carrier is an ordinary guy who enjoys a beer after work. But tonight is no ordinary night. Instead, Tim will face a terrifying decision: Help or run. For the jittery stranger sitting beside him at the bar has mistaken Tim for someone else—and passes him a manila envelope stuffed with cash and the photo of a pretty woman. “Ten thousand. The rest when she’s gone.” Now everything Tim thinks he knows—even about himself—will be challenged. For Tim Carrier is the one man who can save an innocent life and stop a killer as relentless as evil incarnate. But first he must discover resources within himself that will transform his idea of who he is and what it takes to be the good guy. BONUS: This edition contains an excerpt from Dean Koontz's The City.

7
1
THE OVERLOOK
Michael Connelly
Cover of THE OVERLOOK

THE OVERLOOK

by Michael Connelly · Little, Brown

5 wks on list

In his first case since he left the LAPDs Open Unsolved Unit for the prestigious Homicide Special squad, Harry Bosch is called out to investigate a murder that may have chilling consequences for national security.

8
3
THE HARLEQUIN
Laurell K. Hamilton
Cover of THE HARLEQUIN

THE HARLEQUIN

by Laurell K. Hamilton · Berkley

3 wks on list

Into Anita Blake's world-a world already overflowing with power-come creatures so feared that centuries-old vampires refuse to mention their names.

9
3
ON CHESIL BEACH
Ian McEwan
Cover of ON CHESIL BEACH

ON CHESIL BEACH

by Ian McEwan · Nan A. Talese

3 wks on list

"It is July 1962. Edward and Florence, young innocents married that morning, arrive at a hotel on the Dorset coast. At dinner in their rooms they struggle to suppress their private fears of the wedding night to come..." - Back cover.

10
1
THE 6TH TARGET
James Patterson and Maxine Paetro

THE 6TH TARGET

by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro · Little, Brown

7 wks on list

When one member of the Women's Murder Club is brutally attacked, her three companions work to keep her attacker behind bars, while Lindsay Boxer investigates a series of kidnappings in which children and their nannies are being abducted without ransom demands.

11
1
FOR ONE MORE DAY
Mitch Albom
Cover of FOR ONE MORE DAY

FOR ONE MORE DAY

by Mitch Albom · Hyperion

32 wks on list

This is the story of Charley, a child of divorce who is always forced to choose between his mother and his father. He grows into a man and starts a family of his own. But one fateful weekend, he leaves his mother to secretly be with his fatherand she dies while he is gone. This haunts him for years. It unravels his own young family. It leads him to depression and drunkenness. One night, he decides to take his life. But somewhere between this world and the next, he encounters his mother again, in their hometown, and gets to spend one last day with herthe day he missed and always wished hed had. He asks the questions many of us yearn to ask, the questions we never ask while our parents are alive. By the end of this magical day, Charley discovers how little he really knew about his mother, the secret of how her love saved their family, and how deeply he wants the second chance to save his own.

13
9
THE CHILDREN OF HÚRIN
J. R. R. Tolkien. Edited by Christopher Tolkien. Illustrated by Alan Lee
Cover of THE CHILDREN OF HÚRIN

THE CHILDREN OF HÚRIN

by J. R. R. Tolkien. Edited by Christopher Tolkien. Illustrated by Alan Lee · Houghton Mifflin

10 wks on list

One of the three 'Great Tales' of the Elder Days, J.R.R. Tolkien's The Children of Húrin takes place in Middle-earth thousands of years before the events of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. The Children of Húrin is the first complete book by Tolkien since the 1977 publication of The Silmarillion. Six thousand years before the One Ring is destroyed, Middle-earth lies under the shadow of the Dark Lord Morgoth. The greatest warriors among elves and men have perished, and all is in darkness and despair. But a deadly new leader rises, Túrin, son of Húrin, and with his grim band of outlaws begins to turn the tide in the war for Middle-earth—awaiting the day he confronts his destiny and the deadly curse laid upon him.

14
NEW
INNOCENT AS SIN
Elizabeth Lowell
Cover of INNOCENT AS SIN

INNOCENT AS SIN

by Elizabeth Lowell · Morrow

1 wks on list

The New York Times bestelling queen of of romantic suspense—an author hailed as “a cut above”* returns with an exceptional thriller packed with her trademark combination of passion, danger, and intrigue Throwing himself into his painting, Rand McCee wishes the swirls of light and color can erase the memory of his beloved brother’s murder. On a scouting assignment for St. Kilda Consulting, a Manhattan-based, global business that concentrates on the shadow world where governments can’t go, Rand’s twin was shot in cold blood before Rand’s eyes. Finally coming to terms with the fact that he will never be able to find the man responsible—a mysterious figure known as “The Siberian”—Rand just wants to forget. But as he soon learns, the past won’t let him. . . . Helping a rich socialite finance an art exhibition, Arizona banker Kayla Shawn has unwittingly become entangled in a deadly web of lies and deceit involving money laundering. When her employer tries to buy her silence, Kayla knows she’s in way over her head, with only one way out: Rand. Though their attraction is instant and intense, it’s not enough to overcome their mutual suspicion. Somehow Kayla and Rand must learn to work together to unmask a terrifying enemy before they land in jail—or the grave.

15
NEW
SECOND CHANCE
Jane Green
Cover of SECOND CHANCE

SECOND CHANCE

by Jane Green · Viking Press

1 wks on list

When tragedy strikes, four friends reunite in this life-affirming tale from the New York Times bestselling author of Falling and Sister Stardust. In school, Tom, Holly, Saffron, Paul, and Olivia were the best of friends. Twenty years later, they’re barely more than strangers. But when Tom dies in a heartbreaking instance of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, the four that remain are thrust back into each other’s lives. Quickly falling back into the intimacy of their youth, Holly, Saffron, Paul, and Olivia are forced to reexamine the choices they’ve made. As their secrets rise to the surface, Tom’s death becomes the catalyst that changes them all, giving four estranged friends the chance to find a new beginning...

16
NEW
THE MANNY
Holly Peterson
Cover of THE MANNY

THE MANNY

by Holly Peterson · Dial Press

What’s a Park Avenue working mom to do when her troubled son desperately needs a male role model and her husband is a power workaholic? If she’s like the gutsy heroine of Holly Peterson’s astute new comedy of manners among the ill-mannered elite, she does what every other woman on the block does. She hires herself a “manny.” A solid middle-class girl from Middle America, Jamie Whitfield isn’t “one of them” but she lives in “the Grid,” the wealthiest acre of real estate in Manhattan, where big money and big media collide. And she has most everything they have–a big new apartment, full-time help with her three children, as well as her very own detached Master of the Universe attorney husband. What she doesn’t have, however, is a full-time father figure for their struggling nine-year-old son, Dylan. But the rich haven’t yet encountered a problem they can’t hire someone else to solve. Enter the manny. At first the idea of paying a man to provide a role model for Dylan sounds too crazy to be true. But one look at Peter Bailey is enough to convince Jamie that the idea may not be quite so insane after all. Peter is calm, cool, competent, and so charmingly down-to-earth, he’s irresistible. And with the political sex scandal of the decade propelling her career as a news producer into overdrive, and her increasingly erratic husband locked in his study with suspicious files, Jamie is in serious need of some grounding. Peter reminds her of everything she once was, still misses, and underneath all the high-society glitz, still is. But will the new manny in her life put the ground back beneath her feet, or sweep her off them?

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