TheBestseller
Observatory

Best Sellers

Hardcover Fiction

Week of March 2, 2008

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THE APPEAL
John Grisham
Cover of THE APPEAL

THE APPEAL

by John Grisham · Doubleday

5 wks at #1 · 2 on list

In Grishams first legal thriller since "The Broker," justice is for sale--andonly the rich can afford it.

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7TH HEAVEN
James Patterson and Maxine Paetro
Cover of 7TH HEAVEN

7TH HEAVEN

by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro · Little, Brown

Discover the Women's Murder Club's most terrifying case ever in this New York Times bestseller. As a terrible series of fires blazes through California, the heat begins to rage too close to home. A terrible fire in a wealthy suburban home leaves a married couple dead and Detective Lindsay Boxer and her partner Rich Conklin searching for clues. And after California's golden boy Michael Campion has been missing for a month, there finally seems to be a lead in his case-a very devastating lead. As fire after fire consume couples in wealthy, comfortable homes, Lindsay and the Murder Club must race to find the arsonists responsible and get to the bottom of Michael Campion's disappearance. But suddenly the flames are raging too close to home. Frightened for her life and torn between two men, Lindsay must find a way to solve the most daunting dilemmas she's ever faced-at work and at home.

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DUMA KEY
Stephen King
Cover of DUMA KEY

DUMA KEY

by Stephen King · Scribner

4 wks on list

No more than a dark pencil line on a blank page. A horizon line, maybe. But also a slot for blackness to pour through... A terrible construction site accident takes Edgar Freemantle's right arm and scrambles his memory and his mind, leaving him with little but rage as he begins the ordeal of rehabilitation. A marriage that produced two lovely daughters suddenly ends, and Edgar begins to wish he hadn't survived the injuries that could have killed him. He wants out. His psychologist, Dr. Kamen, suggests a "geographic cure," a new life distant from the Twin Cities and the building business Edgar grew from scratch. And Kamen suggests something else. "Edgar, does anything make you happy?" "I used to sketch." "Take it up again. You need hedges... hedges against the night." Edgar leaves Minnesota for a rented house on Duma Key, a stunningly beautiful, eerily undeveloped splinter of the Florida coast. The sun setting into the Gulf of Mexico and the tidal rattling of shells on the beach call out to him, and Edgar draws. A visit from Ilse, the daughter he dotes on, starts his movement out of solitude. He meets a kindred spirit in Wireman, a man reluctant to reveal his own wounds, and then Elizabeth Eastlake, a sick old woman whose roots are tangled deep in Duma Key. Now Edgar paints, sometimes feverishly, his exploding talent both a wonder and a weapon. Many of his paintings have a power that cannot be controlled. When Elizabeth's past unfolds and the ghosts of her childhood begin to appear, the damage of which they are capable is truly devastating. The tenacity of love, the perils of creativity, the mysteries of memory and the nature of the supernatural -- Stephen King gives us a novel as fascinating as it is gripping and terrifying.

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A THOUSAND SPLENDID SUNS
Khaled Hosseini
Cover of A THOUSAND SPLENDID SUNS

A THOUSAND SPLENDID SUNS

by Khaled Hosseini · Riverhead

39 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

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STRANGER IN PARADISE
Robert B. Parker
Cover of STRANGER IN PARADISE

STRANGER IN PARADISE

by Robert B. Parker · Putnam

2 wks on list

An Apache hit man arrives in Paradise to find a missing girl and snuff out her mother. But his conscience is getting the best of him. If he doesn’t make the hit, he’ll pay for it. So might Jesse Stone, who’s been enlisted to protect them all.

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WORLD WITHOUT END
Ken Follett
Cover of WORLD WITHOUT END

WORLD WITHOUT END

by Ken Follett · Dutton

19 wks on list

#1 New York Times Bestseller In 1989, Ken Follett astonished the literary world with The Pillars of the Earth, a sweeping epic novel set in twelfth-century England centered on the building of a cathedral and many of the hundreds of lives it affected. World Without End is its equally irresistible sequel—set two hundred years after The Pillars of the Earth and three hundred years after the Kingsbridge prequel, The Evening and the Morning. World Without End takes place in the same town of Kingsbridge, two centuries after the townspeople finished building the exquisite Gothic cathedral that was at the heart of The Pillars of the Earth. The cathedral and the priory are again at the center of a web of love and hate, greed and pride, ambition and revenge, but this sequel stands on its own. This time the men and women of an extraordinary cast of characters find themselves at a crossroads of new ideas—about medicine, commerce, architecture, and justice. In a world where proponents of the old ways fiercely battle those with progressive minds, the intrigue and tension quickly reach a boiling point against the devastating backdrop of the greatest natural disaster ever to strike the human race—the Black Death. Three years in the writing and nearly eighteen years since its predecessor, World Without End is a "well-researched, beautifully detailed portrait of the late Middle Ages" (The Washington Post) that once again shows that Ken Follett is a masterful author writing at the top of his craft.

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THE KILLING GROUND
Jack Higgins
Cover of THE KILLING GROUND

THE KILLING GROUND

by Jack Higgins · Putnam

1 wks on list

Sean Dillon takes on a mission of mercy, in which he will be shown none. Intelligence operative Sean Dillon stops Caspar Rashid at Heathrow Airport?and is pulled into danger. The man?s daughter has been kidnapped by Rashid?s own father and taken to Iraq to be married to one of the Middle East?s most feared terrorists. Rashid begs Dillon for help?but he has no idea of the terrible chain of events he is about to unleash, nor of the danger he is about to face.

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PEOPLE OF THE BOOK
Geraldine Brooks
Cover of PEOPLE OF THE BOOK

PEOPLE OF THE BOOK

by Geraldine Brooks · Viking Press

7 wks on list

View our feature on Geraldine Books’s People of the Book. From the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of March, the journey of a rare illuminated manuscript through centuries of exile and war In 1996, Hanna Heath, an Australian rare-book expert, is offered the job of a lifetime: analysis and conservation of the famed Sarajevo Haggadah, which has been rescued from Serb shelling during the Bosnian war. Priceless and beautiful, the book is one of the earliest Jewish volumes ever to be illuminated with images. When Hanna, a caustic loner with a passion for her work, discovers a series of tiny artifacts in its ancient binding—an insect wing fragment, wine stains, salt crystals, a white hair—she begins to unlock the book’s mysteries. The reader is ushered into an exquisitely detailed and atmospheric past, tracing the book’s journey from its salvation back to its creation. In Bosnia during World War II, a Muslim risks his life to protect it from the Nazis. In the hedonistic salons of fin-de-siècle Vienna, the book becomes a pawn in the struggle against the city’s rising anti-Semitism. In inquisition-era Venice, a Catholic priest saves it from burning. In Barcelona in 1492, the scribe who wrote the text sees his family destroyed by the agonies of enforced exile. And in Seville in 1480, the reason for the Haggadah’s extraordinary illuminations is finally disclosed. Hanna’s investigation unexpectedly plunges her into the intrigues of fine art forgers and ultra-nationalist fanatics. Her experiences will test her belief in herself and the man she has come to love. Inspired by a true story, People of the Book is at once a novel of sweeping historical grandeur and intimate emotional intensity, an ambitious, electrifying work by an acclaimed and beloved author.

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THE SENATOR’S WIFE
Sue Miller
Cover of THE SENATOR’S WIFE

THE SENATOR’S WIFE

by Sue Miller · Knopf

6 wks on list

NATIONAL BESTELLER • The New York Times bestselling author of Monogomy brings us a "tasteful, elegant, sensuous" (The Boston Globe) novel about marriage and forgiveness. Meri is newly married, pregnant, and standing on the cusp of her life as a wife and mother, recognizing with some terror the gap between reality and expectation. Delia—wife of the two-term liberal senator Tom Naughton—is Meri's new neighbor in the adjacent New England town house. Tom's chronic infidelity has been an open secret in Washington circles, but despite the complexity of their relationship, the bond between them remains strong. Soon Delia and Meri find themselves leading strangely parallel lives, as they both reckon with the contours and mysteries of marriage: one refined and abraded by years of complicated intimacy, the other barely begun. With precision and a rich vitality, Sue Miller—beloved and bestselling author of While I Was Gone—brings us a highly charged, superlative novel.

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THE GHOST WAR
Alex Berenson
Cover of THE GHOST WAR

THE GHOST WAR

by Alex Berenson · Putnam

1 wks on list

Another thrilling adventure featuring John Wells, the deep cover CIA operative from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Faithful Spy and The Deceivers. John Wells barely survived his homecoming when it was thought he’d become too close to the terrorists. Though his wounds have healed, his mind is far from clear. He needs to get back in the fight. And there is a fight waiting for him. A power play in China is causing chaos around the globe. And even as Wells does what he does best, a mole within the CIA is preparing to light the final fuse that will propel an unsuspecting world toward open war and annihilation. And this time, there may be nothing John Wells can do to stop it...

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SIZZLE AND BURN
Jayne Ann Krentz
Cover of SIZZLE AND BURN

SIZZLE AND BURN

by Jayne Ann Krentz · Putnam

3 wks on list

“Krentz’s trademarks—fast plotting, snappy dialogue, hot sex—are all on display here, in a novel that ranks with her best.”—The Seattle Times Raine Tallentyre always tried to heed her late Aunt Vella’s advice—and keep her paranormal abilities a secret. But when she journeys to Shelbyville, Washington, to clear out her aunt’s house, Raine’s highly developed sensitivity leads her to a horrifying discovery: a young woman is held captive in a basement storage locker. And her kidnapper is on the loose. Without warning, a new man enters Raine’s life—investigator Zack Jones. While Raine hears voices, Zack sees visions, and suddenly Raine experiences an intense, thrilling intimacy with him that she never dared to expect. There’s one complication, however: Zack is working for the secret Arcane Society. Dedicated to the study of paranormal phenomena, the organization lost Raine’s trust long ago, when it shattered her family with an act of betrayal. Now, as a killer makes her his target, and a cabal of psychic criminals known as Nightshade operates in the shadows surrounding them, Raine and Zack must rely not just on their powerful abilities but on each other as well.

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CHARM!
Kendall Hart
Cover of CHARM!

CHARM!

by Kendall Hart · Hyperion

2 wks on list

In a spin-off tale from the popular daytime series "All My Children," Kendall Hart, the daughter of Erica Kane, pens the story of Manhattan resident Avery Wilkins, whose ambition to promote her cosmetics company launches a series of high-stakes adventures.

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THE MONSTERS OF TEMPLETON
Lauren Groff
Cover of THE MONSTERS OF TEMPLETON

THE MONSTERS OF TEMPLETON

by Lauren Groff · Voice/Hyperion

1 wks on list

"The day I returned to Templeton steeped in disgrace, the fifty-foot corpse of a monster surfaced in Lake Glimmerglass." So begins The Monsters of Templeton, a novel spanning two centuries: part a contemporary story of a girl's search for her father, part historical novel, and part ghost story. In the wake of a disastrous love affair with her older, married archaeology professor at Stanford, brilliant Wilhelmina Cooper arrives back at the doorstep of her hippie mother-turned-born-again-Christian's house in Templeton, NY, a storybook town her ancestors founded that sits on the shores of Lake Glimmerglass. Upon her arrival, a prehistoric monster surfaces in the lake bringing a feeding frenzy to the quiet town, and Willie learns she has a mystery father her mother kept secret Willie's entire life. The beautiful, broody Willie is told that the key to her biological father's identity lies somewhere in her family's history, so she buries herself in the research of her twisted family tree and finds more than she bargained for as a chorus of voices from the town's past -- some sinister, all fascinating -- rise up around her to tell their side of the story. In the end, dark secrets come to light, past and present day are blurred, and old mysteries are finally put to rest. The Monsters of Templeton is a fresh, virtuoso performance that has placed Lauren Groff among the best writers of today.

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CELEBUTANTES
Amanda Goldberg and Ruthanna Khalighi Hopper
Cover of CELEBUTANTES

CELEBUTANTES

by Amanda Goldberg and Ruthanna Khalighi Hopper · St. Martin’s Press

1 wks on list

Prepare to enter a world of what fashion designer Michael Kors has called "stylish intrigue, glamorous machinations, and such juicy fun." Take a wild ride with Amanda Goldberg and Ruthanna Hopper, who have culled their insider's purview to peel back Oscar's legendary curtain and reveal what really goes on under the sheets of Young Hollywood. Do Happy Hollywood Endings really exist, or does everyone end up on the cutting room floor sooner or later? It's a shocking, entertaining race to the end of the red carpet... Twenty-six-year-old Lola Santisi, daughter of an Academy Award-winning mega-director and a former cover model, is Hollywood Royalty without a kingdom—or even a condo—to call her own. This "Actorholic," who also suffers from "Career Deficit Disorder," is looking for more from life than what her famous last name has offered, namely her mother's last-season Chanel hand-me-downs and the lurking shadow of her father's fame. In her latest gig as a Hollywood ambassador, Lola's stepping out of her Louboutins and into fashion's ultimate combat boots to engage in LA's cruelest blood sport: convincing celebrities to wear an unknown designer's gowns to the Oscars. Providing advice, emotional support, and even a new mantra or two are her BFF (Best Friend Forever) Kate Woods, an obsessively ambitious talent agent desperate to go from unter to über, and her BAF (Best Actress Forever) Cricket Curtis, a struggling up-and-comer trying to surpass her role as a coma victim on Grey's Anatomy and overcome one rejection after another to become the next Cameron Diaz or Nicole Kidman, or the next anybody. Together, they dodge fashion roadkill while navigating General Motors' Annual Fashion Show, the Gagosian dinner at Mr. Chow, and more. Ultimately, the week culminates at the über-exclusive Vanity Fair Oscar party, where the allotted time slot on your invitation marks how far in or out you really are. But who will be left standing with job, heart, and stilettos still intact at the after-after-Oscar party?

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