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Best Sellers

Hardcover Fiction

Week of May 8, 2011

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1
NEW
THE SIXTH MAN
David Baldacci
Cover of THE SIXTH MAN

THE SIXTH MAN

by David Baldacci · Grand Central

2 wks at #1 · 1 on list

In the #1 New York Times bestselling thriller that inspired the TV series King & Maxwell, two private investigators dig into a killer's past--but when their search threatens powerful enemies, it could cost them their lives. Edgar Roy--an alleged serial killer--is awaiting trial. He faces almost certain conviction. Sean King and Michelle Maxwell are called in by Roy's attorney, Sean's old friend and mentor Ted Bergin, to help work the case. But their investigation is derailed when Sean and Michelle find Bergin murdered. It is now up to them to ask the questions no one seems to want answered: Is Roy a killer? Who murdered Bergin? The more they dig into Roy's past, the more they encounter obstacles, half-truths, dead-ends, false friends, and escalating threats from every direction. Their persistence puts them on a collision course with the highest levels of the government and the darkest corners of power. In a terrifying confrontation that will push Sean and Michelle to their limits, the duo may be permanently parted.

2
THE LAND OF PAINTED CAVES
Jean M. Auel
Cover of THE LAND OF PAINTED CAVES

THE LAND OF PAINTED CAVES

by Jean M. Auel · Crown

4 wks on list

This Enhanced Edition contains exclusive content including the first chapter of the unabridged audiobook and eight videos. These videos include footage from 'Jean M. Auel in conversation with Chris Stringer' a sell-out event which took place on the 28th February 2011 at London's Natural History Museum, as well as videos about the eighteen lucky competition winners who influenced the making of the limited edition Augmented Reality hardback. Please note this a large file that will take time to download over slower connections. Europe is in the grip of the Ice Age. Its harsh but spectacularly beautiful terrain supports many varieties of animals but few people. They are Cro-Magnons - the first anatomically modern people - and Neanderthals, the other race with whom we shared that cold, ancient land. Ayla is a Cro-Magnon child who lost her parents in an earthquake and was adopted by a tribe of Neanderthal, the Clan. The Clan's wary suspicion was gradually transformed into acceptance of this girl, so different from them, under the guidance of its medicine woman Iza and its wise holy man Creb. But Broud, the Clan's future leader, becomes an implacable enemy, and causes her exile. Forced into dangerous isolation, she eventually finds her soul mate and fellow Cro-Magnon, Jondalar. Their epic journey across Europe is complete and Ayla and Jondalar join his people in the region now known as south-west France. Settling into the rhythm of life in the Ninth Cave, the couple find much pleasure in their baby daughter and in being reunited with friends and family. Ayla plays a vital role in the area of healing: her knowledge of plants and herbs, gleaned from her days with the Clan, strike awe in her new tribe. They are also both impressed by and wary of her uncanny affinity with long-time companions, the mare Whinney and Wolf. But, torn between her desire to concentrate on her new child and the rigours of her training as a Zelandoni acolyte, Ayla finds her relationship with Jondalar moving into stormy waters. Can she manage to balance her sense of destiny with her heart?

3
THE FIFTH WITNESS
Michael Connelly
Cover of THE FIFTH WITNESS

THE FIFTH WITNESS

by Michael Connelly · Little, Brown

3 wks on list

In this #1 New York Times bestselling thriller, after taking on a foreclosure case, defense attorney Mickey Haller fights to prove his client’s innocence—but first he must follow a trail of black market evidence to its sinister end. Inspiration for the #1 Netflix series The Lincoln Lawyer.​ Mickey Haller has fallen on tough times. He expands his business into foreclosure defense, only to see one of his clients accused of killing the banker she blames for trying to take away her home. Mickey puts his team into high gear to exonerate Lisa Trammel, even though the evidence and his own suspicions tell him his client is guilty. Soon after he learns that the victim had black market dealings of his own, Haller is assaulted, too—and he's certain he's on the right trail. Despite the danger and uncertainty, Haller mounts the best defense of his career in a trial where the last surprise comes after the verdict is in. Connelly proves again why he "may very well be the best novelist working in the United States today" (San Francisco Chronicle).

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CHASING FIRE
Nora Roberts
Cover of CHASING FIRE

CHASING FIRE

by Nora Roberts · Putnam

2 wks on list

In this #1 New York Times bestseller, Nora Roberts delves into the world of elite firefighters who thrive on danger and adrenaline—men and women who wouldn’t know how to live life if it wasn’t on the edge. Little else in life is as dangerous as fire jumping. But there’s also little else as thrilling—at least to Rowan Tripp. Being a Missoula smoke jumper is in Rowan’s blood: her father is a legend in the field. At this point, returning to the wilds of Montana for the season feels like coming home—even with reminders of the partner she lost last season still lingering in the air. One of the best of this year’s rookie crop, Gulliver Curry is a walking contradiction, a hotshot firefighter with a big vocabulary and a winter job at a kids’ arcade. And though Rowan, as a rule, doesn’t hook up with other smoke jumpers, Gull is convinced he can change her mind... But everything is thrown off balance when a dark presence lashes out against Rowan, looking to blame someone for last year’s tragedy. Rowan knows she can’t complicate things with Gull—any distractions in the air or on the ground could be lethal. But if she doesn’t find someone she can lean on when the heat gets intense, her life may go down in flames.

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1
I'LL WALK ALONE
Mary Higgins Clark
Cover of I'LL WALK ALONE

I'LL WALK ALONE

by Mary Higgins Clark · Simon & Schuster

3 wks on list

Two years after the day that her son, Matthew, was kidnapped in broad daylight in Central Park, Alexandra Moreland still finds herself torn between hope and despair. As no trace of Matthew was ever found, she has never been able to give him up for dead. But now, on what would have been Matthew's fifth birthday, photos surface that seem to show Alexandra kidnapping her own child. Then, as her bank accounts are suddenly drained, and her reputation as a successful architect comes under immense pressure, Alexandra begins to suspect that someone is using her credit cards to steal her identity. But who would want to ruin her so completely? Hounded by the press, under investigation by the police, attacked by both her angry ex-husband and a vindictive business rival, Alexandra, sustained only by her belief that Matthew is still alive, sets out to discover who is behind this cruel hoax. Little does she realize that with every step she takes toward the truth, she is putting herself -and those she loves most - in mortal danger.

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QUICKSILVER
Amanda Quick
Cover of QUICKSILVER

QUICKSILVER

by Amanda Quick · Putnam

1 wks on list

After Virginia Dean, sensing dark powers at work, wakes up with a bloody knife in her hand and lying next to a dead body, the only person who believes she did not commit murder is Owen Sweetwater, a hunter of psychical monsters who is investigating the deaths of two glass readers. (fantasy). By the best-selling author of Burning Lamp. Simultaneous.

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EVE
Iris Johansen
Cover of EVE

EVE

by Iris Johansen · St. Martin's

1 wks on list

New York Times bestselling author Iris Johansen has captivated millions of readers with her fast-paced forensics thrillers featuring heroine Eve Duncan. Here together for the first time in a convenient eBook bundle are four of her popular Eve Duncan novels: Quicksand Do you still miss your little Bonnie? This one sentence, spoken by a male voice in anonymous phone call, is all it takes to drag Eve Duncan right back to that horrifying moment years ago when her only daughter vanished without a trace. Since then, Eve's life has become an obsession to find her daughter's remains. Only one man—a brilliant, ruthless killer—knows the truth about what happened to Bonnie. But taunting Eve might be his first and last mistake... Blood Game When a Georgia senator's daughter is found dead and drained of blood, Eve enters the world of a twisted psychopath—a man whose name appears on Eve's shortlist of killers connected to her own missing daughter, Bonnie. Eight Days to Live It all begins with a painting called Guilt. Eve Duncan's daughter, Jane, has no idea why she painted the portrait of the chilling face that now hangs in a Paris gallery. But those who belong to a powerful cult—one that dates back to the time of Christ—know both the face and the significance behind it... Chasing the Night A CIA agent's two-year-old child was stolen in the night as a brutal act of vengeance. Nine years later, Catherine Ling's instincts—maternal and professional—tell her that her son is still alive. But she needs the help of someone as driven and obsessed as she is to find him. That person is Eve Duncan.

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SAVE ME
Lisa Scottoline
Cover of SAVE ME

SAVE ME

by Lisa Scottoline · St. Martin's

2 wks on list

You always put your own child first, don't you? When an explosion rips through her daughter's school, Rose McKenna faces a horrifying choice. Does she go in search of her daughter, Melly, or save the children nearest to her first, one of whom is the bully who has been making her daughter's life a misery... It's a split-second decision which will cost one girl dearly and will see Rose's life transformed forever... An international bestseller from an award-winning author, SAVE ME is Sophie's Choice for the 21st Century

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THE PRIEST'S GRAVEYARD
Ted Dekker
Cover of THE PRIEST'S GRAVEYARD

THE PRIEST'S GRAVEYARD

by Ted Dekker · Center Street

1 wks on list

Two abandoned souls are on the hunt for one powerful man. Soon, their paths will cross and lead to one twisted fate. Danny Hansen is a Bosnian immigrant who came to America with hopes of escaping haunted memories of a tragic war that took his other's life. Now he's a priest incensed by the powerful among us who manipulate the law for their own gain, uncaring of thes hattered lives they leave behind. It is his duty to show them the error of their ways, even if he must put them in the grave. Renee Gilmore is the frail and helpless victim of one such powerful man. Having escaped his clutches, she now lives only to satisfy justice by destroying him, regardless of whom she must become in that pursuit. But when Danny and Renee's paths become inexorably entangled things go very, very badly and neither of them may make it out of this hunt alive.

11
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44 CHARLES STREET
Danielle Steel
Cover of 44 CHARLES STREET

44 CHARLES STREET

by Danielle Steel · Delacorte Press

Owner of a struggling art gallery and newly separated from her boyfriend, Francesca Thayer does the math and then the unimaginable. She puts out an advertisement for boarders, and soon her Greenwich Village house becomes a whole new world.

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4
THE PALE KING
David Foster Wallace
Cover of THE PALE KING

THE PALE KING

by David Foster Wallace · Little, Brown

4 wks on list

The "breathtakingly brilliant" novel by the author of Infinite Jest (New York Times) is a deeply compelling and satisfying story, as hilarious and fearless and original as anything Wallace ever wrote. The agents at the IRS Regional Examination Center in Peoria, Illinois, appear ordinary enough to newly arrived trainee David Foster Wallace. But as he immerses himself in a routine so tedious and repetitive that new employees receive boredom-survival training, he learns of the extraordinary variety of personalities drawn to this strange calling. And he has arrived at a moment when forces within the IRS are plotting to eliminate even what little humanity and dignity the work still has. The Pale King remained unfinished at the time of David Foster Wallace's death, but it is a deeply compelling and satisfying novel, hilarious and fearless and as original as anything Wallace ever undertook. It grapples directly with ultimate questions -- questions of life's meaning and of the value of work and society -- through characters imagined with the interior force and generosity that were Wallace's unique gifts. Along the way it suggests a new idea of heroism and commands infinite respect for one of the most daring writers of our time. "The Pale King is by turns funny, shrewd, suspenseful, piercing, smart, terrifying, and rousing." --Laura Miller, Salon

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4
SING YOU HOME
Jodi Picoult
Cover of SING YOU HOME

SING YOU HOME

by Jodi Picoult · Atria

8 wks on list

Zoe Baxter finds unexpected love with a younger woman after she and her husband divorce, and when the couple wants to use the embryos Zoe and her ex-husband had frozen when they were trying to get pregnant, it sparks a legal battle over the rights of gay couples and whether an embryo is considered a life or a piece of property.

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THE PARIS WIFE
Paula McLain
Cover of THE PARIS WIFE

THE PARIS WIFE

by Paula McLain · Ballantine

8 wks on list

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A deeply evocative novel of ambition and betrayal that captures the love affair between two unforgettable people, Ernest Hemingway and his wife Hadley—from the author of Love and Ruin and When the Stars Go Dark “A beautiful portrait of being in Paris in the glittering 1920s—as a wife and as one’s own woman.”—Entertainment Weekly NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY People • Chicago Tribune • NPR • The Philadelphia Inquirer • Kirkus Reviews • The Toronto Sun • BookPage Chicago, 1920: Hadley Richardson is a quiet twenty-eight-year-old who has all but given up on love and happiness—until she meets Ernest Hemingway. Following a whirlwind courtship and wedding, the pair set sail for Paris, where they become the golden couple in a lively and volatile group—the fabled “Lost Generation”—that includes Gertrude Stein, Ezra Pound, and F. Scott Fitzgerald. Though deeply in love, the Hemingways are ill prepared for the hard-drinking, fast-living, and free-loving life of Jazz Age Paris. As Ernest struggles to find the voice that will earn him a place in history and pours himself into the novel that will become The Sun Also Rises, Hadley strives to hold on to her sense of self as her roles as wife, friend, and muse become more challenging. Eventually they find themselves facing the ultimate crisis of their marriage—a deception that will lead to the unraveling of everything they’ve fought so hard for. A heartbreaking portrayal of love and torn loyalty, The Paris Wife is all the more poignant because we know that, in the end, Hemingway wrote that he would rather have died than fallen in love with anyone but Hadley.

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TOYS
James Patterson and Neil McMahon
Cover of TOYS

TOYS

by James Patterson and Neil McMahon · Little, Brown

Hays Baker and his wife, Lizbeth, possess superhuman strength, extraordinary intelligence, stunning looks, a sex life to die for, and two beautiful children. Of course they do-they're Elites, endowed at birth with the very best that the world has to offer. The only problem in their perfect life: humans and their toys! The top operative for the Agency of Change, Hays has just won the fiercest battle of his career. He has been praised by the president and is a national hero. But before he can savor his triumph, he receives an unbelievable shock that overturns everything he thought was true. Suddenly, Hays is on the other side of the gun, forced to leave his perfect family and fight for his life. Now a hunted fugitive, Hays is thrown into an existence he never dreamed possible-fighting to save humans everywhere from extinction. He enlists all of his training to uncover the truth that will save millions of lives-maybe even his own. James Patterson's Toys is a thriller on a hyperplane-with a hero who rivals both James Bond and Jason Bourne.

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