TheBestseller
Observatory

Best Sellers

Hardcover Fiction

Week of September 4, 2011

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1
NEW
THE OMEN MACHINE
Terry Goodkind
Cover of THE OMEN MACHINE

THE OMEN MACHINE

by Terry Goodkind · Tor/Tom Doherty

1 wks at #1 · 1 on list

In The Omen Machine, #1 New York Times-bestselling author Terry Goodkind returns to the lives of Richard Rahl and Kahlan Amnell—in a compelling tale of a new and sinister threat to their world. Hannis Arc, working on the tapestry of lines linking constellations of elements that constituted the language of Creation recorded on the ancient Cerulean scroll spread out among the clutter on his desk, was not surprised to see the seven etherial forms billow into the room like acrid smoke driven on a breath of bitter breeze. Like an otherworldly collection of spectral shapes seemingly carried on random eddies of air, they wandered in a loose clutch among the still and silent mounted bears and beasts rising up on their stands, the small forest of stone pedestals holding massive books of recorded prophecy, and the evenly spaced display cases of oddities, their glass reflecting the firelight from the massive hearth at the side of the room. Since the seven rarely used doors, the shutters on the windows down on the ground level several stories below stood open as a fearless show of invitation. Though they frequently chose to use windows, they didn't actually need the windows any more than they needed the doors. They could seep through any opening, any crack, like vapor rising in the early morning from the stretches of stagnant water that lay in dark swaths through the peat barrens. The open shutters were meant to be a declaration for all to see, including the seven, that Hannis Arc feared nothing. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

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A DANCE WITH DRAGONS
George R. R. Martin
Cover of A DANCE WITH DRAGONS

A DANCE WITH DRAGONS

by George R. R. Martin · Bantam

6 wks on list

A latest installment of the popular series follows a showdown set in the north of the Seven Kingdoms and reveals the circumstances that shaped southern-region events. By the best-selling author of A Feast for Crows.

3
FULL BLACK
Brad Thor
Cover of FULL BLACK

FULL BLACK

by Brad Thor · Atria

4 wks on list

In the wake of a former U.S. President's appointment to the United Nations, counterterrorism operative Scot Harvath is wrongly implicated for a string of national emergencies and assassinations, a situation that forces him to race against time to uncover the real culprit.

5
COLD VENGEANCE
Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
Cover of COLD VENGEANCE

COLD VENGEANCE

by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child · Grand Central

3 wks on list

The dramatic second novel in a three-book story arc starring enigmatic FBI Agent Pendergast on his search for his long-lost wife, Helen. Devastated by the discovery that his wife, Helen, was murdered, Special Agent Pendergast must have retribution. But revenge is not simple. As he stalks his wife's betrayers - a chase that takes him from the wild moors of Scotland to the bustling streets of New York City and the darkest bayous of Louisiana - he is also forced to dig further into Helen's past. And he is stunned to learn that Helen may have been a collaborator in her own murder. Peeling back the layers of deception, Pendergast realizes that the conspiracy is deeper, goes back generations, and is more monstrous than he could have ever imagined - and everything he's believed, everything he's trusted, everything he's understood . . . may be a horrific lie.

6
GHOST STORY
Jim Butcher
Cover of GHOST STORY

GHOST STORY

by Jim Butcher · Roc

4 wks on list

Wizard detective Harry Dresden, murdered by an unknown assassin, must save his friends and his soul without any magic to help him in this novel from the New York Times bestselling author of Side Jobs. 250,000 first printing.

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5
THE IDEAL MAN
Julie Garwood
Cover of THE IDEAL MAN

THE IDEAL MAN

by Julie Garwood · Dutton

2 wks on list

A woman’s life and love are compromised in this pulse-pounding thriller from #1 New York Times bestselling author Julie Garwood. Dr. Ellie Sullivan has witnessed the shooting of an FBI agent in pursuit of a ruthless modern-day Bonnie and Clyde. The only person to see the shooter’s face, Ellie is suddenly thrust into the center of a criminal investigation spearheaded by the no-nonsense, by-the-book, and tantalizingly handsome agent Max Daniels. When the couple is captured, she’ll be called to testify. But the Landrys have been caught before, and each time the witnesses are scared into silence—or they disappear. Now Max vows to be Ellie’s shadow, promising never to leave her side until the trial. But that could be dangerous for both of them, and it isn’t long before the sparks—and the bullets—fly.

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1
PORTRAIT OF A SPY
Daniel Silva
Cover of PORTRAIT OF A SPY

PORTRAIT OF A SPY

by Daniel Silva · Harper/HarperCollins

5 wks on list

‘Allon is the 21st century Bond’ – Daily Mail Gabriel Allon, secret agent, assassin and master art restorer, returns in a spellbinding new novel from the #1 New York Times bestselling author

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5
VICTORY AND HONOR
W.E.B. Griffin and William E. Butterworth IV
Cover of VICTORY AND HONOR

VICTORY AND HONOR

by W.E.B. Griffin and William E. Butterworth IV · Putnam

2 wks on list

W.E. B. Griffin returns to his Honor Bound series set in the shadows of World War II espionage in South America… May 1945: Just weeks after Hitler’s suicide, Cletus Frade and his colleagues in the Office of Strategic Services are fighting several new and deadly battles. The first is political—with every department from Treasury to War to the FBI grabbing for OSS covert agents and assets. The second is military—with the OSS having smuggled Germans into Argentina for years because of their knowledge of Soviet KGB agents in America’s atomic bomb program. The third concerns what might be the next world war against Red Joe Stalin and his voracious ambitions. To get an early advantage, Frade has been conducting a secret and daring operation against the Communists. But to do it undetected, he and his men must walk a perilously dark line. Because all it takes is one slip—and everyone becomes a casualty of war.

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1
NOW YOU SEE HER
James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge
Cover of NOW YOU SEE HER

NOW YOU SEE HER

by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge · Little, Brown

8 wks on list

A successful lawyer and loving mother, Nina Bloom would do anything to protect the life she's built in New York - including lying to everyone, even her daughter, about her past. But when an innocent man is framed for murder, she knows that she can't let him pay for the real killer's crimes. Nina's secret life began nineteen years ago. She had looks to die for, a handsome police-officer husband, and a carefree life in Key West. When she learned she was pregnant with their first child, her happiness was almost overwhelming. But Nina's world is shattered when she unearths a terrible secret that causes her to run for her life and change her identity. Now, years later, Nina risks everything she's earned to return to Florida and confront the murderous evil she fled. In a story of wrenching suspense, James Patterson gives us his most head-spinning, action-filled story yet - a Hitchcockian blend of unquenchable drama and pleasure.

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NEW
RULES OF CIVILITY
Amor Towles
Cover of RULES OF CIVILITY

RULES OF CIVILITY

by Amor Towles · Viking Press

2 wks on list

A chance encounter with a handsome banker in a Greenwich Village jazz bar on New Year's Eve 1938 catapults witty Wall Street secretary Katey Kontent into the upper echelons of New York society, where she befriends a shy multi-millionaire, an Upper East Side ne'er-do-well and a single-minded widow. A first novel. 75,000 first printing.

14
NEW
THE PARIS WIFE
Paula McLain
Cover of THE PARIS WIFE

THE PARIS WIFE

by Paula McLain · Ballantine

21 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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THE MAGICIAN KING
Lev Grossman
Cover of THE MAGICIAN KING

THE MAGICIAN KING

by Lev Grossman · Viking Press

2 wks on list

Lev Grossman’s new novel THE BRIGHT SWORD is out now! Return to Fillory in the riveting sequel to the New York Times bestseller and literary phenomenon, The Magicians, now an original series on SYFY, from the author of the #1 bestselling The Magician’s Land. Quentin Coldwater should be happy. He escaped a miserable Brooklyn childhood, matriculated at a secret college for magic, and graduated to discover that Fillory—a fictional utopia—was actually real. But even as a Fillorian king, Quentin finds little peace. His old restlessness returns, and he longs for the thrills a heroic quest can bring. Accompanied by his oldest friend, Julia, Quentin sets off—only to somehow wind up back in the real world and not in Fillory, as they’d hoped. As the pair struggle to find their way back to their lost kingdom, Quentin is forced to rely on Julia’s illicitly learned sorcery as they face a sinister threat in a world very far from the beloved fantasy novels of their youth.

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