TheBestseller
Observatory

Best Sellers

Hardcover Fiction

Week of March 18, 2012

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1
NEW
LONE WOLF
Jodi Picoult
Cover of LONE WOLF

LONE WOLF

by Jodi Picoult · Emily Bestler/Atria

2 wks at #1 · 1 on list

When his father and sister are injured in an accident that has rendered his father comatose, estranged son Edward decides to stop his father's life support so that his organs can be donated, a choice his sister urges him to reconsider.

2
NEW
VICTIMS
Jonathan Kellerman
Cover of VICTIMS

VICTIMS

by Jonathan Kellerman · Ballantine

1 wks on list

Not since Jack the Ripper terrorized the London slums has there been such a gruesome crime scene. By all accounts, acid-tongued Vita Berlin hadn't a friend in the world, but whom did she cross so badly as to end up arranged in such a grotesque tableau? One look at her apartment-turned-charnel house prompts hard-bitten LAPD detective Milo Sturgis to summon his go-to expert in hunting homicidal maniacs, Alex Delaware.

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KILL SHOT
Vince Flynn
Cover of KILL SHOT

KILL SHOT

by Vince Flynn · Emily Bestler/Atria

4 wks on list

THE NEW YORK TIMES NUMBER ONE BESTSELLER For months, Mitch Rapp has been steadily working his way - bullet by bullet - through a list of the men responsible for the slaughter of 270 civilians, including his own girlfriend, in the Pan Am Lockerbie bombing. His next target - a Libyan diplomat - should be easy. Prone to drink and currently in Paris without a bodyguard, Rapp quickly tracks the man down and sends a bullet into his skull while he's sleeping. But in the split second it takes the bullet to leave the silenced pistol, everything changes. The door to the hotel room is kicked open and gunfire erupts all around Rapp. When the news breaks that Libya's Oil Minister has been killed along with three innocent civilians and four unidentified men, the French authorities are certain that a wounded gunman is still on the loose in Paris. As the finger-pointing begins, Rapp's handlers have only one choice - deny any responsibility for the incident and race to do damage control. Rapp has become a liability, and he must not be taken alive by the French authorities. But alone in Paris, on the run from the authorities and from his own employers, Mitch Rapp must prepare to fight for his life. AMERICAN ASSASSIN, book one in the series, is soon to be a MAJOR MOTION PICTURE starring Dylan O'Brien (Maze Runner), Taylor Kitsch (True Detective) and Michael Keaton. Praise for the Mitch Rapp series 'Sizzles with inside information and CIA secrets' Dan Brown 'A cracking, uncompromising yarn that literally takes no prisoners' The Times 'Vince Flynn clearly has one eye on Lee Child's action thriller throne with this twist-laden story. . . instantly gripping' Shortlist 'Action-packed, in-your-face, adrenalin-pumped super-hero macho escapist fiction that does exactly what it says on the label' Irish Independent

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CELEBRITY IN DEATH
J. D. Robb
Cover of CELEBRITY IN DEATH

CELEBRITY IN DEATH

by J. D. Robb · Putnam

2 wks on list

At the star-studded party celebrating the premiere of a movie based on one of her cases, Lieutenant Eve Dallas discovers the actress who played Peabody drowned in the lap pool and investigates. (mystery & detective).

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1
PRIVATE GAMES
James Patterson and Mark Sullivan
Cover of PRIVATE GAMES

PRIVATE GAMES

by James Patterson and Mark Sullivan · Little, Brown

3 wks on list

On your mark Private, the world's most renowned investigation firm, has been commissioned to provide security for the 2012 Olympic Games in London. Its agents are the smartest, fastest, and most technologically advanced in the world, and 400 of them have been transferred to London to protect more than 10,000 competitors who represent more than 200 countries. Get set The opening ceremony is hours away when Private investigator and single father of twins, Peter Knight, is called to the scene of a ruthless murder. A high-ranking member of the games' organizing committee has been killed. It's clear to Peter that this wasn't a crime of passion, but one of precise calculation and execution. Die Newspaper reporter Karen Pope receives a letter from a person who calls himself Cronus claiming responsibility for the murders. He promises to restore the Olympics to their ancient glory and to destroy all those who have corrupted the games with lies, corruption, and greed. Immediately, Karen hires Private to examine the letter, and she and Peter uncover a criminal genius who won't stop until he's completely destroyed the modern games. "America's #1 storyteller" (Forbes) delivers an exhilarating, action-packed thriller that brings the splendor and emotion of the Olympics to a wildly powerful climax.

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1
THE WOLF GIFT
Anne Rice
Cover of THE WOLF GIFT

THE WOLF GIFT

by Anne Rice · Knopf

3 wks on list

A young reporter on assignment is attacked and bitten by an unknown beast in rural Northern California and begins a terrifying but seductive transformation into a being with a dual nature, both man and wolf.

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NEW
CINNAMON ROLL MURDER
Joanne Fluke
Cover of CINNAMON ROLL MURDER

CINNAMON ROLL MURDER

by Joanne Fluke · Kensington

1 wks on list

New York Times Bestseller: A baker in small-town Minnesota finds the heat is on after a musician is murdered… When bakery owner Hannah Swensen hears that the Cinnamon Roll Six jazz band will be playing at Lake Eden, Minnesota’s Weekend Jazz Festival, she's more than happy to bake up a generous supply of their namesake confections to welcome them to town. Before the festival even begins, tragedy strikes when the tour bus overturns. Among those injured is Buddy Neiman, the band’s beloved keyboard player. His injuries appear minor, until his condition suddenly takes a turn for the worse—as in dead. Hannah’s no doctor, but she suspects that the surgical scissors someone plunged into Buddy’s chest may have something to do with it. Fortunately, she’s on the case, because she knows from experience that nothing’s sweeter than bringing a killer to justice… Features cookie and dessert recipes from The Cookie Jar, including Peaches and Cream Cookies and Chocolate Caramel Bars! “Joanne Fluke is the doyenne of deadly desserts with her deliciously popular Hannah Swensen series.”—Publishers Weekly “Fans of this wildly popular series will not be disappointed. Fluke has kept this series strong for a long time, and there is still plenty to enjoy for foodie crime fans.”—Booklist

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A PERFECT BLOOD
Kim Harrison
Cover of A PERFECT BLOOD

A PERFECT BLOOD

by Kim Harrison · Harper Voyager/HarperCollins

2 wks on list

Ritually murdered corpses are appearing across Cincinnati, terrifying amalgams of human and other. Pulled in by the FIB to help investigate, former witch-turned-day-walking demon Rachel Morgan soon realizes a horrifying truth: others want to create their own demons, and to do so they need her blood. She's faced vampires, witches, werewolves, demons, and more—but this time Rachel's toughest challenge might be humanity itself.

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1
DEFENDING JACOB
William Landay
Cover of DEFENDING JACOB

DEFENDING JACOB

by William Landay · Delacorte Press

17 wks on list

Andy Barber adalah seorang asisten jaksa wilayah di pinggiran Massachusetts selama lebih dari dua puluh tahun. Dia dihormati, hebat di ruang persidangan, dan hidup bahagia dengan Laurie, istrinya, juga Jacob, anaknya. Namun ketika sebuah peristiwa pembunuhan terjadi di taman Cold Spring, di dekat rumah mereka, hidup keluarga Andy pun berubah. Jacob dituduh sebagai pembunuh. Sebagai seorang ayah, naluri untuk membela putranya terus berkobar dalam diri Andy. Dia melakukan berbagai cara untuk menyelamatkan putranya, karena dia tahu bahwa Jacob tidak bersalah. Dia percaya pada putranya. Persidangan terus berlanjut, dan dampaknya memengaruhi kehidupan keluarga Barber. Fakta tersembunyi yang telah lama dikubur Andy malah terkuak, bahkan mengancam rumah tangganya.

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11/22/63
Stephen King
Cover of 11/22/63

11/22/63

by Stephen King · Scribner

On November 22, 1963, three shots rang out in Dallas, President Kennedy died, and the world changed. What if you could change it back? Stephen King’s heart-stoppingly dramatic new novel is about a man who travels back in time to prevent the JFK assassination—a tour de force. Following his massively successful novel Under the Dome, King sweeps readers back in time to another moment—a real life moment—when everything went wrong: the JFK assassination. And he introduces readers to a character who has the power to change the course of history. Jake Epping is a thirty-five-year-old high school English teacher in Lisbon Falls, Maine, who makes extra money teaching adults in the GED program. He receives an essay from one of the students—a gruesome, harrowing first person story about the night fifty years ago when Harry Dunning’s father came home and killed his mother, his sister, and his brother with a hammer. Harry escaped with a smashed leg, as evidenced by his crooked walk. Not much later, Jake’s friend Al, who runs the local diner, divulges a secret: his storeroom is a portal to 1958. He enlists Jake on an insane—and insanely possible—mission to try to prevent the Kennedy assassination. So begins Jake’s new life as George Amberson and his new world of Elvis and JFK, of big American cars and sock hops, of a troubled loner named Lee Harvey Oswald and a beautiful high school librarian named Sadie Dunhill, who becomes the love of Jake’s life—a life that transgresses all the normal rules of time. A tribute to a simpler era and a devastating exercise in escalating suspense, 11/22/63 is Stephen King at his epic best.

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I'VE GOT YOUR NUMBER
Sophie Kinsella
Cover of I'VE GOT YOUR NUMBER

I'VE GOT YOUR NUMBER

by Sophie Kinsella · Dial Press

3 wks on list

The hilarious romantic comedy from NUMBER ONE BESTSELLING AUTHOR Sophie Kinsella I’ve lost it :( The only thing in the world I wasn’t supposed to lose. My engagement ring. It’s been in Magnus’s family for three generations. And now, the very same day his parents are coming, I’ve lost it. The very same day. Do not hyperventilate, Poppy. Stay positive!! :) A couple of glasses of bubbly with the girls and Poppy’s life has gone into meltdown. Not only has she lost her engagement ring, but in the panic that followed, she’s lost her phone too. When she spots an abandoned phone in a bin it seems it was meant to be . . . Finders Keepers! Except the phone’s owner, elusive businessman Sam Roxton, doesn’t agree. He wants his phone back, and doesn’t appreciate Poppy reading all his messages and wading into his personal life. Can things get any more tangled? ***** EVERYBODY LOVES SOPHIE KINSELLA: ***** 'Funny, fast and farcical. I loved it' JOJO MOYES 'I couldn’t put it down.' LOUISE PENTLAND (SprinkleofGlitter) 'I almost cried with laughter' DAILY MAIL 'Life doesn't get much better than a new Sophie Kinsella novel' RED 'Hilarious . . . you'll laugh and gasp on every page' JENNY COLGAN [Cover may vary]

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DEATH COMES TO PEMBERLEY
P. D. James
Cover of DEATH COMES TO PEMBERLEY

DEATH COMES TO PEMBERLEY

by P. D. James · Knopf

13 wks on list

The world is classic Jane Austen. The mystery is vintage P.D. James. This enhanced ebook of Death Comes to Pemberley contains video and audio that can be viewed and heard on a tablet device such as the iPad. There is a video interview with P. D. James, a longer audio interview, and an audio author reading. The year is 1803, and Fitzwilliam Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet have been married for six years. There are now two handsome and healthy sons in the nursery, Elizabeth's beloved sister Jane and her husband Bingley live nearby and the orderly world of Pemberley seems unassailable. But all this is threatened when, on the eve of the annual autumn ball, the guests are preparing to retire for the night when a chaise appears, rocking down the path from Pemberley's wild woodland. As it pulls up, Lydia Wickham - Elizabeth Bennet's younger, unreliable sister - stumbles out screaming that her husband has been murdered. Two great literary minds - master of suspense P.D. James and literary icon Jane Austen - come together in Death Comes to Pemberley, a bestselling historical crime fiction tribute to Pride and Prejudice. Conjuring the world of Elizabeth Bennet and Mark Darcy and combining the trappings of Regency British society with a classic murder mystery, James creates a delightful mash-up that will intrigue any Janeite. From the bestselling author of The Murder Room, Children of Men and A Certain Justice, comes a wonderful mixture of the nation's greatest romance and best-loved crime fiction. In 2013, this novel was adapted as a miniseries by the BBC, starring Matthew Rhys as Darcy, Anna Maxwell Martin as Elizabeth Bennet and Jenna Coleman as Lydia Wickham.

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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

31 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.

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HOME FRONT
Kristin Hannah
Cover of HOME FRONT

HOME FRONT

by Kristin Hannah · St. Martin’s Press

5 wks on list

"Home Front is Hannah's crowning achievement."—The Huffington Post In this powerhouse of a novel, Kristin Hannah explores the intimate landscape of a troubled marriage with this provocative and timely portrait of a husband and wife, in love and at war. All marriages have a breaking point. All families have wounds. All wars have a cost. . . . Like many couples, Michael and Jolene Zarkades have to face the pressures of everyday life—children, careers, bills, chores—even as their twelve-year marriage is falling apart. Then a deployment sends Jolene deep into harm's way and leaves defense attorney Michael at home, unaccustomed to being a single parent to their two girls. As a mother, it agonizes Jolene to leave her family, but as a solider, she has always understood the true meaning of duty. In her letters home, she paints a rose-colored version of her life on the front lines, shielding her family from the truth. But war will change Jolene in ways that none of them could have foreseen. When tragedy strikes, Michael must face his darkest fear and fight a battle of his own—for everything that matters to his family. At once a profoundly honest look at modern marriage and a dramatic exploration of the toll war takes on an ordinary American family, Home Front is a story of love, loss, heroism, honor, and ultimately, hope. "Hannah has written a remarkable tale of duty, love, strength, and hope that is at times poignant and always thoroughly captivating and relevant." —Library Journal (starred review)

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THE PARIS WIFE
Paula McLain
Cover of THE PARIS WIFE

THE PARIS WIFE

by Paula McLain · Ballantine

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.

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