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Best Sellers

Hardcover Fiction

Week of July 29, 2012

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1
NEW
SHADOW OF NIGHT
Deborah Harkness
Cover of SHADOW OF NIGHT

SHADOW OF NIGHT

by Deborah Harkness · Viking Press

1 wks at #1 · 1 on list

The #1 New York Times bestselling second installment in the All Souls series, from the author of The Discovery of Witches and The Black Bird Oracle. Look for the hit series “A Discovery of Witches,” now streaming on AMC+, Sundance Now, and Shudder! Picking up from A Discovery of Witches’ cliffhanger ending, Shadow of Night takes reluctant witch Diana Bishop and vampire geneticist Matthew Clairmont on a trip through time to Elizabethan London, where they are plunged into a world of spies, magic, and a coterie of Matthew's old friends, the School of Night. As the search for Ashmole 782—the lost and enchanted manuscript whose mystery first pulled Diana and Matthew into one another's orbit—deepens and Diana seeks out a witch to tutor her in magic, the net of Matthew's past tightens around them. Together they find they must embark on a very different—and vastly more dangerous—journey. “A captivating and romantic ripping yarn,”* Shadow of Night confirms Deborah Harkness as a master storyteller, able to cast an “addictive tale of magic, mayhem and two lovers”(Chicago Tribune).

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I, MICHAEL BENNETT
James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge
Cover of I, MICHAEL BENNETT

I, MICHAEL BENNETT

by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge · Little, Brown

1 wks on list

Police officers shot Detective Michael Bennett arrests an infamous Mexican crime lord in a deadly chase that leaves Bennett's lifelong friend Hughie McDonough dead. From jail, the prisoner vows to rain epic violence down upon New York City-and to get revenge on Michael Bennett. Judges murdered To escape the chaos, Bennett takes his ten kids and their beautiful nanny, Mary Catherine, on a much-needed vacation to his family's cabin near Newburgh, New York. But instead of the calm and happy town he remembers from growing up, they step into a nightmare worse than they could have ever imagined. Newburgh is an inferno of warring gangs, and there's little the police-or Bennett-can do to keep the children safe. Target: Michael Bennett As violence overwhelms the state, Bennett is torn between protecting his hometown and saving New York City. A partner in his investigations, federal prosecutor Tara McLellan, brings him new weapons for the battle-and an attraction that endangers his relationship with Mary Catherine. A no-holds-barred, pedal-to-the-floor, action-packed novel, I, Michael Bennett is James Patterson at his most personal and most thrilling best.

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GONE GIRL
Gillian Flynn
Cover of GONE GIRL

GONE GIRL

by Gillian Flynn · Crown

6 wks on list

THE ADDICTIVE No.1 BESTSELLER AND INTERNATIONAL PHENOMENON OVER 20 MILLION COPIES SOLD WORLDWIDE THE BOOK THAT DEFINES PSYCHOLOGICAL THRILLER Who are you? What have we done to each other? These are the questions Nick Dunne finds himself asking on the morning of his fifth wedding anniversary, when his wife Amy suddenly disappears. The police suspect Nick. Amy's friends reveal that she was afraid of him, that she kept secrets from him. He swears it isn't true. A police examination of his computer shows strange searches. He says they weren't made by him. And then there are the persistent calls on his mobile phone. So what really did happen to Nick's beautiful wife? 'Flynn is a brilliantly accomplished psychological crime writer and this latest book is so dark, so twisted and so utterly compelling that it actually messes with your mind' DAILY MAIL 'A near-masterpiece. Flynn is an extraordinary writer who, with every sentence, makes words do things that other writers merely dream of' SOPHIE HANNAH, Sunday Express 'You think you're reading a good, conventional thriller and then it grows into a fascinating portrait of one averagely mismatched relationship...Nothing's as it seems - Flynn is a fabulous plotter, and a very sharp observer of modern life in the aftermath of the credit crunch' THE TIMES 'One of the most popular thrillers of the year is also one of the smartest... Flynn's book cleverly outpaces its neo-noir trappings and consistently surprises the reader.' FINANCIAL TIMES

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BACKFIRE
Catherine Coulter
Cover of BACKFIRE

BACKFIRE

by Catherine Coulter · Putnam

1 wks on list

Savich are Sherlock take on an assassin in this novel in Catherine Coulter's FBI Thriller series. For what you did you deserve this. The mysterious note delivered to FBI agent Dillon Savich has him and his partner, Lacey Sherlock, on edge, just as they’re starting an investigation into the shooting of their longtime friend Ramsey Hunt. The San Francisco judge was shot in the back during a high-profile murder trial—and now Sherlock's and Savich’s search for the truth will take a shocking turn that no one could have seen coming…

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THE NEXT BEST THING
Jennifer Weiner
Cover of THE NEXT BEST THING

THE NEXT BEST THING

by Jennifer Weiner · Atria

2 wks on list

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Jennifer Weiner, an “utterly engaging story” (Time) about a young woman trying to make it as a writer in Hollywood. At three years old, Ruth Saunders miraculously survives the car crash that takes her parents’ lives on the icy Massachusetts Turnpike. Her eccentric grandmother nurtures her through years of surgeries, feeding her home-cooked meals, dispensing irreverent wisdom, and telling Ruth she’s beautiful, even though her scars will stay with her forever. After college, Ruth pursues her dream of writing to Hollywood, heading west with her grandmother in tow, hoping to make it big in the world of TV. After years of failure and a badly broken heart, Ruth gets The Call—her show has been green-lit. But Ruth’s happy ending is only the beginning, as she struggles with how television gets made: terrified (and terrifying) executives and actresses with their eyes on bigger prizes than Ruthie’s show. Add in an unrequited crush on the man who has been her mentor. Add to that her grandmother’s impending nuptials, and Ruth’s big break might just break her. A rollicking ride on the Hollywood roller coaster, The Next Best Thing is a heartfelt story about a young woman searching for her own happily-ever-after in the land where dreams come true.

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WICKED BUSINESS
Janet Evanovich
Cover of WICKED BUSINESS

WICKED BUSINESS

by Janet Evanovich · Bantam

4 wks on list

Lizzy Tucker's once normal life as a pastry chef in Salem, Massachusets, turns upside down as she battles both sinister forces and an inconvenient attraction to unnaturally talented but off-limits partner Diesel.

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THE GREAT ESCAPE
Susan Elizabeth Phillips
Cover of THE GREAT ESCAPE

THE GREAT ESCAPE

by Susan Elizabeth Phillips · Morrow/HarperCollins

1 wks on list

Perennial New York Times bestselling author Susan Elizabeth Phillips now provides her fans with The Great Escape from ordinary women’s romantic fiction, featuring some of Phillips's most adored characters, including Ted Beaudine and Lucy Jorik. Lucy Jorik is a champ at not embarrassing her family—not surprising since her mother is one of the most famous women in the world. But now Lucy has done just that. Instead of saying "I do" to the most perfect man she's ever known, Lucy flees the church and hitches a ride on the back of a beat-up motorcycle with a rough-looking stranger who couldn't be more foreign to her privileged existence. At his beach house on a Great Lakes island, Lucy hopes to find a new direction . . . and unlock the secrets of a man who reveals nothing about himself. But as the hot summer days unfold amid scented breezes and sudden storms, she discovers a passion that could change her life forever.

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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

49 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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THE PRISONER OF HEAVEN
Carlos Ruiz Zafon
Cover of THE PRISONER OF HEAVEN

THE PRISONER OF HEAVEN

by Carlos Ruiz Zafon · Harper/HarperCollins

1 wks on list

'This is is explicitly, and joyously, a book about books, about what can be learned from them and what is lost when they are lost' GUARDIAN 'Full of stylish writing, Gothic atmosphere and love letters to 19th-century novels' WASHINGTON POST Barcelona, 1957. It is Christmas, and Daniel Sempere and his wife, Bea, have much to celebrate. They have a beautiful new baby son, and their close friend Fermín Romero de Torres is about to be wed. But their joy is eclipsed when a a mysterious figure with a porcelain hand enters the Sempere bookshop, threatening to divulge a terrible secret that has been buried for two decades. His appearance plunges Fermín and Daniel into a dangerous adventure that will take them back to the 1940s - the early days of Franco's dictatorship and the very heart of the Cemetery of Forgotten Books. The Prisoner of Heaven is a rich, labyrinthine tale of love, literature, passion, and revenge set in a dark, gothic Barcelona, in which the heroes of The Shadow of the Wind and The Angel's Game must contend with a nemesis that threatens to destroy them.

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NIGHT WATCH
Linda Fairstein
Cover of NIGHT WATCH

NIGHT WATCH

by Linda Fairstein · Dutton

1 wks on list

A thriller set against a backdrop of New York City's most elite and storied restaurants follows the machinations of wealthy and powerful individuals who dine with corrupt police officers and criminals from the city's dark and glamorous underside. By the best-selling author of Silent Mercy. 150,000 first printing.

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CRIMINAL
Karin Slaughter
Cover of CRIMINAL

CRIMINAL

by Karin Slaughter · Delacorte Press

2 wks on list

'One of the boldest thriller writers working today' TESS GERRITSEN 'Her characters, plot, and pacing are unrivalled' MICHAEL CONNELLY _________________________________________ Watch Will Trent now on Disney+ The sixth Will Trent novel, from the #1 bestselling author. A woman is found brutally murdered in a sordid Atlanta apartment. But there's something strange about this particular slaying. Her blood-soaked body bears a chilling similarity to a woman found dead almost 40 years earlier. Could it be the work of a long-dormant serial killer? Soon Special Agent Will Trent finds himself returning to the home he grew up in, and a past that could hold the clue to the killings... _________________________________________ Crime and thriller masters know there's nothing better than a little Slaughter: 'I'd follow her anywhere' GILLIAN FLYNN 'Passion, intensity, and humanity' LEE CHILD 'A writer of extraordinary talents' KATHY REICHS 'Fiction doesn't get any better than this' JEFFERY DEAVER 'A great writer at the peak of her powers' PETER JAMES 'Raw, powerful and utterly gripping' KATHRYN STOCKETT 'With heart and skill Karin Slaughter keeps you hooked from the first page until the last' CAMILLA LACKBERG 'Amongst the world's greatest and finest crime writers' YRSA SIGURÐARDÓTTIR

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MISSION TO PARIS
Alan Furst
Cover of MISSION TO PARIS

MISSION TO PARIS

by Alan Furst · Random House

5 wks on list

“A master spy novelist.”—The Wall Street Journal “Page after page is dazzling.”—James Patterson NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Late summer, 1938. Hollywood film star Fredric Stahl is on his way to Paris to make a movie. The Nazis know he’s coming—a secret bureau within the Reich has been waging political warfare against France, and for their purposes, Fredric Stahl is a perfect agent of influence. What they don’t know is that Stahl, horrified by the Nazi war on Jews and intellectuals, has become part of an informal spy service run out of the American embassy. Mission to Paris is filled with heart-stopping tension, beautifully drawn scenes of romance, and extraordinarily alive characters: foreign assassins; a glamorous Russian actress-turned-spy; and the women in Stahl’s life. At the center of the novel is the city of Paris—its bistros, hotels grand and anonymous, and the Parisians, living every night as though it were their last. Alan Furst brings to life both a dark time in history and the passion of the human hearts that fought to survive it. BONUS: This edition includes an excerpt from Alan Furst's Midnight in Europe. Praise for Mission to Paris “The most talented espionage novelist of our generation.”—Vince Flynn “Vividly re-creates the excitement and growing gloom of the City of Light in 1938–39 . . . It doesn’t get more action-packed and grippingly atmospheric than this.”—The Boston Globe “One of [Furst’s] best . . . This is the romantic Paris to make a tourist weep. . . . In Furst’s densely populated books, hundreds of minor characters—clerks, chauffeurs, soldiers, whores—all whirl around his heroes in perfect focus for a page or two, then dot by dot, face by face, they vanish, leaving a heartbreaking sense of the vast Homeric epic that was World War II and the smallness of almost every life that was caught up in it.”—The New York Times Book Review “A book no reader will put down until the final page . . . Critics compare [Alan] Furst to Graham Greene and John le Carré [as] a master of historical espionage.”—Library Journal (starred review) “Alan Furst’s writing reminds me of a swim in perfect water on a perfect day, fluid and exquisite. One wants the feeling to go on forever, the book to never end. . . . Furst is one of the finest spy novelists working today.”—Publishers Weekly

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CALICO JOE
John Grisham
Cover of CALICO JOE

CALICO JOE

by John Grisham · Doubleday

14 wks on list

This story, based on the Cubs and Mets 1973 season follows the divergent paths of Joe Castle, a rookie hitter for the Chicago Cubs, and Warren Tracey, a hard-throwing Mets pitcher.

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SUMMERLAND
Elin Hilderbrand
Cover of SUMMERLAND

SUMMERLAND

by Elin Hilderbrand · Reagan Arthur/Little, Brown

3 wks on list

FROM THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF THE PERFECT COUPLE, NOW A MAJOR NETFLIX SERIES *** 'Hilderbrand's books keep getting better and better' Bookreporter 'The queen regent of the easy-breezy summer novel' New York Post *** On the night of high school graduation, the island is alive with parties and celebrations. But for four teenagers life is about to change forever, when Penny crashes her car, killing herself and leaving her twin brother Hobson in a deep coma. Penny's boyfriend Jake and her best friend Demeter escape physical injury. But the real scars lie much deeper than that. And while Jake's family try to take him away from the memories by moving to the west coast of Australia, Demeter finds herself in an unstoppable spiral of self-destruction. Furthermore, as the details of the accident continue to emerge, questions are raised by all those affected. Do the roots of the accident lie further in the past than they seem? Is true healing possible, in even these most devastating circumstances? And can true friendship ever really die? 'A sensitive glimpse into the lives of damaged people groping their way toward healing' - Kirkus ************** Further praise for Elin Hilderbrand 'A gritty and moving read that oozes plenty of drama' - Heat 'A gem of a summer read with a glamorous location, elite lifestyle, and Hilderbrand's appealing take on the constant stress that fills the lives of women everywhere' - Booklist 'This book was a great read - you really care what happens to the characters. Perfect holiday reading. I didn't want to put it down' - Candis 'Touching and uplifting' - U Magazine

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BLOODLINE
James Rollins
Cover of BLOODLINE

BLOODLINE

by James Rollins · Morrow/HarperCollins

3 wks on list

A page-turning, high-concept adventure from the king of the genre. Galilee, 1025. Infiltrating an ancient citadel, a Templar knight uncovers a holy treasure long hidden within the fortress's labyrinth: the Bachal Isu - the staff of Jesus Christ - a priceless icon that holds a mysterious and terrifying power. A power that will change humankind for ever. A millennium later, Somali pirates kidnap the President's daughter. Commander Gray Pierce is enlisted for a covert rescue mission in the African jungle. And halfway around the world a firebombing at a fertility clinic in South Carolina exposes a conspiracy that goes back centuries and lies within our genetic code. SIGMA must race to save an innocent unborn baby whose very existence raises questions about the nature of humanity, asking: could you live for ever? Would you live for ever?

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BEAUTIFUL RUINS
Jess Walter
Cover of BEAUTIFUL RUINS

BEAUTIFUL RUINS

by Jess Walter · Harper/HarperCollins

The story begins in 1962. On a rocky patch of the sun-drenched Italian coastline, a young innkeeper, chest-deep in daydreams, looks out over the incandescent waters of the Ligurian Sea and spies an apparition: a tall, thin woman, a vision in white, approaching him on a boat. She is an actress, he soon learns, an American starlet, and she is dying. And the story begins again today, half a world away, when an elderly Italian man shows up on a movie studio's back lot—searching for the mysterious woman he last saw at his hotel decades earlier. What unfolds is a dazzling, yet deeply human, roller coaster of a novel, spanning fifty years and nearly as many lives. From the lavish set of Cleopatra to the shabby revelry of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Walter introduces us to the tangled lives of a dozen unforgettable characters: the starstruck Italian innkeeper and his long-lost love; the heroically preserved producer who once brought them together and his idealistic young assistant; the army veteran turned fledgling novelist and the rakish Richard Burton himself, whose appetites set the whole story in motion—along with the husbands and wives, lovers and dreamers, superstars and losers, who populate their world in the decades that follow. Gloriously inventive, constantly surprising, Beautiful Ruins is a story of flawed yet fascinating people, navigating the rocky shores of their lives while clinging to their improbable dreams.

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