TheBestseller
Observatory

Best Sellers

Hardcover Fiction

Week of October 4, 2015

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MAKE ME
Lee Child
Cover of MAKE ME

MAKE ME

by Lee Child · Delacorte Press

2 wks at #1 · 2 on list

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Don’t miss the hit streaming series Reacher! ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: Los Angeles Times, The Guardian, Suspense magazine • Stephen King calls Jack Reacher “the coolest continuing series character”—and now he’s back in this masterly new thriller from Lee Child. “Why is this town called Mother’s Rest?” That’s all Reacher wants to know. But no one will tell him. It’s a tiny place hidden in a thousand square miles of wheat fields, with a railroad stop, and sullen and watchful people, and a worried woman named Michelle Chang, who mistakes him for someone else: her missing partner in a private investigation she thinks must have started small and then turned lethal. Reacher has no particular place to go, and all the time in the world to get there, and there’s something about Chang . . . so he teams up with her and starts to ask around. He thinks: How bad can this thing be? But before long he’s plunged into a desperate race through LA, Chicago, Phoenix, and San Francisco, and through the hidden parts of the internet, up against thugs and assassins every step of the way—right back to where he started, in Mother’s Rest, where he must confront the worst nightmare he could imagine. Walking away would have been easier. But as always, Reacher’s rule is: If you want me to stop, you’re going to have to make me.

3
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DEVOTED IN DEATH
J. D. Robb
Cover of DEVOTED IN DEATH

DEVOTED IN DEATH

by J. D. Robb · Putnam

1 wks on list

It's a new year in New York city, and two star-crossed lovers have just discovered an insatiable appetite...for murder. Lieutenant Eve Dallas has witnessed some grisly crimes in her career and she knows just how dark things can get on the streets. But when a much-loved musician is found dead, Eve soon realises that his murder is part of a horrifying killing spree, stretching right across the country. Now the killers have reached New York, and they've found themselves another victim. Eve knows she only has a couple of days to save a young girl's life, and to stop the killers before their sadistic games escalate. Eve's husband Roarke is ready to put his brains and his considerable resources behind the search. But even as the couple works closely together, time is running out...

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GO SET A WATCHMAN
Harper Lee
Cover of GO SET A WATCHMAN

GO SET A WATCHMAN

by Harper Lee · Harper

10 wks on list

An historic literary event: the publication of a newly discovered novel, the earliest known work from Harper Lee, the beloved, bestselling author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning classic, To Kill a Mockingbird. Originally written in the mid-1950s, Go Set a Watchman was the novel Harper Lee first submitted to her publishers before To Kill a Mockingbird. Assumed to have been lost, the manuscript was discovered in late 2014. Go Set a Watchman features many of the characters from To Kill a Mockingbird some twenty years later. Returning home to Maycomb to visit her father, Jean Louise Finch—Scout—struggles with issues both personal and political, involving Atticus, society, and the small Alabama town that shaped her. Exploring how the characters from To Kill a Mockingbird are adjusting to the turbulent events transforming mid-1950s America, Go Set a Watchman casts a fascinating new light on Harper Lee’s enduring classic. Moving, funny and compelling, it stands as a magnificent novel in its own right.

5
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ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE
Anthony Doerr
Cover of ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE

ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE

by Anthony Doerr · Scribner

72 wks on list

An imaginative and intricate novel inspired by the horrors of World War II and written in short, elegant chapters that explore human nature and the contradictory power of technology.

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THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN
Paula Hawkins
Cover of THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN

THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN

by Paula Hawkins · Riverhead

36 wks on list

THE RUNAWAY GLOBAL BESTSELLER 'Gripping, enthralling - a top-notch thriller and a compulsive read.' SJ Watson, bestselling author of BEFORE I GO TO SLEEP Rachel catches the same commuter train every morning. She knows it will wait at the same signal each time, overlooking a row of back gardens. She's even started to feel like she knows the people who live in one of the houses. 'Jess and Jason', she calls them. Their life - as she sees it - is perfect. If only Rachel could be that happy. And then she sees something shocking. It's only a minute until the train moves on, but it's enough. Now everything's changed. Now Rachel has a chance to become a part of the lives she's only watched from afar. Now they'll see; she's much more than just the girl on the train... ***PAULA HAWKINS' NEW ADDICTIVE THRILLER, THE BLUE HOUR IS AVAILABLE NOW***

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FATES AND FURIES
Lauren Groff
Cover of FATES AND FURIES

FATES AND FURIES

by Lauren Groff · Riverhead

4 wks on list

A FINALIST FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD ONE OF THE ATLANTIC’S GREAT AMERICAN NOVELS OF THE PAST 100 YEARS NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY: THE WASHINGTON POST, NPR, TIME, THE SEATTLE TIMES, MINNEAPOLIS STAR-TRIBUNE, SLATE, LIBRARY JOURNAL, KIRKUS, AND MANY MORE “Lauren Groff is a writer of rare gifts, and Fates and Furies is an unabashedly ambitious novel that delivers – with comedy, tragedy, well-deployed erudition and unmistakable glimmers of brilliance throughout.” —The New York Times Book Review (cover review) From the award-winning, New York Times-bestselling author of Florida, Matrix, and the highly-anticipated The Vaster Wilds: an exhilarating novel about marriage, creativity, art, and perception. Fates and Furies is a literary masterpiece that defies expectation. A dazzling examination of a marriage, it is also a portrait of creative partnership written by one of the best writers of her generation. Every story has two sides. Every relationship has two perspectives. And sometimes, it turns out, the key to a great marriage is not its truths but its secrets. At the core of this rich, expansive, layered novel, Lauren Groff presents the story of one such marriage over the course of twenty-four years. At age twenty-two, Lotto and Mathilde are tall, glamorous, madly in love, and destined for greatness. A decade later, their marriage is still the envy of their friends, but with an electric thrill we understand that things are even more complicated and remarkable than they have seemed. With stunning revelations and multiple threads, and in prose that is vibrantly alive and original, Groff delivers a deeply satisfying novel about love, art, creativity, and power that is unlike anything that has come before it. Profound, surprising, propulsive, and emotionally riveting, it stirs both the mind and the heart.

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THE END GAME
Catherine Coulter and J.T. Ellison
Cover of THE END GAME

THE END GAME

by Catherine Coulter and J.T. Ellison · Putnam

1 wks on list

Nicholas Drummond, “a new son of Bond licensed to shine”(Kirkus Reviews), returns in the third Brit in the FBI thriller. Nicholas Drummond and his partner, Mike Caine, rush to stop the deadly bombings and cyber attacks of an environmental terrorist group. But when the organization is infiltrated by an international assassin, it will take help from fellow FBI agents Dillon Savich and Lacey Sherlock to stop something much bigger from going down...

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THE NIGHTINGALE
Kristin Hannah
Cover of THE NIGHTINGALE

THE NIGHTINGALE

by Kristin Hannah · St. Martin's

33 wks on list

The bestselling Reese Witherspoon Book Club Pick 'One of the greatest storytellers of our time' – Delia Owens, author of Where the Crawdads Sing Soon to be a major motion picture, The Nightingale is a multi-million copy bestseller across the world. It is a heart-breakingly beautiful novel that celebrates the resilience of the human spirit and the endurance of women. 'I always thought it was what I wanted: to be loved and admired. Now I think perhaps I’d like to be known' This story is about what it was like to be a woman during World War II when women’s stories were all too often forgotten or overlooked . . . Vianne and Isabelle Mauriac are two sisters, separated by years and experience, by ideals and passion and circumstance, each embarking on her own dangerous path towards survival, love and freedom in war-torn France. Kristin Hannah's The Nightingale is a novel for everyone, a novel for a lifetime. ‘A rich, compelling novel of love, sacrifice and survival’ - Kate Morton ‘Movingly written and plotted with the heartless skill of a Greek tragedy, you’ll keep turning the pages until the last racking sob’ - Daily Mail ‘I loved The Nightingale . . . great characters, great plots, great emotions, who could ask for more in a novel?’ - Isabel Allende, bestselling author of The House of the Spirits ‘A gripping tale of family, love, grief and forgiveness’ - Sunday Express The Nightingale has sold more than 4 million copies globally, TIME, February 2021

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DRIVING HEAT
Richard Castle
Cover of DRIVING HEAT

DRIVING HEAT

by Richard Castle · Kingswell

1 wks on list

Nikki Heat, the NYPD's top homicide detective, has been promoted to captain just in time to face a thrilling case with a very personal twist. Her fiancé Jameson Rook is deep in an investigation. Professionally for Heat, Rook's meddling in the case compromises her new job. Privately, it becomes an early test of their engagement when Rook becomes a distraction at best, and an obstacle at worst, as their parallel lives not only cross, but collide.

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ONE YEAR AFTER
William R. Forstchen
Cover of ONE YEAR AFTER

ONE YEAR AFTER

by William R. Forstchen · Doherty/Forge

1 wks on list

One Year After is the New York Times bestselling follow-up to William R. Forstchen’s smash hit One Second After, the novel cited on the floor of Congress as a book all Americans should read The story begins one year after One Second After ends, two years since nuclear weapons were detonated above the United States and brought America to its knees. After months of suffering starvation, war, and countless deaths, the survivors of Black Mountain, North Carolina, are beginning to recover technology and supplies they had once taken for granted, like electricity, radio communications, and medications. When a “federal administrator” arrives in a nearby city, they dare to hope that a new national government is finally emerging. That hope quickly diminishes when town administrator John Matherson learns that most of the young men and women in the community are to be drafted into the “Army of National Recovery” and sent to trouble spots hundreds of miles away. He and the people of Black Mountain protest vehemently. But “the New Regime” is already tyrannizing one nearby community. Will Matherson’s friends and neighbors be next? The John Matherson Series #1 One Second After #2 One Year After #3 The Final Day Other Books Pillar to the Sky 48 Hours At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

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THE SOLOMON CURSE
Clive Cussler and Russell Blake
Cover of THE SOLOMON CURSE

THE SOLOMON CURSE

by Clive Cussler and Russell Blake · Putnam

3 wks on list

Sam and Remi Fargo search for a legendary lost city in this thrilling adventure from the #1 New York Times–bestselling author. Husband-and-wife treasure-hunting team Sam and Remi Fargo have heard many rumors about the bay off Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands. Some say it was the site of the vanished empire of the Solomon king and that great treasure lies beneath the waters. Others say terrible things happened here, atrocities and disappearances at the hands of cannibal giants, and those who venture there do not return. It is cursed. The Fargos can’t resist the mystery, but their exploration takes a turn when islanders start disappearing. Soon the pair learn there may be truth behind the fables. Clues and whispers lead them on a hunt from the Solomons to Australia to Japan, and what they find at the end of the trail is both wonderful and monstrous—and like nothing they have ever seen before.

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STAR WARS: AFTERMATH
Chuck Wendig
Cover of STAR WARS: AFTERMATH

STAR WARS: AFTERMATH

by Chuck Wendig · Del Rey

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Journey to Star Wars: The Force Awakens “Star Wars: Aftermath [reveals] what happened after the events of 1983’s Return of the Jedi. It turns out, there’s more than just the Empire for the good guys to worry about.”—The Hollywood Reporter As the Empire reels from its critical defeats at the Battle of Endor, the Rebel Alliance—now a fledgling New Republic—presses its advantage by hunting down the enemy’s scattered forces before they can regroup and retaliate. But above the remote planet Akiva, an ominous show of the enemy’s strength is unfolding. Out on a lone reconnaissance mission, pilot Wedge Antilles watches Imperial Star Destroyers gather like birds of prey circling for a kill, but he’s taken captive before he can report back to the New Republic leaders. Meanwhile, on the planet’s surface, former rebel fighter Norra Wexley has returned to her native world—war weary, ready to reunite with her estranged son, and eager to build a new life in some distant place. But when Norra intercepts Wedge Antilles’s urgent distress call, she realizes her time as a freedom fighter is not yet over. What she doesn’t know is just how close the enemy is—or how decisive and dangerous her new mission will be. Determined to preserve the Empire’s power, the surviving Imperial elite are converging on Akiva for a top-secret emergency summit—to consolidate their forces and rally for a counterstrike. But they haven’t reckoned on Norra and her newfound allies—her technical-genius son, a Zabrak bounty hunter, and a reprobate Imperial defector—who are prepared to do whatever they must to end the Empire’s oppressive reign once and for all. Praise for Aftermath “The Force is strong with Star Wars: Aftermath.”—Alternative Nation “The Star Wars universe is fresh and new again, and just as rich and mysterious as it always was.”—Den of Geek “[Chuck] Wendig neatly captures the current states of the Empire and Rebel Alliance and does so through flawed, real, and nuanced characters. His writing gets you up close and personal. . . . Wendig does wonders with dialogue and voice and carving out space for everyone to breathe. Aftermath is a strong foot forward into unexplored territory and puts down just enough foundation that you can start picturing the Resistance and First Order of The Force Awakens taking shape.”—Nerdist “If the opening chapter of the Wendig’s Aftermath trilogy is any indication, the ‘Journey to Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ will be every bit as exciting as the movie.”—New York Daily News “A wonderful Star Wars adventure by a gifted author.”—SF Book Reviews

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