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Hardcover Fiction

Week of November 1, 2020

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1
NEW
A TIME FOR MERCY
John Grisham

A TIME FOR MERCY

by John Grisham · Doubleday

4 wks at #1 · 1 on list

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A disgraced corporate attorney ventures into a potentially lethal jungle, on a job no one wants, in this “entertaining page-turner” (USA Today) from the master of the legal thriller. In a plush Virginia office, a rich, angry old man is furiously rewriting his will. With his death just hours away, Troy Phelan wants to send a message to his children, his ex-wives, and his minions—a message that will touch off a vicious legal battle and transform dozens of lives. Because Troy Phelan’s new will names a sole surprise heir to his eleven-billion-dollar fortune: a mysterious woman named Rachel Lane, a missionary living deep in the jungles of Brazil. Enter the lawyers. Nate O’Riley is fresh out of rehab, handpicked for his last job: to find Rachel Lane at any cost. As Phelan’s family circles like vultures in D.C., Nate goes crashing through the Brazilian jungle, entering a world where money means nothing, where death is just one misstep away, and where a woman—pursued by enemies and friends alike—holds a stunning surprise of her own.

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THE RETURN
Nicholas Sparks
Cover of THE RETURN

THE RETURN

by Nicholas Sparks · Grand Central

3 wks on list

A house full of love. A house full of secrets. #1 New York Times bestselling author Nicholas Sparks is back with his best novel yet. * Trevor Benson never intended to return to North Carolina. But here he is, back where it all began. Trevor found himself unable to resist the call home when he inherited a tumbledown cabin from his grandfather. He's come back to live the simple life but nothing here is simple. There's Callie, the sullen local teenager who seems to know more than she should about Trevor's grandfather's death. And there's Natalie, the deputy sheriff intent on making a point and lingering in Trevor's mind long after she's left his porch. In a bid to unravel Natalie and Callie's secrets and to find out what really happened to his grandfather, Trevor is about to learn more than he's bargained for - that sometimes, in order to move forward, we have to return to the place where it all began. Praise for Nicholas Sparks: 'A fiercely romantic and touching tale' Heat 'An A-grade romantic read' OK! 'Pulls at the heartstrings' Sunday Times 'An absorbing page-turner' Daily Mail 'This one won't leave a dry eye' Daily Mirror

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THE SEARCHER
Tana French

THE SEARCHER

by Tana French · Viking Press

2 wks on list

Information Today, Inc. presents "Searcher: The Magazine for Database Professionals," a magazine that covers issues of interest to professional database searchers. The magazine includes updated news, conference reports, a table of contents for the current issue and past issues, and subscription information.

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THE EVENING AND THE MORNING
Ken Follett

THE EVENING AND THE MORNING

by Ken Follett · Viking Press

5 wks on list

International No.1 bestseller Ken Follett returns with The Evening and The Morning, a thrilling and addictive novel from the master of historical fiction. It is 997 CE, the end of the Dark Ages, and in England one man's ambition to make his abbey a centre of learning will take the reader on an epic journey into a historical past rich with ambition and rivalry, death and birth, love and hate. Thirty years ago, Ken Follett published his most popular novel, The Pillars of The Earth, which has sold over 27 million copies worldwide. Now, this novel, the prequel, will take the readers on an epic journey that will end where The Pillars of The Earth begins . . .

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THE INVISIBLE LIFE OF ADDIE LARUE
V.E. Schwab
Cover of THE INVISIBLE LIFE OF ADDIE LARUE

THE INVISIBLE LIFE OF ADDIE LARUE

by V.E. Schwab · Tor/Forge

2 wks on list

For someone damned to be forgettable, Addie LaRue is a most delightfully unforgettable character, and her story is the most joyous evocation of unlikely immortality. Neil Gaiman A Sunday Times-bestselling, award-nominated genre-defying tour-de-force of Faustian bargains, for fans of The Time Traveler's Wife and Life After Life, and The Sudden Appearance of Hope. When Addie La Rue makes a pact with the devil, she trades her soul for immortality. But there's always a price - the devil takes away her place in the world, cursing her to be forgotten by everyone. Addie flees her tiny home town in 18th-Century France, beginning a journey that takes her across the world, learning to live a life where no one remembers her and everything she owns is lost and broken. Existing only as a muse for artists throughout history, she learns to fall in love anew every single day. Her only companion on this journey is her dark devil with hypnotic green eyes, who visits her each year on the anniversary of their deal. Alone in the world, Addie has no choice but to confront him, to understand him, maybe to beat him. Until one day, in a second hand bookshop in Manhattan, Addie meets someone who remembers her. Suddenly thrust back into a real, normal life, Addie realises she can't escape her fate forever.

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THE BOOK OF TWO WAYS
Jodi Picoult
Cover of THE BOOK OF TWO WAYS

THE BOOK OF TWO WAYS

by Jodi Picoult · Ballantine

4 wks on list

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the author of Small Great Things and A Spark of Light comes a “powerful” (The Washington Post) novel about the choices that alter the course of our lives. Look for Jodi Picoult’s new novel, By Any Other Name, now available! NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY MARIE CLAIRE Everything changes in a single moment for Dawn Edelstein. She’s on a plane when the flight attendant makes an announcement: Prepare for a crash landing. She braces herself as thoughts flash through her mind. The shocking thing is, the thoughts are not of her husband but of a man she last saw fifteen years ago: Wyatt Armstrong. Dawn, miraculously, survives the crash, but so do all the doubts that have suddenly been raised. She has led a good life. Back in Boston, there is her husband, Brian, their beloved daughter, and her work as a death doula, in which she helps ease the transition between life and death for her clients. But somewhere in Egypt is Wyatt Armstrong, who works as an archaeologist unearthing ancient burial sites, a career Dawn once studied for but was forced to abandon when life suddenly intervened. And now, when it seems that fate is offering her second chances, she is not as sure of the choice she once made. After the crash landing, the airline ensures that the survivors are seen by a doctor, then offers transportation to wherever they want to go. The obvious destination is to fly home, but she could take another path: return to the archaeological site she left years before, reconnect with Wyatt and their unresolved history, and maybe even complete her research on The Book of Two Ways—the first known map of the afterlife. As the story unfolds, Dawn’s two possible futures unspool side by side, as do the secrets and doubts long buried with them. Dawn must confront the questions she’s never truly asked: What does a life well lived look like? When we leave this earth, what do we leave behind? Do we make choices . . . or do our choices make us? And who would you be if you hadn’t turned out to be the person you are right now?

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LEAVE THE WORLD BEHIND
Rumaan Alam
Cover of LEAVE THE WORLD BEHIND

LEAVE THE WORLD BEHIND

by Rumaan Alam · Ecco

2 wks on list

Amanda and Clay head to a remote corner of Long Island expecting a vacation: a quiet reprieve from life in New York City, quality time with their teenage son and daughter, and a taste of the good life in the luxurious home they've rented for the week. The houseowners, Ruth and G. H., arrive in the middle of the night in a panic. They say a sudden blackout has swept the city: the TV and internet are down, and no cell phone service. Is the vacation home, isolated from civilization, a safe place for their families? And are they safe from one other? -- adapted from jacket

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TROUBLES IN PARADISE
Elin Hilderbrand
Cover of TROUBLES IN PARADISE

TROUBLES IN PARADISE

by Elin Hilderbrand · Little, Brown

2 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 *** Escape to the bright Caribbean sunshine one last time in this satisfying and page-turning conclusion to the bestselling Paradise trilogy. After uprooting her life, Irene Steele has just settled in at the villa on St. John where her husband Russ had been living a double life. But a visit from the FBI shakes her foundations, and Irene once again learns just how little she knew about the man she loved. Meanwhile, as Irene and her sons try to get on with setting up their new lives, evidence mounts that the helicopter crash that killed Russ may not have been an accident. As a storm gathers strength in the Atlantic, all will be revealed about the secrets and lies that brought Irene and her sons to St. John at last. Praise for the Paradise Series: 'What do you do once you've become Queen of the Summer Novel and mastered the art of the Christmas novel? You start a new series, of course! This Fall, the incomparable Elin Hilderbrand brings us to St. John for the first novel in her new The Paradise series... Another compulsively readable hit by Hilderbrand.' - PopSugar 'A new series from Nantucket author Elin Hilderbrant-that's set in St. John!' - Modern Mrs. Darcy 'With great verve, [Hilderbrand] has done it again with her latest novel, WINTER IN PARADISE, the first book in a planned trilogy. She is witty and engaging, and keeps her readers intrigued with a memorable set of characters... As always, she delivers a story with much detail, weaving her characters and storylines expertly... Be prepared to read a fast-paced and entertaining novel for several hours, which will keep you longing for the second book in the series.' - Bookreporter 'The perfect vacation read.' - Hasty Book List 'As she does in her books set on Nantucket, Hilderbrand excels at establishing a setting (the food! the luxury! the sea turtles!) that will inspire wanderlust...Hilderbrand is the queen of the summer blockbuster; her fans will be thrilled that she's looking to take on winter.' - Booklist 'This fast-paced novel offers the voices of several different characters, as well as a hefty load of intrigue.' - New York journal of Books

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THE VANISHING HALF
Brit Bennett
Cover of THE VANISHING HALF

THE VANISHING HALF

by Brit Bennett · Riverhead

20 wks on list

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER ONE OF BARACK OBAMA'S FAVORITE BOOKS OF THE YEAR NAMED A BEST BOOK OF 2020 BY THE NEW YORK TIMES • THE WASHINGTON POST • NPR • PEOPLE • TIME MAGAZINE • VANITY FAIR • GLAMOUR New York Times Readers Pick: 100 Best Books of the 21st Century 2021 WOMEN'S PRIZE FINALIST “Bennett’s tone and style recalls James Baldwin and Jacqueline Woodson, but it’s especially reminiscent of Toni Morrison’s 1970 debut novel, The Bluest Eye.” —Kiley Reid, Wall Street Journal “A story of absolute, universal timelessness . . . For any era, it's an accomplished, affecting novel. For this moment, it’s piercing, subtly wending its way toward questions about who we are and who we want to be….” – Entertainment Weekly From The New York Times-bestselling author of The Mothers, a stunning new novel about twin sisters, inseparable as children, who ultimately choose to live in two very different worlds, one black and one white. The Vignes twin sisters will always be identical. But after growing up together in a small, southern black community and running away at age sixteen, it's not just the shape of their daily lives that is different as adults, it's everything: their families, their communities, their racial identities. Many years later, one sister lives with her black daughter in the same southern town she once tried to escape. The other secretly passes for white, and her white husband knows nothing of her past. Still, even separated by so many miles and just as many lies, the fates of the twins remain intertwined. What will happen to the next generation, when their own daughters' storylines intersect? Weaving together multiple strands and generations of this family, from the Deep South to California, from the 1950s to the 1990s, Brit Bennett produces a story that is at once a riveting, emotional family story and a brilliant exploration of the American history of passing. Looking well beyond issues of race, The Vanishing Half considers the lasting influence of the past as it shapes a person's decisions, desires, and expectations, and explores some of the multiple reasons and realms in which people sometimes feel pulled to live as something other than their origins. As with her New York Times-bestselling debut The Mothers, Brit Bennett offers an engrossing page-turner about family and relationships that is immersive and provocative, compassionate and wise.

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JINGLE ALL THE WAY
Debbie Macomber
Cover of JINGLE ALL THE WAY

JINGLE ALL THE WAY

by Debbie Macomber · Ballantine

1 wks on list

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Love can transform even the best-laid plans in this heartfelt Christmas novel from the queen of Christmas stories, Debbie Macomber. Trapped in the middle of five siblings, Everly Lancaster always had big dreams. Now a top real-estate executive, Everly finds her work is her life, leaving no space for anything (or anyone) else. Sensing her stress, Everly’s boss insists she take December off. At first, a month away seems crazy—how will the company survive without her? But Everly’s mother convinces her otherwise. She deserves a vacation—plus, when she returns, she’ll have no excuse to skip family Christmas like she did last year. But after her vengeful assistant books a guided cruise in the Amazon instead of the luxury beach vacation she expected, Everly is horrified to realize that she’s about to spend the next two weeks trapped—with no Wi-Fi!—in the rain forest. Not even Asher Adams, the ship’s charming naturalist, can convince Everly that the trip will be unforgettable. Slowly but surely, she realizes he is right: the sights are spectacular. And with each passing day, Everly’s relationship with Asher deepens, forcing her to take a long, hard look at her priorities. Everly and Asher begin to see magic in the possibility of a life together. But as the cruise nears its end, and Everly’s family Christmas approaches, both must decide if love is worth the risk. A merry surprise may be in store in Debbie Macomber’s newest holiday delight.

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WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING
Delia Owens
Cover of WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING

WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING

by Delia Owens · Putnam

111 wks on list

NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE—The #1 New York Times bestselling worldwide sensation with more than 18 million copies sold, hailed by The New York Times Book Review as “a painfully beautiful first novel that is at once a murder mystery, a coming-of-age narrative and a celebration of nature.” New York Times Readers Pick: 100 Best Books of the 21st Century For years, rumors of the “Marsh Girl” have haunted Barkley Cove, a quiet town on the North Carolina coast. So in late 1969, when handsome Chase Andrews is found dead, the locals immediately suspect Kya Clark, the so-called Marsh Girl. But Kya is not what they say. Sensitive and intelligent, she has survived for years alone in the marsh that she calls home, finding friends in the gulls and lessons in the sand. Then the time comes when she yearns to be touched and loved. When two young men from town become intrigued by her wild beauty, Kya opens herself to a new life—until the unthinkable happens. Where the Crawdads Sing is at once an exquisite ode to the natural world, a heartbreaking coming-of-age story, and a surprising tale of possible murder. Owens reminds us that we are forever shaped by the children we once were, and that we are all subject to the beautiful and violent secrets that nature keeps.

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INVISIBLE GIRL
Lisa Jewell
Cover of INVISIBLE GIRL

INVISIBLE GIRL

by Lisa Jewell · Atria

1 wks on list

You don't see her. But she sees you. From the #1 bestselling author of The Family Upstairs and Then She Was Gone comes an engrossing, twist-packed story of dark family secrets and betrayal. 'Her best yet.' JOJO MOYES 'Dark, furiously twisty and utterly gripping.' LUCY FOLEY 'A masterclass in how to write with pace and tension.' HARRIET TYCE ______________ MIDNIGHT. In the bad part of town, where cats prowl and foxes shriek, a girl is watching... When Saffyre Maddox was ten, something terrible happened, and she's carried the pain of it ever since. The man who she thought was going to heal her didn't, and now she hides and watches him, learning his secrets, invisible in the shadows. Owen Pick is invisible too. He's never had a girlfriend; he's never even had a friend. Nobody sees him. Nobody cares. But when Saffyre goes missing from opposite his house on Valentine's Day, suddenly the whole world is looking at Owen. Accusing him. Holding him responsible for Saffyre's disappearance . . . ______________ Readers can't get enough of Invisible Girl . . . ***** 'Hot diggity dang!! Now that's what I been talking about!' ***** 'There is more than one mystery to unravel here fans!!' ***** 'Every time I thought I had figured out what was going on things changed again!' ***** 'This book was crazy good. I couldn't read it fast enough' ***** 'This suspenseful thriller will touch your heart and captivate you with the shocking conclusion!'

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THE COAST-TO-COAST MURDERS
James Patterson and J.D. Barker
Cover of THE COAST-TO-COAST MURDERS

THE COAST-TO-COAST MURDERS

by James Patterson and J.D. Barker · Little, Brown

4 wks on list

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER From coastal California to upstate New York, a killer is plotting a devastating path of destruction . . . Michael and Megan Fitzgerald are siblings who share a troubling past. Both adopted, and now adults - Michael is a long-haul truck driver, Megan a college student majoring in psychology - they trust each other before anyone else. They've had to. When a young woman is found murdered in Michael's LA apartment, he is the chief suspect and quickly arrested. But then there's another killing that is strikingly similar. And another. And not just in LA - as the spree spreads across the country, the FBI become involved in a manhunt for a cold-blooded serial killer. Racing against time, the LAPD and FBI desperately search for a way to prevent a string of murders that seems unstoppable. _______________________________ Readers love The Coast-to-Coast Murders: 'This is James Patterson at his breathtaking best' ***** 'Sits right up there with the best of the best . . . utterly unputdownable' ***** 'Full of twists and turns . . . I was completely thrown at the end' ***** 'A fast-paced thriller of epic proportions. Utterly brilliant' ***** 'Gripping from the first page to the last, this book has it all' ***** 'A fascinating, intricate storyline that wends and weaves and left me breathless' ***** 'Patterson does it again . . . I was gripped from start to end' ***** 'Has you on the edge of your seat . . . the short chapters power the plot along at lightning speed; you simply can't put it down' ***** 'You really can't go wrong with a James Patterson novel, and this one didn't disappoint' ***** 'A rollercoaster of a ride' ***** 'Beyond stellar' ***** 'Had me on the edge of my seat from start to finish' ***** 'Like reading a blockbuster movie . . . Brilliantly written' **** 'Will keep you guessing until the very end' **** 'Twisted, jaw dropping, eye popping . . . You cannot relax for a second' ****

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ANXIOUS PEOPLE
Fredrik Backman
Cover of ANXIOUS PEOPLE

ANXIOUS PEOPLE

by Fredrik Backman · Atria

6 wks on list

#1 New York Times bestseller From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of A Man Called Ove and “writer of astonishing depth” (The Washington Times) comes a poignant comedy about a crime that never took place, a would-be bank robber who disappears into thin air, and eight extremely anxious strangers who find they have more in common than they ever imagined. Viewing an apartment normally doesn’t turn into a life-or-death situation, but this particular open house becomes just that when a failed bank robber bursts in and takes everyone in the apartment hostage. As the pressure mounts, the eight strangers begin slowly opening up to one another and reveal long-hidden truths. First is Zara, a wealthy bank director who has been too busy to care about anyone else until tragedy changed her life. Now, she’s obsessed with visiting open houses to see how ordinary people live—and, perhaps, to set an old wrong to right. Then there’s Roger and Anna-Lena, an Ikea-addicted retired couple who are on a never-ending hunt for fixer-uppers to hide the fact that they don’t know how to fix their own failing marriage. Julia and Ro are a young lesbian couple and soon-to-be parents who are nervous about their chances for a successful life together since they can’t agree on anything. And there’s Estelle, an eighty-year-old woman who has lived long enough to be unimpressed by a masked bank robber waving a gun in her face. And despite the story she tells them all, Estelle hasn’t really come to the apartment to view it for her daughter, and her husband really isn’t outside parking the car. As police surround the premises and television channels broadcast the hostage situation live, the tension mounts and even deeper secrets are slowly revealed. Before long, the robber must decide which is the more terrifying prospect: going out to face the police, or staying in the apartment with this group of impossible people. Rich with Fredrik Backman’s “pitch-perfect dialogue and an unparalleled understanding of human nature” (Shelf Awareness), Anxious People’s whimsical plot serves up unforgettable insights into the human condition and a gentle reminder to be compassionate to all the anxious people we encounter every day.

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