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Best Sellers

Hardcover Fiction

Week of August 29, 2021

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BILLY SUMMERS
Stephen King
Cover of BILLY SUMMERS

BILLY SUMMERS

by Stephen King · Scribner

3 wks at #1 · 2 on list

Billy Summers is a man in a room with a gun. He’s a killer for hire and the best in the business. But he’ll do the job only if the target is a truly bad guy. And now Billy wants out. But first there is one last hit. Billy is among the best snipers in the world, a decorated Iraq war vet, a Houdini when it comes to vanishing after the job is done. So what could possibly go wrong? How about everything. This spectacular can’t-put-it-down novel is part war story, part love letter to small town America and the people who live there, and it features one of the most compelling and surprising duos in King fiction, who set out to avenge the crimes of an extraordinarily evil man. It’s about love, luck, fate, and a complex hero with one last shot at redemption. You won’t put this story down, and you won’t forget Billy.

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THE LAST THING HE TOLD ME
Laura Dave
Cover of THE LAST THING HE TOLD ME

THE LAST THING HE TOLD ME

by Laura Dave · Simon & Schuster

15 wks on list

* OVER TWO MILLION COPIES SOLD * * THE NO.1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * * THE RICHARD & JUDY BOOK CLUB PICK * * THE REESE WITHERSPOON BOOK CLUB PICK * _______________________________________ * NOW A MAJOR TV SERIES ON APPLE TV+ STARRING JENNIFER GARNER * 'The ultimate page turner' - REESE WITHERSPOON 'Powerful, intense and beautifully observed' - T.M. LOGAN 'A brilliant thriller' - JANE CASEY IT WAS THE LAST THING HE TOLD ME: PROTECT HER Before Owen Michaels disappears, he manages to smuggle a note to his new wife, Hannah: protect her. Hannah knows exactly who Owen needs her to protect - his teenage daughter, Bailey, who lost her mother tragically as a child. And who wants absolutely nothing to do with her new stepmother. As her desperate calls to Owen go unanswered, his boss is arrested for fraud and the police start questioning her, Hannah realises that her husband isn't who he said he was. And that Bailey might hold the key to discovering Owen's true identity, and why he disappeared. Together they set out to discover the truth. But as they start putting together the pieces of Owen's past, they soon realise that their lives will never be the same again... Now a major Apple TV+ series starring Jennifer Garner and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, discover the book that everyone is talking about...

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THE PAPER PALACE
Miranda Cowley Heller
Cover of THE PAPER PALACE

THE PAPER PALACE

by Miranda Cowley Heller · Riverhead

6 wks on list

2 MILLION COPIES SOLD WORLDWIDE LONGLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE 2022 One life changing decision: your husband or your one true love? ---------------- On a perfect August morning, Elle Bishop heads out for a swim in the pond below 'The Paper Palace' - her family's holiday home in Cape Cod. As she dives beneath the water she relives the passionate encounter she had the night before, against the side of the house that knows all her darkest secrets, while her husband and mother chatted to their guests inside... So begins a story that unfolds over twenty-four hours and fifty years, as Elle's shocking betrayal leads her to a life-changing decision. A PAGE-TURNING SUMMER READ FOR FANS OF WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING AND LITTLE FIRES EVERYWHERE ---------------- Readers have been gripped by THE PAPER PALACE: ***** 'I devoured this book in a couple of days' ***** 'I fell in love with the characters' ***** 'A heart-rending love story filled with so many complications' Sunday Times Bestseller, September 2022

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THE MIDNIGHT LIBRARY
Matt Haig
Cover of THE MIDNIGHT LIBRARY

THE MIDNIGHT LIBRARY

by Matt Haig · Viking Press

37 wks on list

Between life and death there is a library. When Nora Seed finds herself in the Midnight Library, she has a chance to make things right. Up until now, her life has been full of misery and regret. She feels she has let everyone down, including herself. But things are about to change. The books in the Midnight Library enable Nora to live as if she had done things differently. With the help of an old friend, she can now undo every one of her regrets as she tries to work out her perfect life. But things aren’t always what she imagined they’d be, and soon her choices place the library and herself in extreme danger. Before time runs out, she must answer the ultimate question: what is the best way to live?

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MALIBU RISING
Taylor Jenkins Reid
Cover of MALIBU RISING

MALIBU RISING

by Taylor Jenkins Reid · Ballantine

11 wks on list

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Read with Jenna Book Club Pick as Featured on Today • From the author of Carrie Soto Is Back, Daisy Jones & The Six, and The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo . . . “Irresistible . . . High drama at the beach, starring four sexy, surfing siblings and their deadbeat, famous-crooner dad.”—People ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: The Washington Post, Time, Marie Claire, PopSugar, Parade, Teen Vogue, Self, She Reads Four famous siblings throw an epic party to celebrate the end of the summer. But over the course of twenty-four hours, the family drama that ensues will change their lives forever. Malibu: August 1983. It’s the day of Nina Riva’s annual end-of-summer party, and anticipation is at a fever pitch. Everyone wants to be around the famous Rivas: Nina, the talented surfer and supermodel; brothers Jay and Hud, one a championship surfer, the other a renowned photographer; and their adored baby sister, Kit. Together the siblings are a source of fascination in Malibu and the world over—especially as the offspring of the legendary singer Mick Riva. The only person not looking forward to the party of the year is Nina herself, who never wanted to be the center of attention, and who has also just been very publicly abandoned by her pro tennis player husband. Oh, and maybe Hud—because it is long past time for him to confess something to the brother from whom he’s been inseparable since birth. Jay, on the other hand, is counting the minutes until nightfall, when the girl he can’t stop thinking about promised she’ll be there. And Kit has a couple secrets of her own—including a guest she invited without consulting anyone. By midnight the party will be completely out of control. By morning, the Riva mansion will have gone up in flames. But before that first spark in the early hours before dawn, the alcohol will flow, the music will play, and the loves and secrets that shaped this family’s generations will all come rising to the surface. Malibu Rising is a story about one unforgettable night in the life of a family: the night they each have to choose what they will keep from the people who made them . . . and what they will leave behind.

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WE WERE NEVER HERE
Andrea Bartz
Cover of WE WERE NEVER HERE

WE WERE NEVER HERE

by Andrea Bartz · Ballantine

2 wks on list

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • REESE’S BOOK CLUB PICK • “This book is every suspense lover’s dream and it kept me up way too late turning pages. . . . A novel with crazy twists and turns that will have you ditching your Friday night plans for more chapters.”—Reese Witherspoon A backpacking trip has deadly consequences in this “eerie psychological thriller . . . with alluring locales, Hitchcockian tension, and possibly the best pair of female leads since Thelma and Louise” (BookPage), from the bestselling author of The Lost Night and The Herd. A Marie Claire Book Club Pick • Named One of the Best Books of the Year by NPR and Marie Claire Emily is having the time of her life—she’s in the mountains of Chile with her best friend, Kristen, on their annual reunion trip, and the women are feeling closer than ever. But on the last night of the trip, Emily enters their hotel suite to find blood and broken glass on the floor. Kristen says the cute backpacker she brought back to their room attacked her, and she had no choice but to kill him in self-defense. Even more shocking: The scene is horrifyingly similar to last year’s trip, when another backpacker wound up dead. Emily can’t believe it’s happened again—can lightning really strike twice? Back home in Wisconsin, Emily struggles to bury her trauma, diving headfirst into a new relationship and throwing herself into work. But when Kristen shows up for a surprise visit, Emily is forced to confront their violent past. The more Kristen tries to keep Emily close, the more Emily questions her motives. As Emily feels the walls closing in on their cover-ups, she must reckon with the truth about her closest friend. Can Emily outrun the secrets she shares with Kristen, or will they destroy her relationship, her freedom—even her life?

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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

39 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 CELLIST
Daniel Silva
Cover of THE CELLIST

THE CELLIST

by Daniel Silva · Harper

5 wks on list

Master of international intrigue Daniel Silva, the #1 New York Times bestselling author, comes an explosive thriller featuring art restorer and legendary spy Gabriel Allon. The most beautiful music hides the deadliest secrets ... Viktor Orlov had a longstanding appointment with death. Once Russia's richest man, he now resides in exile in London, where he is waging a crusade against the kleptocrats who have seized control of the Kremlin. His mansion is protected by armed bodyguards. Yet somehow, on a rainy summer evening, in the midst of a global pandemic, Russia's vengeful president finally manages to cross Orlov's name off his kill list. Before him was the receiver from his landline telephone, a half-drunk glass of red wine, and a stack of documents ... The documents are contaminated with a deadly nerve agent. The Metropolitan Police determine that they were delivered by one of Orlov's employees, a prominent investigative reporter. And when the reporter vanishes hours after the killing, MI6 concludes she is a Moscow Center assassin who penetrated the billionaire's formidable defenses. But Gabriel Allon believes his friends in British intelligence are dangerously mistaken. His search for the truth will take him to Geneva, where a private intelligence service is plotting an act of violence that will plunge an already divided America into chaos. Only Allon, with the help of a brilliant young woman employed by the world's dirtiest bank, can stop it... Praise for Daniel Silva: 'Fascinating, suspenseful and bated-breath exciting'Publishers Weekly 'One of the greatest spy novelists the genre has ever known' CrimeReads 'Daniel Silva is that rarity of rarities, a writer whose stories just keep getting better' Huffington Post 'If you like Jason Bourne and Jack Reacher, get to know Gabriel Allon' Australian Women's Weekly

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VORTEX
Catherine Coulter
Cover of VORTEX

VORTEX

by Catherine Coulter · Morrow

1 wks on list

#1 New York Times bestselling Catherine Coulter returns with a brilliant new thriller in her FBI series, in which agents Sherlock and Savich find themselves dealing with very powerful figures from the past who could wreak havoc in the present. Seven years ago, Mia Briscoe was at a college frat rave with her best friend Serena when a fire broke out. Everyone was accounted for except Serena, who was never seen nor heard from again. Now an investigative journalist covering the political scene in New York City, Mia discovers old photos taken the night of Serena's disappearance, and begins to uncover a sinister string of events going all the way back to that disastrous party. Working with Sherlock, the secrets begin to unravel. But some very powerful--and very dangerous--people will do anything to keep them from learning the truth. CIA Operative Olivia Hildebrandt is a team leader on a mission in Iran to exfiltrate a betrayed undercover operative. She's nearly killed by an exploding grenade and saved by a team member. But by the time Olivia is released from Walter Reed Hospital, that team member--and a critical flash drive he was carrying--have disappeared. When she is savagely attacked on her first night home, Savich suspects that the strike is a direct result of the compromised mission and the missing team member and flash drive. But what intelligence was at stake and who betrayed them?

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BLIND TIGER
Sandra Brown
Cover of BLIND TIGER

BLIND TIGER

by Sandra Brown · Grand Central

2 wks on list

THE NEW INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER BY THE 80 MILLION COPY BESTSELLING AUTHOR 1920, Texas Soldier Thatcher Hutton returns to a country unlike the one he left behind - where Prohibition is the new law of the land. When he is caught up in a crime on his journey home, he must gain the sheriff's trust to clear his name. Tragic events and betrayed trust have left Laurel Plummer alone and destitute. With few wage-earning opportunities open to women, she boldly enters an industry rife with danger and dominated by the men of the town. But her success comes at a cost when her cutthroat competitors resort to violence. Now deputy sheriff, Thatcher is powerless to defend Laurel as they find themselves on opposite sides of the moonshine war, where blood flows as freely as whiskey... A new suspenseful novel of murder, mayhem, danger and lust from the #1 New York Times bestseller, perfect for fans of Nora Roberts and Danielle Steel.

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NOT A HAPPY FAMILY
Shari Lapena
Cover of NOT A HAPPY FAMILY

NOT A HAPPY FAMILY

by Shari Lapena · Pamela Dorman

3 wks on list

The chilling Sunday Times bestseller perfect for fans of Knives Out. A Richard & Judy Book Club pick. 'In this fast-paced, twisted family saga, Shari Lapena keeps you guessing until the very last page...' PAULA HAWKINS The new unputdownable thriller from the multi-million-copy bestselling author of THE COUPLE NEXT DOOR. In this family, everyone is keeping secrets - even the dead. In the quiet, wealthy enclave of Brecken Hill, an older couple is brutally murdered hours after a tense Easter dinner with their three adult children. Who, of course, are devastated. Or are they? They each stand to inherit millions. They were never a happy family, thanks to their vindictive father and neglectful mother, but perhaps one of them is more disturbed than anyone knew. Did someone snap after that dreadful evening? Or did another person appear later that night with the worst of intentions? That must be what happened. After all, if one of the family were capable of something as gruesome as this, you'd know. Wouldn't you? 'Nobody does a vicious family circle like Shari Lapena. Highly recommended' Cara Hunter 'Queen of the modern crime novel, Shari Lapena, is back with another tale of murder... Shari will keep you guessing until the very end' Sunday Express 'A cross between Big Little Lies and Miss Marple' Woman's Weekly '[A] dramatic, tense and satisfying murder mystery' My Weekly Shari Lapena, Number 1 Sunday Times bestseller, April 2024

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BLACK ICE
Brad Thor
Cover of BLACK ICE

BLACK ICE

by Brad Thor · Emily Bestler/Atria

4 wks on list

INSTANT #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER “[A]nother instant classic.” —The Real Book Spy “The undisputed master of blending geopolitics with spycraft…a thriller aficionado’s dream.” —The Providence Journal The new Cold War is about to go hot. #1 New York Times and #1 Wall Street Journal bestselling author Brad Thor is back with his most intense thriller yet. Scot Harvath is having his best summer ever. With a cottage on the fjord, a boat, and his beautiful girlfriend Sølvi, he’s got everything he could possibly want. But out of vacation days and long overdue back home, America’s top spy has a decision to make—return or submit his resignation. When his deadly past comes calling, though, he’ll be left with no choice at all. Leaving his favorite Oslo café, Harvath watches as a ghost climbs out of a taxi—a man he killed years ago, halfway around the world. How is he still alive? And what is he doing in Norway? In a race against time that will take him high above the Arctic Circle, Harvath is tested in ways he never could’ve imagined and pushed to a limit few human beings could ever endure. If he succeeds, he’ll walk away with everything. If he fails, the United States and its allies will be at the mercy of one of the world’s most dangerous actors.

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PROJECT HAIL MARY
Andy Weir
Cover of PROJECT HAIL MARY

PROJECT HAIL MARY

by Andy Weir · Ballantine

14 wks on list

THE #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER FROM THE AUTHOR OF THE MARTIAN • Soon to be a major motion picture starring Ryan Gosling, directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, with a screenplay by Drew Goddard A lone astronaut must save the earth from disaster in this “propulsive” (Entertainment Weekly), cinematic thriller full of suspense, humor, and fascinating science. HUGO AWARD FINALIST • ONE OF THE YEAR’S BEST BOOKS: Bill Gates, GatesNotes, New York Public Library, Parade, Newsweek, Polygon, Shelf Awareness, She Reads, Kirkus Reviews, Library Journal • New York Times Readers Pick: 100 Best Books of the 21st Century “An epic story of redemption, discovery and cool speculative sci-fi.”—USA Today “If you loved The Martian, you’ll go crazy for Weir’s latest.”—The Washington Post Ryland Grace is the sole survivor on a desperate, last-chance mission—and if he fails, humanity and the earth itself will perish. Except that right now, he doesn’t know that. He can’t even remember his own name, let alone the nature of his assignment or how to complete it. All he knows is that he’s been asleep for a very, very long time. And he’s just been awakened to find himself millions of miles from home, with nothing but two corpses for company. His crewmates dead, his memories fuzzily returning, Ryland realizes that an impossible task now confronts him. Hurtling through space on this tiny ship, it’s up to him to puzzle out an impossible scientific mystery—and conquer an extinction-level threat to our species. And with the clock ticking down and the nearest human being light-years away, he’s got to do it all alone. Or does he? An irresistible interstellar adventure as only Andy Weir could deliver, Project Hail Mary is a tale of discovery, speculation, and survival to rival The Martian—while taking us to places it never dreamed of going.

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THE FOUR WINDS
Kristin Hannah
Cover of THE FOUR WINDS

THE FOUR WINDS

by Kristin Hannah · St. Martin's

"The Bestselling Hardcover Novel of the Year."--Publishers Weekly From the number-one bestselling author of The Nightingale and The Great Alone comes a powerful American epic about love and heroism and hope, set during the Great Depression, a time when the country was in crisis and at war with itself, when millions were out of work and even the land seemed to have turned against them. “My land tells its story if you listen. The story of our family.” Texas, 1921. A time of abundance. The Great War is over, the bounty of the land is plentiful, and America is on the brink of a new and optimistic era. But for Elsa Wolcott, deemed too old to marry in a time when marriage is a woman’s only option, the future seems bleak. Until the night she meets Rafe Martinelli and decides to change the direction of her life. With her reputation in ruin, there is only one respectable choice: marriage to a man she barely knows. By 1934, the world has changed; millions are out of work and drought has devastated the Great Plains. Farmers are fighting to keep their land and their livelihoods as crops fail and water dries up and the earth cracks open. Dust storms roll relentlessly across the plains. Everything on the Martinelli farm is dying, including Elsa’s tenuous marriage; each day is a desperate battle against nature and a fight to keep her children alive. In this uncertain and perilous time, Elsa—like so many of her neighbors—must make an agonizing choice: fight for the land she loves or leave it behind and go west, to California, in search of a better life for her family. The Four Winds is a rich, sweeping novel that stunningly brings to life the Great Depression and the people who lived through it—the harsh realities that divided us as a nation and the enduring battle between the haves and the have-nots. A testament to hope, resilience, and the strength of the human spirit to survive adversity, The Four Winds is an indelible portrait of America and the American dream, as seen through the eyes of one indomitable woman whose courage and sacrifice will come to define a generation.

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