TheBestseller
Observatory

Best Sellers

Hardcover Fiction

Week of August 11, 1985

FictionNonfiction
WeekMonth
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2
THE FOURTH DEADLY SIN
Lawrence Sanders

THE FOURTH DEADLY SIN

by Lawrence Sanders · Putnam

4 wks on list

The First Deadly Sin set the standard by which thrillers are measured--and The Fourth Deadly Sin surpassed it. In Lawrence Sanders's most compelling novel ever, ex-cop Ed Delaney must crack the high-profile case of a brutally murdered psychiatrist by investigating six suspects--the doctor's own patients... * A Literary Guild? Selection

3
THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER
Tom Clancy
Cover of THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER

THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER

by Tom Clancy · Naval Institute Press

21 wks on list

Both the Americans and the Soviets commence an intense naval search when a trusted and skilled Soviet naval officer defects--using the USSR's most valuable nuclear submarine as his escape vehicle

4
THE CIDER HOUSE RULES
John Irving
Cover of THE CIDER HOUSE RULES

THE CIDER HOUSE RULES

by John Irving · Morrow

12 wks on list

Dr. Wilbur Larch does the "Lord's work" at his isolated orphanage and prepares Homer Wells to take his place.

5
1
JUBAL SACKETT
Louis L'Amour
Cover of JUBAL SACKETT

JUBAL SACKETT

by Louis L'Amour · Bantam

12 wks on list

Jubal Sackett explores the West and meets a Kickapoo brave who helps him save the Natchez princess Itchakomi from a Spanish soldier.

8
IF TOMORROW COMES
Sidney Sheldon
Cover of IF TOMORROW COMES
9
THE LOVER
Marguerite Duras
Cover of THE LOVER

THE LOVER

by Marguerite Duras · Pantheon

4 wks on list

An international best-seller with more than one million copies in print and a winner of France's Prix Goncourt, The Lover has been acclaimed by critics all over the world since its first publication in 1984. Set in the prewar Indochina of Marguerite Duras's childhood, this is the haunting tale of a tumultuous affair between an adolescent French girl and her Chinese lover. In spare yet luminous prose, Duras evokes life on the margins of Saigon in the waning days of France's colonial empire, and its representation in the passionate relationship between two unforgettable outcasts. Long unavailable in hardcover, this edition of The Lover includes a new introduction by Maxine Hong Kingston that looks back at Duras's world from an intriguing new perspective--that of a visitor to Vietnam today.

11
A CATSKILL EAGLE
Robert B. Parker
Cover of A CATSKILL EAGLE

A CATSKILL EAGLE

by Robert B. Parker · Delacorte Press

8 wks on list

It was nearly midnight and I was just getting home from detecting. I had followed an embezzler around on a warm day in early summer trying to observe him spending his ill-gotten gain. The best I'd been able to do was catch him eating a veal cutlet sandwich in a sub shop in Danvers Square across from Security National Bank.

12
INSIDE, OUTSIDE
Herman Wouk
Cover of INSIDE, OUTSIDE

INSIDE, OUTSIDE

by Herman Wouk · Little, Brown

21 wks on list

A "truly enjoyable" journey through one man's Jewish American experience by the #1 New York Times-bestselling author of Marjorie Morningstar (Newsday). Herman Wouk's classic novel moves on from the grand themes which have won him international acclaim - war, the fate of nations, and the indomitable spirit of man - to the quest for identity, in the clash between the Inside of faith and family and the Outside of the glittery American dream. Inside, Outside sweeps through more than sixty years, from the pre-war, pre-atomic innocence of the twenties and thirties to the turbulent immediate past. Scenes of rollicking family humour and show-business comedy alternate with sudden tragedy, the spectacle of a falling President and the explosion of war. A bittersweet first love, relived after forty years, and a tense secret wartime mission between Washington and Jerusalem call forth the author's renowned storytelling gift. An intense, personal book about intimate things, Inside, Outside is a merry, poignant, sometimes ribald picture of the American Jewish experience, by a master at the peak of his powers. "Extremely funny." - The Wall Street Journal "A social comedy of Jewish-American life reaching from New York to Jerusalem and spanning much of the 20th century" - Publishers Weekly "Wouk reaffirms his position as one of the nation's eminent storytellers." - Newsday "Wouk`s most significant work since The Caine Mutiny." - Chicago Tribune "Generously stuffed with zestfully old-fashioned humor and sentiment." - Kirkus Reviews

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