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Best Sellers

Hardcover Fiction

Week of September 14, 2003

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THE DA VINCI CODE
Dan Brown
Cover of THE DA VINCI CODE

THE DA VINCI CODE

by Dan Brown · Doubleday

59 wks at #1 · 24 on list

THE #1 WORLDWIDE BESTSELLING PHENOMENON, WITH MORE THAN 85 MILLION COPIES SOLD “Blockbuster perfection . . . a gleefully erudite suspense novel.” —The New York Times “A pulse-quickening, brain-teasing adventure.” —People While in Paris, Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is awakened by a phone call in the dead of the night. The elderly curator of the Louvre has been murdered inside the museum, his body covered in baffling symbols. As Langdon and gifted French cryptologist Sophie Neveu sort through the bizarre riddles, they are stunned to discover a trail of clues hidden in the works of Leonardo da Vinci—clues visible for all to see and yet ingeniously disguised by the painter. Even more startling, the late curator was involved in the Priory of Sion, a secret society whose members included Sir Isaac Newton, Victor Hugo, and Da Vinci, and he guarded a breathtaking historical secret. Unless Langdon and Neveu can decipher the labyrinthine puzzle—while avoiding the faceless adversary who shadows their every move—the explosive, ancient truth will be lost forever. Robert Langdon returns in The Lost Symbol, Inferno, Origin, and The Secret of Secrets (coming soon)!

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HIGH DRUID OF SHANNARA: Jarka Ruus
Terry Brooks
Cover of HIGH DRUID OF SHANNARA: Jarka Ruus

HIGH DRUID OF SHANNARA: Jarka Ruus

by Terry Brooks · Del Rey/Ballantine

1 wks on list

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Expect no end of wonders and suspense, no shortage of adventure and enchantment, as Terry Brooks begins the next extraordinary quest in the magical world of Shannara. . . . Twenty years have passed since Grianne Ohmsford denounced her former life as the dreaded Ilse Witch. Fulfilling the destiny predicted for her, she has established the Third Druid Council and dedicated herself to its goals of peace, harmony among the races, and defense of the Four Lands. But despite her devotion to the greater good as Ard Rhys, the High Druid of Paranor, Grianne still has bitter enemies. Even her few allies—chief among them her trusted servant Tagwen—know of the plots against her. But they could never anticipate the sudden, ominous disappearance of the Ard Rhys, in the dead of night and without a trace. Now Tagwen joins Grianne’s brave young nephew, Pen Ohmsford, and the wise, powerful elf Ahren Elessedil on a desperate and dangerous mission of search and rescue—to deliver the High Druid of Shannara from an unspeakable fate. BONUS: This edition contains an excerpt from Terry Brooks's The Measure of the Magic. “Terry Brooks is off on another Shannara adventure . . . and the ride, as always, is pleasurable.”—Contra Costa Times “A sure winner . . . Brooks proves himselfa master at reworking and enriching theconventions of fantasy.”—Booklist

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BLINDSIDE
Catherine Coulter
Cover of BLINDSIDE

BLINDSIDE

by Catherine Coulter · Putnam

5 wks on list

A six-year old is kidnapped and then escapes, but why has this child been targeted for abduction is the question whose answer will unravel the case.

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DIARY
Chuck Palahniuk
Cover of DIARY

DIARY

by Chuck Palahniuk · Doubleday

1 wks on list

'Diary' takes the form of a coma diary kept by one Misty Tracy Wilmot as her husband lies senseless in hospital after a suicide attempt.

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THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA
Lauren Weisberger
Cover of THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA

THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA

by Lauren Weisberger · Doubleday

20 wks on list

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • THE INSPIRATION FOR THE HIT MOVIE STARRING MERYL STREEP AND ANNE HATHAWAY • DON’T MISS THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA 2, COMING SOON TO THEATERS! “The degree to which The Devil Wears Prada has penetrated pop culture needs no explanation.”—Vanity Fair A gloriously wicked story about the ultimate Boss from Hell and the deals we make with the devil to get to the top Andrea Sachs, a small-town girl fresh out of college, lands the job “a million girls would die for.” Hired as the assistant to Miranda Priestly, the high-profile, fabulously successful editor of Runway magazine, Andrea finds herself in an office that shouts Prada! Armani! Versace! at every turn, a world populated by impossibly thin, heart-wrenchingly stylish women and beautiful men clad in fine-ribbed turtlenecks and tight leather pants that show off their lifelong dedication to the gym. With breathtaking ease, Miranda can turn each and every one of these hip sophisticates into a scared, whimpering child. Andrea is sorely tested each and every day—and often late into the night—with orders barked over the phone. She puts up with it all by keeping her eyes on the prize: a recommendation from Miranda that will get her a top job at any magazine of her choosing. As things escalate from the merely unacceptable to the downright outrageous, Andrea begins to realize that the job a million girls would die for may just kill her. And even if she survives, she has to decide whether or not it’s worth the price of her soul.

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THE LOVELY BONES
Alice Sebold
Cover of THE LOVELY BONES

THE LOVELY BONES

by Alice Sebold · Little, Brown

62 wks on list

Susie Salmon is just like any other young American girl. She wants to be beautiful, adores her charm bracelet and has a crush on a boy from school. There's one big difference though – Susie is dead. Add: Now she can only observe while her family manage their grief in their different ways. Susie is desperate to help them and there might be a way of reaching them... Alice Sebold's novel The Lovely Bones is a unique coming-of-age tale that captured the hearts of readers throughout the world. Award-winning playwright Bryony Lavery has adapted it for this unforgettable play about life after loss.

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A PLACE OF HIDING
Elizabeth George
Cover of A PLACE OF HIDING

A PLACE OF HIDING

by Elizabeth George · Bantam

5 wks on list

A gripping story of betrayal and devotion- love and loss- war and remembrance. and the higher truths to which we are all ultimately held accountable. An isolated beach on the island of Guernsey in the English Channel is the scene of the murder of Guy Brouard, one of Guernsey s wealthiest inhabitants and its main benefactor.

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THE SINNER
Tess Gerritsen
Cover of THE SINNER

THE SINNER

by Tess Gerritsen · Ballantine

2 wks on list

Not even the icy temperatures of a typical New England winter can match the bone-chilling scene of carnage discovered in the early morning hours at the chapel of Our Lady of Divine Light. Within the sanctuary walls of the cloistered convent, now stained with blood, lie two nuns - one dead, one critically injured; victims of an unspeakably savage attacker. The brutal crime appears to be without motive, and the elderly nuns in residence can offer little help in the police investigation. But medical examiner Maura Isles' autopsy of the dead woman yields a shocking surprise: twenty-year-old Sister Camille, the order's sole novice, had given birth before she was murdered. murdered in an abandoned building, her features obliterated. Together, Isles and homicide detective Jane Rizzoli uncover an ancient horror that connects these terrible slaughters. As long-buried secrets come to light, Maura Isles finds herself drawn inexorably toward the heart of an investigation that strikes closer and closer to home, and toward the dawning revelation - too shattering to consider - of the killer's identity. As spine-tingling as it is mind-jolting, The Sinner finds Tess Gerritsen in peak form. Beneath its layers of startling insight into the souls of its characters, and the richly wrought depiction of the everyday war between good and evil, beats the unstoppable heart of an irresistible thriller.

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NAKED EMPIRE
Terry Goodkind
Cover of NAKED EMPIRE

NAKED EMPIRE

by Terry Goodkind · Tor/Tom Doherty

6 wks on list

The latest Sword of Truth novel from the multiple "New York Times" bestselling author is a new, sprawling epic adventure focusing on the central figures of the heroic Richard and his beautiful mate Kahlan.

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SENSE OF EVIL
Kay Hooper
Cover of SENSE OF EVIL

SENSE OF EVIL

by Kay Hooper · Bantam

2 wks on list

Kay Hooper is the brightest new star of suspense fiction. Now the New York Times bestselling author who’s built a reputation for keeping her readers’ pulse in the red zone delivers a thriller that will stun the senses--all six of them. This time a psychic special agent and a gritty cop must stop a brutal killer with a chilling M.O. and an unstoppable...Sense of Evil. The victims are always the same: beautiful, successful, and blond. Someone was able to coax these intelligent and confident women away from safety. Someone was able to gain their trust long enough to do the unthinkable. Their shocking murders have terrified the inhabitants of a small, peaceful town where such heinous crimes are simply not supposed to happen. Police Chief Rafe Sullivan knows he has to find answers fast before another woman is lured to her death--but Sullivan literally doesn’t have a clue. And when the FBI sends one of their top profilers to help, he’s more than a little surprised that his new partner is nothing like the straight-by-the-book “suit” he expects.Special Agent Isabel Adams is tough, fearless, determined, and every bit Sullivan’s equal. She’s also psychic. And blond.Skeptical of his new partner’s ability to get inside the mind of a killer, Sullivan can’t deny that Isabel has tuned in to the killer’s wavelength, is following the twisted thoughts of a murderer obsessed with stalking, seduction, and death. But in getting so close, Isabel has set herself up as the next victim. Now, with time running out, she and Rafe will find themselves forced to take the greatest risk of all, because this psychopath is playing for keeps and Isabel is the perfect trophy. Unable to turn back, Isabel may have already gone too far. Smart, savvy, and confident, she may find that the very qualities that have kept her alive could turn out to be her undoing. For Isabel has entered the world of a cold-blooded monster who kills without mercy and eludes every sense but one...the sense of evil.

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NO GRAVES AS YET
Anne Perry
Cover of NO GRAVES AS YET

NO GRAVES AS YET

by Anne Perry · Ballantine

1 wks on list

Through Anne Perry’s magnificent Victorian novels, millions of readers have enjoyed the pleasures and intrigue of a bygone age. Now, with the debut of an extraordinary new series, this New York Times bestselling author sweeps us into the golden summer of 1914, a time of brief enchantment when English men and women basked in the security of wealth and power, even as the last weeks of their privileged world were swiftly passing. Theirs was a peace that led to war. On a sunny afternoon in late June, Cambridge professor Joseph Reavley is summoned from a student cricket match to learn that his parents have died in an automobile crash. Joseph’s brother, Matthew, as officer in the Intelligence Service, reveals that their father had been en route to London to turn over to him a mysterious secret document—allegedly with the power to disgrace England forever and destroy the civilized world. A paper so damning that Joseph and Matthew dared mention it only to their restless younger sister. Now it has vanished. What has happened to this explosive document, if indeed it ever existed? How had it fallen into the hands of their father, a quiet countryman? Not even Matthew, with his Intelligence connections, can answer these questions. And Joseph is soon burdened with a second tragedy: the shocking murder of his most gifted student, beautiful Sebastian Allard, loved and admired by everyone. Or so it appeared. Meanwhile, England’s seamless peace is cracking—as the distance between the murder of an Austrian archduke by a Serbian anarchist and the death of a brilliant university student by a bullet to the head of grows shorter by the day. Anne Perry is a sublime master of suspense. In No Graves As Yet, her latest haunting masterpiece, she reminds us that love and hate, cowardice and courage, good and evil are always a part of life, in our own time as well as on the eve of the greatest war the world has ever known.

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BEACHCOMBER
Karen Robards
Cover of BEACHCOMBER

BEACHCOMBER

by Karen Robards · Atria

3 wks on list

From New York Times bestselling author Karen Robards comes a thrilling new novel of suspense and steamy seaside sensuality set in North Carolina's Outer Banks, where a serial killer combs the beaches filled with beautiful female tourists for his next victim. Christy Petrino hadn't planned on a vacation on Ocracoke Island, but when she learns her fiancé and boss, suave Michael DePalma, is a "made man" and the Philadelphia law firm where she works is a front for the mob, she breaks her engagement and quits her job. But no one walks away from the DePalma family business so easily. Only if she delivers a locked briefcase to a motel on Ocracoke Island will she—and her mother and sisters—be free. But after clandestinely making her drop-off late at night, Christy suspects she is being followed on the moonlit beach—and unwittingly runs into a new kind of terror. Now a witness at the center of a homicide investigation, Christy learns the police are hunting a serial killer they refer to as the "Beachcomber" because beautiful young women—women who, in fact, resemble her—have disappeared recently while vacationing at nearby beach communities. Christy doesn't know whom to fear more—a serial killer who believes she might be able to identify him, or the DePalma family, whose tentacles she can't seem to escape. Only when she's with Luke Rand, her big surfer-dude next-door neighbor, does she feel safe. But with Luke's asking so many questions about her ex-fiancé and his showing up almost too conveniently whenever danger strikes, she can't help but wonder if his interest in her is due to more than sexual attraction. Can she trust this handsome stranger to help her survive a hot and deadly summer? Karen Robards creates a tour de force of passion and suspense in this scintillating page-turner, the quintessential summertime read.

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LOVE ME
Garrison Keillor
Cover of LOVE ME

LOVE ME

by Garrison Keillor · Viking Press

Leaving his wife to pursue an idealized life as a writer, Larry Wyler finds his early successes quickly deteriorating and returns home to write for an advice column, through which he learns unexpected life lessons.

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