TheBestseller
Observatory

Best Sellers

Hardcover Fiction

Week of August 12, 2007

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A THOUSAND SPLENDID SUNS
Khaled Hosseini
Cover of A THOUSAND SPLENDID SUNS

A THOUSAND SPLENDID SUNS

by Khaled Hosseini · Riverhead

15 wks at #1 · 10 on list

1 New York Times bestselling author. Main selection of the Book-of-the-Month Club and Literary Guild. Both born in Afghanistan a generation apart and with very different ideas about love and family Mariam and Laila are brought together by war by loss and by fate. As they endure the ever escalating dangers around them - in their home as well as in the streets of Kabul - they form a bond that will ultimately alter the course of their lives and the lives of the next generation. With heart-wrenching power and suspense Hosseini shows how a woman's love for her family can move her to shocking and heroic acts of self-sacrifice and that in the end it is love or even the memory of love that is often the key to survival. "Searing ... forceful ... harrowing." - Publishers Weekly starred. "Unimaginably tragic Hosseini's magnificent second novel is a sad and beautiful testament to both Afghani suffering and strength. Readers who lost themselves in The Kite Runner will not want to miss this unforgettable follow-up." - Booklist starred

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THE SECRET SERVANT
Daniel Silva
Cover of THE SECRET SERVANT

THE SECRET SERVANT

by Daniel Silva · Putnam

1 wks on list

A terrorist plot in London leads Israeli spy Gabriel Allon on a desperate search for a kidnapped woman in this thriller from #1 New York Times bestselling author Daniel Silva. While in Amsterdam, Israeli intelligence officer and master art restorer Gabriel Allon discovers a plot that is about to explode in the middle of London. The daughter of the American ambassador is to be brutally kidnapped. But Gabriel arrives too late to save her. And when he reveals his face to the plot’s masterminds, his fate is sealed as well. Drawn once more into the service of American intelligence, Gabriel desperately searches for the missing woman as the clock ticks steadily toward the hour of her execution. The search will thrust him into an unlikely alliance with a man who has lost everything because of his devotion to Islam. It will cause him to question the morality of the tactics of his trade. And it might very well cost him his life… A Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year

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HIGH NOON
Nora Roberts
Cover of HIGH NOON

HIGH NOON

by Nora Roberts · Putnam

3 wks on list

Attracted to a talented police lieutenant who serves as Savannah's top hostage negotiator, Duncan Swift endeavors to become a part of Phoebe MacNamara's solitary life in both her personal and professional arenas.

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UP CLOSE AND DANGEROUS
Linda Howard
Cover of UP CLOSE AND DANGEROUS

UP CLOSE AND DANGEROUS

by Linda Howard · Ballantine

2 wks on list

After her small plane crashes, nearly killing her and her pilot and leaving them stranded in the wilderness and dependent on each other for survival, a wealthy young widow begins to suspect that the crash was no accident.

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THE FIRST COMMANDMENT
Brad Thor
Cover of THE FIRST COMMANDMENT

THE FIRST COMMANDMENT

by Brad Thor · Atria

2 wks on list

A master assassin. A vendetta years in the making. And a counterterrorism operative who will risk everything -- even treason -- to keep the people he loves alive. Brad Thor, the New York Times bestselling author of Takedown, delivers an explosive international thriller featuring Navy SEAL turned Homeland Security operative Scot Harvath, who somewhere, somehow, has left the wrong person alive. "Thou shalt not negotiate with terrorists..." Six months ago: In the dead of the night, five of the most dangerous detainees in the war on terror are pulled from their isolation cells in Guantanamo Bay, held at gunpoint, and told to strip off their orange jumpsuits. Issued civilian clothes and driven to the base airfield, they are loaded aboard a Boeing 727 and set free. Present day: Covert counterterrorism agent Scot Harvath awakens to discover that his world has changed violently -- and forever. A sadistic assassin with a personal vendetta is wreaking havoc of biblical proportions. Unleashing nightmarish horrors on those closest to Harvath, the attacker thrusts everything Harvath holds dear -- including his life -- into absolute peril. Ordered by the president to stay out of the investigation, Harvath is forced to mount his own operation to uncover the conspiracy and to exact revenge. When he discovers a connection between the attacks and a group of prisoners secretly released from Guantanamo, Harvath must ask himself previously unthinkable questions about the organizations and the nation he has spent his life serving. A renegade from his own government, Harvath will place his life on the line as his search for the truth draws him into a showdown with one of the most dangerous men on the face of the earth. Brad Thor roars through this nonstop adventure full of international intrigue, twisted betrayals, and ultimate revenge.

10
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THURSDAY NEXT
Jasper Fforde
Cover of THURSDAY NEXT

THURSDAY NEXT

by Jasper Fforde · Viking Press

1 wks on list

Exhausted by her stint as Miss Havisham's apprentice at Jurisfiction, Thursday Next is delighted by a respite in the Character Exchange Program in the Well of Lost Plots, a place filled with linguistic chaos, lousy books, and a murderer.

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THE JUDAS STRAIN
James Rollins
Cover of THE JUDAS STRAIN
14
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PEONY IN LOVE
Lisa See
Cover of PEONY IN LOVE

PEONY IN LOVE

by Lisa See · Random House

5 wks on list

In seventeenth-century China, three women become emotionally involved with "The Peony Pavilion," a famed opera rumored to cause lovesickness and even death.

15
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SOMEONE TO LOVE
Jude Deveraux
Cover of SOMEONE TO LOVE

SOMEONE TO LOVE

by Jude Deveraux · Atria

The New York Times bestselling author Jude Deveraux brings a “wonderful addition” (Booklist) to her Montgomery/Taggert Family series with this supernatural romance in which, with the help of a feisty ghost, a man uncovers the secrets that led to the tragic death of his fiancée. After three years, Jace Montgomery is still grieving over his fiancée Stacy’s mysterious suicide. He hasn’t been interested in another woman since her passing, and her family still blames him for her death. While flipping through one of her old paperbacks, Jace discovers a photo of a house stuck between the pages, bearing the cryptic message: “Ours again. Together forever. See you there.” The note was dated the day before her death. Obsessed by the possibility of understanding her suicide, Jace seeks out the property—Priory House, a big brick fortress in Margate, England—and buys it. It doesn’t take long to learn that the house is haunted by a headstrong and feisty ghost, Ann Stuart, whom he must tangle with if he’s ever to solve the mystery. Ann died under circumstances similar to those of his late fiancée, and he has a hunch that there is a connection between the two. Through his own investigations and with the help of a beautiful foreign correspondent, Jace is forced to reconcile his fiancée’s life and her death. What follows is a satisfying and seductive discovery of both time and love by one of America’s favorite storytellers.

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