TheBestseller
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Best Sellers

Hardcover Fiction

Week of September 25, 2011

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1
KILL ME IF YOU CAN
James Patterson and Marshall Karp
Cover of KILL ME IF YOU CAN

KILL ME IF YOU CAN

by James Patterson and Marshall Karp · Little, Brown

2 wks at #1 · 2 on list

Matthew Bannon, a poor art student living in New York City, finds a duffel bag filled with diamonds during a chaotic attack at Grand Central Station. Plans for a worry-free life with his gorgeous girlfriend Katherine fill his thoughts--until he realizes that he is being hunted, and that whoever is after him won't stop until they have reclaimed the diamonds and exacted their revenge. Trailing him is the Ghost, the world's greatest assassin, who has just pulled off his most high-profile hit: killing Walter Zelvas, a top member of the international Diamond Syndicate. There's only one small problem: the diamonds he was supposed to retrieve from Zelvas are missing. Now, the Ghost is on Bannon's trail--but so is a rival assassin who would like nothing more than to make the Ghost disappear forever. From "America's #1 storyteller" (Forbes) comes a high-speed, high-stakes, winner-take-all thrill ride of adrenaline-fueled suspense.

2
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THE RACE
Clive Cussler and Justin Scott
Cover of THE RACE

THE RACE

by Clive Cussler and Justin Scott · Putnam

1 wks on list

Private detective Isaac Bell returns in Clive Cussler's The Wrecker. 1907: train wrecks, fires, and explosions sabotage the Southern Pacific Railroad's new express line . . . The desperate railroad hires the fabled Van Dorn Detective Agency, who send their best man, Isaac Bell. He quickly discovers that a saboteur calling himself the Wrecker is attacking the Southern Pacific with accomplices recruited from down-and-outs - who are killed afterward. The Wrecker strikes wherever he pleases, causing untold damage and loss of human life. Who is he? What does he want? Is he an anarchist? A revolutionary? A criminal mastermind? Whoever he is, whatever his motives, the Wrecker knows how to create havoc. And Bell is convinced he is building up to a grand act unlike anything he has committed before. If the Wrecker isn't stopped in time, more than a railroad is at risk - the future of the entire country is on the line . . . Bestseller Clive Cussler - author of the Dirk Pitt novels Black Wind and Trojan Odyssey - and co-author Justin Scott pit legendary detective Isaac Bell against a mysterious murderer and railroad saboteur in the second novel of historical thriller series The Isaac Bell Adventures, The Wrecker. Praise for Clive Cussler: 'The guy I read' Tom Clancy 'Cussler is hard to beat' Daily Mail

3
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DARK PREDATOR
Christine Feehan
Cover of DARK PREDATOR

DARK PREDATOR

by Christine Feehan · Berkley

1 wks on list

An immortal comes to the end of a long and violent journey and finds a far more dangerous threat in this dark and thrilling novel in the #1 New York Times bestselling Carpathian series. As brutal as the undead he hunted, executioner Zacarias De La Cruz’s savage journey is over. After a thousand years in a gray world, he has accomplished everything he set out to do. His brothers are safeguarded, and each has a woman who completes them. But with centuries as a killing machine now left to the past and without a hunt to define him, Zacarias wonders, for the first time in his life, who he really is. The answer awaits him in the vengeance of an old enemy, in the consequences of a bloody family legacy, and in Marguarita, a woman he once saved—his lifemate, his deliverance, and the greatest risk yet to both their lives. INCLUDES BONUS CONTENT!

4
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A DANCE WITH DRAGONS
George R. R. Martin
Cover of A DANCE WITH DRAGONS

A DANCE WITH DRAGONS

by George R. R. Martin · Bantam

9 wks on list

A latest installment of the popular series follows a showdown set in the north of the Seven Kingdoms and reveals the circumstances that shaped southern-region events. By the best-selling author of A Feast for Crows.

5
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PREY
Linda Howard
Cover of PREY

PREY

by Linda Howard · Ballantine

1 wks on list

Following the death of her father, Angie Powell takes over his business as a wilderness guide in the Montana mountains. Business is booming until disaster strikes when enigmatic ex-soldier Dare Callahan returns from service and sets up as a rival guide. His hardy exterior and battle scars are an attractive combination for those looking to hire a tough type to help them tackle the mountains - and three years on Angie's business is feeling the impact of Dare's return. However, Dare's sights are set on something other than business, and it's Angie he's looking to steal away, rather than her clients. Angie wants nothing to do with him, especially as she blames him for her failing business, but she has to put her feelings to one side when they are suddenly thrust together. An animal with a thirst for blood of a human variety is on the loose and it's up to Angie and Dare to stop it before it kills again...

6
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THE ART OF FIELDING
Chad Harbach
Cover of THE ART OF FIELDING

THE ART OF FIELDING

by Chad Harbach · Little, Brown

1 wks on list

A baseball star at a small college near Lake Michigan launches a routine throw that goes disastrously off course and inadvertently changes the lives of five people, including the college president, a gay teammate, and the president's daughter.

7
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PIRATE KING
Laurie R. King
Cover of PIRATE KING

PIRATE KING

by Laurie R. King · Bantam

1 wks on list

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “An engaging romp guaranteed to please . . . perfectly written in the style of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.”—USA Today In England’s young silent-film industry, the megalomaniacal Randolph Fflytte is king. But rumors of criminal activities swirl around his popular movie studio. At the request of Scotland Yard, Mary Russell travels undercover to the set of Fflytte’s latest cinematic extravaganza, Pirate King. Based on Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Pirates of Penzance, the project will either set the standard for moviemaking for a generation . . . or sink a boatload of careers. As the company starts rehearsals in Lisbon, the thirteen blond-haired, blue-eyed actresses whom Mary is chaperoning meet the swarm of real buccaneers Fflytte has recruited to provide authenticity. But when the crew embarks for Morocco and the actual filming, Russell senses ominous currents of trouble: a derelict boat, a film crew with many secrets, decks awash with budding romance—and now the pirates are ignoring Fflytte and answering only to their outlaw leader. Where can Sherlock Holmes be? As movie make-believe becomes true terror, Russell and Holmes themselves may experience a final fadeout. Features Laurie R. King’s short story Beekeepers for Beginners and an excerpt from Garment of Shadows.

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FLASH AND BONES
Kathy Reichs
Cover of FLASH AND BONES

FLASH AND BONES

by Kathy Reichs · Scribner

3 wks on list

A gripping Temperance Brennan novel from world-class forensic anthropologist Kathy Reichs, the international #1 bestselling crime thriller writer and the inspiration behind the hit TV series Bones. In the run up to the biggest NASCAR race week of the year, Dr Temperance Brennan's called to a landfill site backing onto the Charlotte speedway track in North Carolina. Someone has discovered a barrel of hardened asphalt with a human hand poking through the top. With the country's press trained on Charlotte, it is up to Tempe to try to release and identify the body in the barrel. But there is more than one potential victim: the brother of a girl who went missing with her boyfriend ten years before comes forward, and the trail he sets in motion leads Tempe to one of America's largest fascist organisations. But before she can discover anything, the FBI confiscate the body and destroy it. What terrible secret could they be hiding? As tension at the speedway mounts, Tempe tries to unravel the conspiracy of lies surrounding the missing couple, the body in the barrel, and the horrific death at the track of yet another victim. ___________________________________ Dr Kathy Reichs is a professional forensic anthropologist. She's worked for decades with chief medical examiners, the FBI, and even a United Nations Tribunal on Genocide. However, she is best known for her internationally bestselling Temperance Brennan novels, which draw on her remarkable experience to create the most vividly authentic, true-to-life crime thrillers on the market and which are the inspiration for the hit TV series Bones. ___________________________________ Many of the world's greatest thriller writers are huge fans of her work: 'Kathy Reichs writes smart - no, make that brilliant - mysteries that are as realistic as nonfiction and as fast-paced as the best thrillers about Jack Reacher, or Alex Cross. . .' JAMES PATTERSON 'One of my favourite writers!!' KARIN SLAUGHTER 'I love Kathy Reichs - always scary, always suspenseful, and I always learn something' LEE CHILD 'Nobody does forensics thrillers like Kathy Reichs. She's the real deal' DAVID BALDACCI 'Each book in Kathy Reichs's fantastic Temperance Brennan series is better than the last. They're filled with riveting twists and turns - and no matter how many books she writes, I just can''t get enough' LISA SCOTTOLINE 'Nobody writes a more imaginative thriller than Kathy Reichs' CLIVE CUSSLER

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THE PARIS WIFE
Paula McLain
Cover of THE PARIS WIFE

THE PARIS WIFE

by Paula McLain · Ballantine

24 wks on list

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A deeply evocative novel of ambition and betrayal that captures the love affair between two unforgettable people, Ernest Hemingway and his wife Hadley—from the author of Love and Ruin and When the Stars Go Dark “A beautiful portrait of being in Paris in the glittering 1920s—as a wife and as one’s own woman.”—Entertainment Weekly NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY People • Chicago Tribune • NPR • The Philadelphia Inquirer • Kirkus Reviews • The Toronto Sun • BookPage Chicago, 1920: Hadley Richardson is a quiet twenty-eight-year-old who has all but given up on love and happiness—until she meets Ernest Hemingway. Following a whirlwind courtship and wedding, the pair set sail for Paris, where they become the golden couple in a lively and volatile group—the fabled “Lost Generation”—that includes Gertrude Stein, Ezra Pound, and F. Scott Fitzgerald. Though deeply in love, the Hemingways are ill prepared for the hard-drinking, fast-living, and free-loving life of Jazz Age Paris. As Ernest struggles to find the voice that will earn him a place in history and pours himself into the novel that will become The Sun Also Rises, Hadley strives to hold on to her sense of self as her roles as wife, friend, and muse become more challenging. Eventually they find themselves facing the ultimate crisis of their marriage—a deception that will lead to the unraveling of everything they’ve fought so hard for. A heartbreaking portrayal of love and torn loyalty, The Paris Wife is all the more poignant because we know that, in the end, Hemingway wrote that he would rather have died than fallen in love with anyone but Hadley.

12
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THE TEARS OF THE SUN
S. M. Stirling
Cover of THE TEARS OF THE SUN

THE TEARS OF THE SUN

by S. M. Stirling · Roc

1 wks on list

Artos, the High King of Montival, must fulfill his destiny and defeat the Church Universal and Triumphant after making friends of his enemies and winning the heart of the woman he loves.

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THE SOOKIE STACKHOUSE COMPANION
Charlaine Harris
Cover of THE SOOKIE STACKHOUSE COMPANION

THE SOOKIE STACKHOUSE COMPANION

by Charlaine Harris · Ace

2 wks on list

The complete guide to the internationally bestselling Sookie Stackhouse TRUE BLOOD books THE SOOKIE STACKHOUSE COMPANION is a unique guide to Sookie Stackhouse and her dark fantasy Southern-Gothic world, as well as an in-depth look at the award-winning HBO series TRUE BLOOD. The book features a brand-new Sookie story and Charlaine's own map of Bon Temps, never before published, with every place of interest in the town, including Merlotte's bar and Sookie's home. Other treats include: * An introduction by Charlaine about the impact Sookie Stackhouse has had on her writing career, and the influence on the genre at large * A large section on the award-winning HBO series TRUE BLOOD * Detailed summaries of each novel and entries on every important character, event and setting in the series, in Sookie's voice. * An overview of Sookie's world, including information on the vampires, shapeshifter/wereanimal, and fairie factions * Interviews with Charlaine Harris and Alan Ball * A selection of favourite Bon Temps recipes

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A TRICK OF THE LIGHT
Louise Penny
Cover of A TRICK OF THE LIGHT

A TRICK OF THE LIGHT

by Louise Penny · Minotaur

2 wks on list

Investigating a murder at a solo artist's Quebec village home, Chief Inspector Gamache and his team encounter deceptive nuances in the art world that distort every clue they find with tales of duality and broken hearts. By the Agatha Award-winning author of Bury Your Dead. 100,000 first printing.

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ONLY TIME WILL TELL
Jeffrey Archer
Cover of ONLY TIME WILL TELL

ONLY TIME WILL TELL

by Jeffrey Archer · St. Martin's

A first installment of a planned five-part series introduces the character of 1920s Bristol dock worker Harry Clifton, whose unexpected scholarship leads him to pursue a very different life while uncovering the truth about his father's identity. By the best-selling author of Kane and Abel. 250,000 first printing.

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