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Apr 01
2009
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Behind The Bestsellers: Fiction April 2009Posted by: Adriann Ranta on Apr 1, 2009 Tagged in: Untagged
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Interested in summary data for all 2009? Please click here.
Handle with Care: A Novel, by Jodi Picoult
"Handle with Care" explores the knotty tangle of medical ethics and personal morality. When faced with the reality of a fetus who will be disabled, should a parent have the right to consider termination? Bestselling author Picoult explores a timely yet controversial issue in her latest novel.
A: Laura Gross P: Atria G: Literature/Fiction
NYT: 3 LAT: 2 BS: 3
For five novels, Cussler has brought readers into the world of the "Oregon," a seemingly dilapidated ship packed with sophisticated equipment, and captained by the rakish, one-legged Juan Cabrillo. And now the "Oregon" and its crew face their biggest challenge yet.
A: Andrew Lampack P: Putnam G: Mystery/Thriller/Suspense
NYT: 2 LAT: 1 BS: 2
The Associate, by John Grisham
Kyle McAvoy grew up in his father's small-town law offfoolce in York, Pennsylvania. He excelled in college, was elected editor-in-chief of The Yale Law Journal, and his future has limitless potential. But Kyle has a secret, a dark one, an episode from college that he has tried to forget. The secret, though, falls into the hands of the wrong people, and Kyle is forced to take a job he doesn't want -- even though it's a job most law students can only dream about. Three months after leaving Yale, Kyle becomes an associate at the largest law firm in the world, where, in addition to practicing law, he is expected to lie, steal, and take part in a scheme that could send him to prison, if not get him killed. With an unforgettable cast of characters and villains -- from Baxter Tate, a drug-addled trust fund kid and possible rapist, to Dale, a pretty but seemingly quiet former math teacher who shares Kyle's "cubicle" at the law firm, to two of the most powerful and fiercely competitive defense contractors in the country -- and featuring all the twists and turns that have made John Grisham the most popular storyteller in the world, The Associate is vintage Grisham.
A: David Gernert P: Doubleday G: Mystery/Thriller/Suspense
NYT: 8 LAT: 7 BS: 8
The Host: A Novel, by Stephenie Meyer
The author of the bestselling Twilight series delivers her brilliant first novel for adults that are also suitable for teen readers: a gripping story of love and betrayal with the fate of humanity at stake, featuring what may be the first love triangle involving only two bodies.
A: Jodi Reamer P: Little, Brown G: Young Adult
NYT: 45 LAT: 31 BS: 38
Run for Your Life, by James Patterson
A calculating killer who calls himself The Teacher is taking on New York City, killing the powerful and the arrogant. Discovering a secret pattern to The Teacher's lessons, Detective Mike Bennett realizes he has just hours to save New York from the greatest disaster in history.
A: Jennifer Rudolph Walsh P: Little, Brown G: Mystery/Thriller/Suspense
NYT: 7 LAT: 4 BS: -
Promises in Death, by J. D. Robb
Amarylis Coltraine had recently transferred to the New York City police force from Atlanta, but she's been a cop long enough to know how to defend herself against an assailant. When she's taken down just steps away from her apartment, disarmed, and killed with her own weapon, for Eve Dallas, the victim isn't just one of us.
A: - P: Putnam G: Mystery/Thriller/Suspense
NYT: 4 LAT: - BS: -
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows.
London, 1946: writer Juliet Ashton receives a letter from a stranger, a founding member of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. And so begins a remarkable tale of Guernsey during the German occupation, and about a society as extraordinary as its name.
A: Amy Renhert P: Dial G: Literature/Fiction
NYT: 27 LAT: 33 BS: 34
Heart and Soul, by Maeve Binchy
With the warmth, humor, and compassion readers have come to expect from her, Binchy tells a story of family, friends, patients, and staff who are part of a heart clinic in a community caught between the old and the new in Ireland.
A: - P: Knopf G: Literature/Fiction
NYT: 4 LAT: 4 BS: 5
Dead Silence (Doc Ford Novels), by Randy Wayne White
The "New York Times"-bestselling author whose novels have won praise for their remarkable imagination, intrigue, and some of the best characters in suspense fiction presents the chilling new Doc Ford novel.
A: Esther Newberg P: Putnam G: Mystery/Thriller/Suspense
NYT: 2 LAT: - BS: -
Night and Day, by Robert B. Parker
Paradise, Massachusetts, police chief Jesse Stone confronts a town's darkest secrets in the shocking new novel from the New York Times' bestselling author and "America's greatest mystery writer" (The New York Sun). Things are getting strange in Paradise, Massachusetts. Police Chief Jesse Stone is called to the junior high school when reports of lewd conduct by the school's principal, Betsy Ingersoll, filter into the station. Ingersoll claims she was protecting the propriety of her students when she inspected each girl's undergarments in the locker room. Jesse would like nothing more than to see Ingersoll punished, but her high-powered attorney husband stands in the way. At the same time, the women of Paradise are faced with a threat to their sense of security with the emergence of a tormented voyeur, dubbed "The Night Hawk." Initially, he's content to peer through windows, but as times goes on, he becomes more reckless, forcing his victims to strip at gunpoint, then photographing them at their most vulnerable. And according to the notes he's sending to Jesse, he's not satisfied to stop there. It's up to Jesse to catch the Night Hawk, before it's too late.
A: - P: Putnam G: Mystery/Thriller/Suspense
NYT: 4 LAT: - BS: 4
White Witch, Black Curse, by Kim Harrison
Some wounds take time to heal . . . and some scars never fade. Rachel Morgan, kick-ass witch and bounty hunter, has taken her fair share of hits, and has broken lines she swore she would never cross. But when her lover was murdered, it left a deeper wound than Rachel ever imagined, and now she won't rest until his death is solved . . . and avenged. Whatever the cost. Yet the road to hell is paved with good intentions, and when a new predator moves to the apex of the Inderlander food chain, Rachel's past comes back to haunt her. Literally.
A: Richard Curtis P: Eos/William Morrow G:Mystery/Thriller/Suspense
NYT: 4 LAT: - BS: -
Terminal Freeze, by Lincoln Child
A group of scientists undertake an expedition to Alaska's Federal Wilderness Zone to study the effects of global warming. The expedition changes suddenly on a routine foray into a glacial ice cave, where the group makes an astonishing find.
A: Eric Siminoff P: Doubleday G: Mystery/Thriller/Suspense
NYT: 4 LAT: - BS: -
In Jackson, Mississippi, in 1962, there are lines that are not crossed. With the civil rights movement exploding all around them, three women start a movement of their own, forever changing a town and the way women--black and white, mothers and daughters--view one another.
A: Susan Ramer P: Putnam G: Literature/Fiction
NYT: 2 LAT: - BS: 6
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet: A Novel, by Jamie Ford **Debut Novel**
This debut novel tells a heartwarming story of fathers and sons, first loves, fate, and the resilient human heart. Set in the ethnic neighborhoods of Seattle during World War II and Japanese American internment camps of the era, the times and places are brought to life (Jim Tomlinson, author of "Things Kept, Things Left Behind").
A: Kristen Nelson P: Ballantine G: Literature/Fiction
NYT: 1 LAT: - BS: -
Little Bee: A Novel, by Chris Cleave
From the author of the international bestseller "Incendiary" comes a haunting novel about the tenuous friendship that blooms between two disparate strangers--one an illegal Nigerian refugee, the other a recent widow from suburban London.
A: Peter Straus P: Simon & Schuster G: Literature/Fiction
NYT: - LAT: 3 BS: 4
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw, by Jeff Kinney
Boys don't keep diaries -- or do they? … The launch of an exciting and innovatively illustrated new series narrated by an unforgettable kid every family can relate to. It's a new school year, and Greg Heffley finds himself thrust into middle school, where undersized weaklings share the hallways with kids who are taller, meaner, and already shaving. The hazards of growing up before you're ready are uniquely revealed through words and drawings as Greg records them in his diary. In book one of this debut series, Greg is happy to have Rowley, his sidekick, along for the ride. But when Rowley's star starts to rise, Greg tries to use his best friend's newfound popularity to his own advantage, kicking off a chain of events that will test their friendship in hilarious fashion.
A: Aaron Priest P: Amulet G: Humor
NYT: - LAT: 9 BS: -
The Believers: A Novel, by Zoë Heller
The highly anticipated new novel from the author of the acclaimed "What Was She Thinking?" is a rich, comic chronicle of one family's struggles with the consolations of faith and the trials of doubt.
A: Amanda Urban P: Harper G: Literature/Fiction
NYT: - LAT: 1 BS: -
Readers captivated by Twilight and New Moon will eagerly devour Eclipse, the much anticipated third book in Stephenie Meyer's riveting vampire love saga. As Seattle is ravaged by a string of mysterious killings and a malicious vampire continues her quest for revenge, Bella once again finds herself surrounded by danger. In the midst of it all, she is forced to choose between her love for Edward and her friendship with Jacob -- knowing that her decision has the potential to ignite the ageless struggle between vampire and werewolf. With her graduation quickly approaching, Bella has one more decision to make: life or death. But which is which?
A: Jodi Reamer P: Little, Brown G: Young Adult
NYT: - LAT: 36 BS: -
Breaking Dawn, by Stephenie Meyer
"New York Times"-bestselling author Meyer returns to her teen vampire Twilight saga with this much-anticipated fourth book in the series. In this riveting novel, questions will be answered and the fate of Bella and Edward will be revealed.
A: Jodi Reamer P: Little, Brown G: Young Adult
NYT: - LAT: 33 BS:
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, by Stieg Larsson
In this European publishing sensation, a crusading journalist joins forces with a 24-year-old pierced and tattooed genius hacker to investigate the whereabouts of a missing woman from one of the wealthiest families in Sweden.
A: - P: Knopf G: Mystery/Thriller/Suspense
NYT: - LAT: 10 BS: 27
Cutting for Stone, by Abraham Verghese
A sweeping, emotionally riveting first novel—an enthralling family saga of Africa and America, doctors and patients, exile and home. Marion and Shiva Stone are twin brothers born of a secret union between a beautiful Indian nun and a brash British surgeon at a mission hospital in Addis Ababa. Orphaned by their mother’s death in childbirth and their father’s disappearance, bound together by a preternatural connection and a shared fascination with medicine, the twins come of age as Ethiopia hovers on the brink of revolution. Yet it will be love, not politics—their passion for the same woman—that will tear them apart and force Marion, fresh out of medical school, to flee his homeland. He makes his way to America, finding refuge in his work as an intern at an underfunded, overcrowded New York City hospital. When the past catches up to him—nearly destroying him—Marion must entrust his life to the two men he thought he trusted least in the world: the surgeon father who abandoned him and the brother who betrayed him. (An unforgettable journey into one man’s remarkable life, and an epic story about the power, intimacy, and curious beauty of the work of healing others.)
A: Gary Tan P: Knopf G: Literature/Fiction
NYT: - LAT: 1 BS: 7
Pain Killers: A Novel, by Jerry Stahl
From the acclaimed and controversial author of Permanent Midnight comes one of the most vividly subversive, savagely funny, and explosive novels yet unleashed in our tender century. Pain Killers is a violent and mind-wrenching masterpiece in the gonzo noir style that has earned Jerry Stahl his legion of avid fans.Down-and-out ex-cop and not-quite-reformed addict Manny Rupert accepts a job going undercover to find out if an old man locked up in a California prison is who he claims to be: the despicable-and allegedly dead-Josef Mengele, aka the Angel of Death. What if, instead of drowning thirty years ago, the sadistic legend whose Auschwitz crimes still horrify faked his own death and is now locked up in San Quentin, ranting and bitter about being denied the adulation he craves for his contribution to keeping the Master Race pure-if no longer masterful?After accidentally reuniting with ex-wife and love of his life, Tina, at San Quentin-they first met at the crime scene where Tina murdered her first husband with Drano-laced Lucky Charms-Manny spends a bad night imbibing boxed wine and questionable World War One morphine, hunched over a trove of photos showing live genital dissections that plant him in the middle of a conspiracy involving genocide, drugs, eugenics, human experiments, and America's secret history of collusion with German believers in Nordic superiority.Manny's quest sends him careening from one extreme of apocalypse-adjacent reality to the other: from SS-inked Jewish shotcallers to meth-crazed virgin hookers, from Mexican gangbangers to Big Pharma-financed prison research to an animal shelter that gasses more than stray dogs and cats . . .Pain Killers captures one man's struggle against a perverse and demented scheme of global proportions, in a literary tour de force as outrageous, compelling, and dangerous as history itself. Not for the faint of heart, the novel hurtles readers into a disturbing, original, and alarmingly real world filled with some of the kinkiest sex, most horrific violence, and screaming wit ever found on the page-proving yet again that Stahl is, as The New Yorker described him, "a better-than-Burroughs virtuoso."
A: Barbara J Zitwer P: HarperCollins G: Mystery/Thriller/Suspense
NYT: - LAT: 1 BS: -
Fool: A Novel, by Christopher Moore
The wildly inventive "New York Times"-bestselling author of "You Suck!" is back, in this modern take on "King Lear." It's 1288, and the king's fool, Pocket, and his dimwit apprentice, Drool, set out to clean up the mess Lear has made of his kingdom, his family, and his fortune.
Click here to see TED's analysis of Fool's first 50 pages.
A: Nicholas Ellison P: Morrow G: Literature/Fiction
NYT: - LAT: - BS: 6
The Women, by T. C. Boyle
Having brought to life eccentric cereal king John Harvey Kellogg in "The Road to Wellville" and sex researcher Alfred Kinsey in "The Inner Circle," Boyle now turns his fictional sights on an even more colorful and outlandish character: Frank Lloyd Wright.
A: Georges Borchardt P: Viking G: Literature/Fiction
NYT: - LAT: - BS: 6
The Story of Edgar Sawtelle, by David Wroblewski
Born mute, speaking only in sign, Edgar Sawtelle leads an idyllic life with his parents on their farm in remote northern Wisconsin. For generations, the Sawtelles have raised and trained a fictional breed of dog whose thoughtful companionship is epitomized by Almondine, Edgar's lifelong friend and ally. But with the unexpected return of Claude, Edgar's paternal uncle, turmoil consumes the Sawtelles' once peaceful home. When Edgar's father dies suddenly, Claude insinuates himself into the life of the farm-and into Edgar's mother's affections. Grief-stricken and bewildered, Edgar tries to prove Claude played a role in his father's death, but his plan backfires-spectacularly. Forced to flee into the vast wilderness lying beyond the farm, Edgar comes of age in the wild, fighting for his survival and that of the three yearling dogs that follow him. But his need to face his father's murderer and his devotion to the Sawtelle dogs turn Edgar ever homeward. David Wroblewski is a master storyteller...
A: Elenor Jackson P: Ecco G: Literature/Fiction
NYT: - LAT: - BS: 41
The Art of Racing in the Rain, by Garth Stein
Enzo knows he is different from other dogs: a philosopher with a nearly human soul (and an obsession with opposable thumbs), he has educated himself by watching television extensively, and by listening very closely to the words of his master, Denny Swift, an up-and-coming race car driver. Through Denny, Enzo has gained tremendous insight into the human condition, and he sees that life, like racing, isn't simply about going fast. Using the techniques needed on the race track, one can successfully navigate all of life's ordeals. On the eve of his death, Enzo takes stock of his life, recalling all that he and his family have been through: the sacrifices Denny has made to succeed professionally; the unexpected loss of Eve, Denny's wife; the three-year battle over their daughter, Zoë, whose maternal grandparents pulled every string to gain custody. In the end, despite what he sees as his own limitations, Enzo comes through heroically to preserve the Swift family, holding in his heart the dream that Denny will become a racing champion with Zoë at his side. Having learned what it takes to be a compassionate and successful person, the wise canine can barely wait until his next lifetime, when he is sure he will return as a man. A heart-wrenching but deeply funny and ultimately uplifting story of family, love, loyalty, and hope, The Art of Racing in the Rain is a beautifully crafted and captivating look at the wonders and absurdities of human life . . . as only a dog could tell it.
A: Jeff Kleinman P: Harper G: General Fiction
NYT: - LAT: - BS: 33