Post Date:
April 19, 2003 Issue Date:
April 19, 2003

BESTSELLERS

Name: WORLD
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The Top 5 best-selling hardback novels as measured by placement on four leading lists as of April 1

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Scoring system: 10 points for first place, 9 for second, down to 1 for 10th, on the lists of the American Booksellers Association (independent, sometimes highbrow stores), The New York Times (4,000 bookstores, plus wholesalers), Publishers Weekly (general bookstores), and Amazon.com (internet purchases). 1 The King of Torts John Grisham

36 Points

PLOT A mysterious benefactor lifts a young lawyer from the public defender's office and installs him as the newest and wealthiest class-action specialist.

GIST Instead of presenting a rookie lawyer trying to make good, Grisham gives us a cynical public defender all too easily captured by greed.

CAUTION Mild obscenities and profanities, adult situations.

2 The Lovely Bones Alice Sebold

31 Points

PLOT Susie Salmon, 14, is murdered by her neighbor. From "heaven" she watches the effects of her murder on family and friends.

GIST Heaven in this novel has no God, but is a place where what you want, you get. Eventually she sees her friends and family rebuild lives shattered by grief.

CAUTION Some language, violence, and sexual situations; particularly graphic opening chapters.

3 The Da Vinci Code Dan Brown

29 Points

PLOT A curator at the Louvre is murdered, but before he dies leaves clues that send his granddaughter (a police cryptologist) and his colleague (a Harvard professor) on a search for the killer.

GIST The premise of this book-Jesus had an affair with Mary Magdalene that produced a son-is offensive. Brown will please goddess-worshipping conspiracy buffs who like weird theories of biblical interpretation.

4 The Jester James Patterson

29 Points

PLOT In pursuit of liberty Hugh de Luc goes on a crusade and returns to find his wife kidnapped and infant son murdered. He begins another crusade to find her and liberate peasants.

GIST A Patterson thriller with a medieval twist. Fans won't find the book too far afield: Chapters are still short, action fast-paced, violence graphic and often gratuitous, character development nil, language vile and modern.

CAUTION Scattered obscenities.

5 Back Story Robert Parker

23 Points

PLOT In his 30th outing, private investigator Spencer sets out to solve a 28-year-old murder that the FBI and police seem happy to leave unsolved.

GIST Fans of Robert Parker's spare prose, literary allusions, existential moral code, and familiar cast of characters will appreciate this book. His characters shoot guns, spout philosophy, and cook with equal skill.

BESTSELLERS

The Top 5 best-selling hardback novels as measured by placement on four leading lists as of April 1

Full access isn’t far.

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