Justin Cronin’s The Passage is the book on everyone’s list. Ballantine has been heralding it for months and it’s being cradled by badge holders all over the show.
“It’s a hot book, everyone’s talking about it,” says Joshua Jason, Mystery Pier Books, West Hollywood, Calif. Juan Vallejo of New York City’s Biography Bookshop agrees. “Everyone at the bookstore who’s reading it is loving it.” Arlene Kovach from Borders at Garden State Plaza, N.J., thought the line was too long to wait for a galley, but can’t wait to read it: “I’ve heard it’s like Stephen King’s The Stand, which was one of my all-time favorite books.”
Bill Cusumano, adult book buyer, Nicola’s Books, Ann Arbor, Mich., is touting Ape House by Sara Gruen (Spiegel & Grau). “By page 20, you’re totally drawn in. It’s better than Water for Elephants.” Dan Radovich, from the Deerfield, Ill., Barnes & Noble, is looking forward to reading it, hoping the apes will be as great as the elephants. And speaking of primates, they are the stars of Twelve’s The Evolution of Bruno Littlemore by debut author Benjamin Hale, and the word is “awesome.”
Radovich is also wild about Room by Emma Donoghue (Little, Brown): “One of the best reads of 2010.” As is Ana McDaniel, manager of the Bookseller in Brattleboro, Vt.: “It’s got a sensational topic, but more than that, the writing’s solid.”
Speaking of Room, Roberta Rubin from the Book Stall, in Winnetka, Ill., and Barbara Theroux, from Fact and Fiction, Missoula, Mont., both include it in their top two picks; the other: Bruno Littlemore again.
Steve Berry’s The Emperor’s Tomb (Ballantine) has Michael Bursaw of Mystery Mike’s Bookstore, in Carmel, Ind., excited. “I’m crazy for Berry’s books, but we have to thank Dan Brown for reviving the genre of religious mystery. In fact, Steve Berry has thanked Dan Brown for making it all possible.”
Stephanie Singer of the Jewish Community Center in San Francisco, Calif., is looking forward to Scorpions, Harvard professor Noah Feldman‘s biography of FDR and four of his Supreme Court Justices. Jonathan Karp of Twelve, Feldman’s publisher, says that these justices “would have a hard time being confirmed today.”
Geri Diorio from the Ridgefield Library in Ridgefield, Conn., is thrilled about the new Brad Meltzer from Grand Central—The Inner Circle, set in Washington, D.C. Meltzer himself was talking about his book from HarperStudio, Heroes for My Son, a collection he’s been putting together since his son was born eight years ago. “No publicity,” Meltzer says, “but the book is showing up as #2 on the New York Times list.”
As BP makes another effort to cap the oil spill in the Gulf, the environment is more front and center than ever, and Rowman & Littlefield has a timely book. In fact, the publisher has moved up the pub date for Clean Energy Common Sense, thanks to the oil spill. The introduction is by Robert Redford. And Jon Stewart’s Earth: A Visitor’s Guide to the Human Race is a popular take on a serious issue (Grand Central).
On the mystery front, David Thompson of Murder by the Book, in Houston, Tex., says Dead Zero by Stephen Hunter (S&S) is excellent.
Coffee House’s Extraordinary Renditions by Andrew Ervin has been nominated for a Moby Award, which has had booksellers asking for it all day long. And at Graywolf, Per Petterson’s I Curse the River of Time, is flying out of the booth. In the Dark Streets Shineth: A 1941 Christmas Story by David McCullough, from Shadow Mountain Books, a Mormon Press, has Sue Zumberge from Common Good Books in St. Paul, Minn., planning to do something new: “I never sell Christmas books, but this one is going to do well. Lovely book, well-known author."
Again with the mystery, Thompson of Murder by the Book declares Innocent Monster by Reed Farrell Coleman (Tyrus Books, Madison, Wis.) “absolutely fantastic, 50 pages in.”
Several indie booksellers expressed high hopes for A Novel Bookstore (Europa) by Laurence Cossé.
Travels in Siberia (FSG) by indie favorite Ian Frazier, Man in the Woods by Scott Spencer (Ecco), and An Object of Beauty (Grand Central), actor/comedian Steve Martin’s foray into New York City’s art world, gained significant mention on the floor. Okay, let’s not forget the ubiquitous and megaselling James Patterson. Did we mention prolific? His new galley from Little, Brown reads in two directions, all the better to feature two books: Private (with Maxine Paetro) and Cross Fire, an Alex Cross thriller in which Alex gets married. Coming upon the man himself and inquiring which of his books at the show was the biggest, he answered, “They’re all big."
And every author and publisher on the floor might say the same.
Lots of thrillers were drawing attention. Grand Central's biggest thriller of the fall is David Baldacci's Hell's Corner, the latest in his Camel Club series. Little, Brown is touting Michael Connelly's The Reversal (Oct.), and Michael Koryta's So Cold the River, a thriller with a supernatural twist. Publicist Heather Rizzo says they're hoping Koryta will be "the next Stephen King." Putnam has three thrillers from big names: Tom Clancy's Dead or Alive (Dec.), a new Jack Ryan; Patricia Cornwell's Port Mortuary (Nov.), her latest Kay Scarpetta forensic; and Clive Cussler's Crescent Dawn, another Dirk Pitt nautical adventure.
Simon & Schuster is offering Brad Thor's The Athens Project (Atria), the first in a new series; Howard Gordon's The Obelisk (Touchstone); and Vince Flynn's American Assassin (Atria), the latest in his Mitch Rapp series. "We have a strong lineup with returning authors," says Wendy Sheanin, director of marketing of S&S's adult publishing group.
Minotaur publicist Hector DeJean says everyone at Minotaur is excited about Bill Ryan's debut, Holy Thief (Aug.), a police procedural set in the Soviet Union in the 1930s. "Ryan creates an authentic period atmosphere to a scary degree," says DeJean. St. Martin's offers Paul Grossman's Sleepwalkers (Oct.), a detective novel set in 1932 Germany just before the Nazi takeover, and Ben Coes' Power Down (Oct.), a thriller that involves a major oil spill. Coes was a White House speech writer.
