A Grann Adventure
David Grann has the #5 bestselling title in the country with The Wager, a “riveting account” of an 18th-century shipwreck perfect for “armchair adventurers,” per our review. Grann has made a name for himself with his nonfiction thrillers, two of which—The Lost City of Z and Killers of the Flower Moon—have been adapted for the big screen. Rights to The Wager have already been snatched up by Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio, whose adaptation of Killers hits theaters in October. And they’re not the only ones excited about Grann’s latest—The Wager dwarfed his four previous books in first-week sales.
Cooking Under the Influence
Three new cookbooks by Instagram influencers hit our top 10 hardcover nonfiction list this week. At #3, Meals She Eats by Tom and Rachel Sullivan (@mealssheeats) sold 32,236 copies, or .06 copies per each of their 571k followers; Tasting History by Max Miller (@tastinghistorywithmaxmiller) came in at #4 with 20,160 copies, or .1 copies per each of his 187k followers; and Rachael’s Good Eats by Rachael DeVaux (@rachaelsgoodeats) hit the #6 spot with 9,908 copies, or .02 copies per each of her 659k followers. PW gave Miller’s Tasting History a starred review, hailing it as an “innovative debut” that will “entice history buffs and home cooks alike.”
Clark Lives On
Mary Higgins Clark died in 2020, but the long-reigning “Queen of Suspense” remains a fixture of our hardcover fiction list, where she appears this week at #6. Where Are the Children Now?, a sequel to Clark’s 1975 psychological thriller Where Are the Children?, marks the seventh collaboration between Clark and Alafair Burke, who coauthored their first book in 2014. Clark, who died at the age of 92, “earned just about every honor a suspense author could receive,” per our obituary. The late S&S CEO Carolyn Reidy crowned her “the first lady of Simon & Schuster,” where Cark remained for her entire 45-year career.
NEW & NOTABLE
SIMPLY LIES
David Baldacci
#1 Adult Fiction, #3 Overall
Baldacci is “at his best” in this tense and twisty standalone thriller, per our review, which centers on “an ex-cop and single mother who’s drawn into a murder investigation.”
YOU CAN'T JOKE ABOUT THAT
Kat Timpf
#1 Adult Nonfiction, #4 Overall
The debut from the libertarian comedian and Fox News cohost asks readers to rethink how they talk about sensitive subjects and reject self-censorship.