New thrillers from well-known authors topped the bestseller lists across Europe in late October. These included The Lords of Time, the final volume of Eva García Sáenz de Urturi's White City trilogy, which was #1 on the fiction list in Spain. Sabotage, the latest book from perennial favorite Arturo Pérez-Reverte was in the second spot. Sáenz de Urturi has been published in English by AmazonCrossing, and Pérez-Reverte is with Random House.

In France, Maxime Chattam’s The Signal, a cross between Stephen King and H.P. Lovecraft, was the top fiction title. This is Chattam’s 25th book and he has previously been translated by Gallic Books. The second slot was held by Laurent Gounelle, whose I Promise You Freedom is the latest in a string of popular inspirational fiction titles; he is published in the U.S. by Hay House.

Sebastian Fitzek, said to be the bestselling German author of the past decade, returned to #1 on the German fiction list with The Inmate, about a father who has himself admitted to a mental hospital to find his child’s murderer. Volker Kutsche, whose Babylon Berlin series is the basis of a popular Netflix adaptation, was at #3 with Marlow. Steven Hawking’s Brief Answers to the Big Questions was #1 on Germany’s nonfiction list. Yuval Noah Harari was at #3 with 21 Lessons for the 21st Century; his Sapiens stayed atop the nonfiction list in Spain, where it has been for several months.

Germany

Rank Title Author Imprint
Fiction
1 Der Insasse (The Inmate) Sebastian Fitzek Droemer
2 Mittagsstunde (Midday Hour) Dörte Hansen Penguin
3 Marlow (Marlow) Volker Kutscher Piper
Nonfiction
1 Kurze Antworten auf große Fragen (Brief Answers to the Big Questions) Stephen Hawking Klett-Cotta
2 Die bessere Hälfte (The Better Half) Eckart von Hirschhausen and Tobias Esch Rowohlt
3 21 Lektionen für das 21. Jahrhundert (21 Lessons for the 21st Century) Yuval Noah Harari C.H.Beck

For the week ended Nov. 4; used by arrangement with Buchreport

France

Rank Title Author Imprint
Fiction
1 Le signal (The Signal) Maxime Chattam Albin Michel
2 Je te promets a liberté (I Promise You Freedom) Laurent Gounelle Calmann-Lévy
3 J’ai encore menti (I Still Lied) Gilles Legardinier Flammarion
Nonfiction
1 Idiss (Idiss) Robert Badinter Fayard
2 Ce que je peux enfin vous dire (What I Can Finally Tell You) Ségolène Royal Fayard
3 Fragile: souvenirs (Fragile: Memories) Muriel Robin XO

For the week ended Nov. 4; used by arrangement with GFK/Livres Hebdo

Spain

Rank Title Author Imprint
Fiction
1 Los señores del tiempo (The Lords of Time) Eva García Sáenz de Urturi Planeta
2 Sabotaje (Sabotage) Arturo Pérez-Reverte Alfaguara
3 La muerte del comendador (Killing Commendatore) Haruki Murakami Tusquets
Nonfiction
1 Sapiens. De animales a dioses (Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind) Yuval Noah Harari Debate
2 El naufragio (The Shipwreck) Lola García Península
3 Nada es tan terrible (Nothing Is So Terrible) Rafael Santandreu Grijalbo

For the week ended Nov. 5; used by arrangement with El Cultural