A version of this list appears in the October 14, 2012 issue of The New York Times Book Review. Rankings reflect sales for the week ending September 29, 2012.
- THE CASUAL VACANCY, by J. K. Rowling. (Little, Brown & Company.) The sudden death of a parish councilman reveals bitter social divisions in an idyllic English town; a novel for adults by the creator of Harry Potter.
- FIFTY SHADES OF GREY, by E. L. James. (Knopf Doubleday Publishing.) A college student falls in love with a tortured man with particular sexual tastes; the first of a trilogy.
- FIFTY SHADES DARKER, by E. L. James. (Knopf Doubleday Publishing.) Ana Steele learns more about Christian Grey’s troubled past; the second book in a trilogy
- FIFTY SHADES FREED, by E. L. James. (Knopf Doubleday Publishing.) The final book in an erotic trilogy.
- GONE GIRL, by Gillian Flynn. (Crown Publishing.) A woman disappears on the day of her fifth anniversary; is her husband a killer?
- WINTER OF THE WORLD, by Ken Follett. (Penguin Group.) n Book 2 of the Century trilogy, members of five interrelated families from five countries grapple with the tumultuous historical events of the years 1939-49.
- A WANTED MAN, by Lee Child. (Random House Publishing.) A carload of people involved in a conspiracy pick up a disheveled hitchhiker, Child’s vigilante hero Jack Reacher.
- BARED TO YOU, by Sylvia Day. (Penguin Group.) Two troubled people develop an intense, obsessive relationship.
- THE TIME KEEPER, by Mitch Albom. (Hyperion Press.) A fable about the inventor of the world’s first clock; from the author of “Tuesdays With Morrie.”
- RAPTURE, by J. R. Ward. (New American Library.) After a man stumbles in front of the reporter Mels Carmichael’s car, both find they’re in over their heads.
- ZOO, by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge. (Little, Brown & Company.) A young biologist warns world leaders about the reasons for escalating animal attacks on cities.
- LOW PRESSURE, by Sandra Brown. (Grand Central Publishing.) A woman makes disturbing discoveries when she writes a book about her sister’s murder.
- A FOOL'S GOLD CHRISTMAS, by Susan Mallery. (Harlequin.) Both in Fool’s Gold, Calif., only reluctantly, a dancing teacher and a bad-boy lawyer are drawn together.
- FALL OF GIANTS, by Ken Follett. (Penguin Group.) Five interrelated families from five countries are caught in the upheavals of World War I and the Russian Revolution.
- SOMETHING WITCHY THIS WAY COMES, by H. P. Mallory. (Random House Publishing.) Back from a round of time travel, the Queen of the Underworld must now protect her realm from the sinister Lurkers; a Jolie Wilkins novel
