New York Times Bestsellers for August 17

In Hardcover:
There is a new Sheriff in town! Sherrilyn Kenyon's latest installment in the Dark-Hunter series "Acheron" takes the top spot in this week's NY Times Bestseller list for fiction in an impressive debut week.

Holding steady in the second spot for the second straight week is "The Bourne Sanction" by Eric Van Lustbader.

Dropping all the way from the top spot last week to #4 is Daniel Silva's "Moscow Rules" which has seen three strong weeks on the chart.

The juggernaut that is Stephenie Meyer continues to roll along. "The Host" has taken hold of the fifth spot.

Robin Cook is back scaring up thrills once again. "Foreign Bodies", the latest novel by Cook, debuts in the ninth spot on this week's chart.

Another book enjoying a strong debut this week is "The Assassin" by Stephen Coonts. This hot new thriller clocks in at #12.

Usually you only see them on cathedrals, but now you can find them at your local bookseller. "The Gargoyle" by Andrew Davidson sinks its teeth into the fourteenth spot in its debut week.

In its second week on the charts, "The Clone Wars" by Karen Traviss drops three spots to snag the sixteenth spot on the list.

Other books of interest: "Damage Control" by J.A. Jance at seventeen, "Rules of Deception" by Christopher Reich at nineteen, "Fractured" by Karin Slaughter at twenty-two, "Swan Peak" by James Lee Burke at twenty-five, "The 19th Wife" by David Ebershoff at twenty-eight, "The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao" by Junot Diaz at thirty-one, "The Enchantress of Florence" by Salman Rushdie at thirty-three, and "The Turnaround" by George Pelecanos at thirty-four.

In Trade Paperback:
Celebrating its twelfth week on the trade fiction list, "The Shack" by William P. Young continues rolling along, once again grabbing the #1 spot.

"The Alchemist" by Paulo Coelho is still going strong after forty-eight weeks on the list by taking the fourth spot.

Showing an even longer longevity on the chart is Cormac McCarthy's "The Road" which has been listed now forty-nine times.

"Nauti Dreams" by Lora Leigh makes a strong debut this week, taking the eighth spot on the list.

Because what happens in the woods, stays in the woods, Tana French's "In the Woods" delights its readers at #14.

Other books of interest: "Out Stealing Horses" by Per Petterson at nineteen, "On Chesil Beach" by Ian McEwan at twenty-two, "The Yiddish Policemen's Union" by Michael Chabon at twenty-three, "The Gatecrasher" by Madeleine Wickham by twenty-six, "The Lovely Bones" by Alice Sebold at twenty-eight, "The Pillars of Earth" by Ken Follett at thirty-one, and "Brideshead Revisted" by Evelyn Waugh at thirty-five.

In Mass Market Paperback:
Once again taking the top spot on the chart this week is "Playing for Pizza" by John Grisham. No wonder I'm always hungry after typing this up.

Continuing on the "playing" motif, we have "Play Dirty" by Sandra Brown at seven. I don't think she is talking about playing in the mud.

Patricia Briggs continues a second strong week on the list, her latest novel "Cry Wolf" stirs up all kinds of trouble at #10.

"The Sanctuary" by Raymond Khoury thrills its readers with another end-of-the-world tale, taking the eleventh spot this week.

This is one garden I don't think I want to walk through. "The Bone Garden" by Tess Gerritsen ramps up the action at #12.

Other books of interest: "Beyond Reach" by Karin Slaughter at fifteen, "The Race" by Richard North Patterson at sixteen, "Nature Girl" by Carl Hiaasen at twenty-two, "The Elves of Cintra" by Terry Brooks at twenty-four, "Shadowfires" by Dean Koontz at thirty-three, and "The Devil's Labyrinth" by John Saul at thirty-five.