Here’s a look at Publisher’s Weekly fiction bestsellers as we reach the half-year.  It’s become increasingly hard of late for authors to hold onto the #1 spot, but this year seems tougher still.  Of the 18 authors who have nabbed that perch, only three – John Grisham, The Associate; Janet Evanovich, Plum Spooky; and Jodi Picoult, Handle with Care – have exceeded a week’s stay.  Such bestseller veterans as Michael Connelly, James Patterson, Harlan Coben, Mary Higgins Clark and others have managed only one week on top.  Of this year’s fiction newcomers, the five longest-running tenures to date are David Baldacci (First Family, nine weeks and counting); James Patterson (Run for Your Life, nine weeks); James Patterson (The 8th Confession, seven weeks); Maeve Binchy (Heart and Soul, seven weeks) and W.E.B. Griffin (Black Ops, seven weeks).

(Publisher’s Weekly, June 29)

(Publisher’s Weekly, Feb. 23)

William Monahan, who won an Oscar and an Edgar for his film adaptation of 2006′s The Departed, has been signed by Paramount to adapt The Associate as a star vehicle for Shia LaBeouf.  Monahan’s most recent writing credit was last year’s Body of Lies, which starred Leonardo Di Caprio and Russell Crowe.

Order your signed copy of The Associate by John Grisham at www.vjbooks.com

(Publisher’s Weekly, Feb. 16)

A January 30 Huffington Post article noted that officials at Pittsburgh’s Duquesne University were “upset that Grisham mentions the school in connection with a fictional gang rape in The Associate, which deals with a character who attended the private Catholic college and was involved in a drunken rape scene in an off-campus apartment in 2003.  A Duquesne spokeswoman. . . said it was unfortunate Grisham ‘chose to use our name and associate it with a fictional incident of this nature.’ Grisham told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that he chose the school because he saw it once, and has been to Pittsburgh for Steelers and Pirates games.”

Order your signed copy of The Associate by John Grisham at www.vjbooks.com

(Scotlandonsunday, Jan 11, David Leask)

We should all be sick of John Grisham. We should be sick of his formulaic legal thrillers and we should be sick of the smug and suspiciously youthful-looking author’s face on their covers. We should be. But we’re not.

There were three newish Grishams piled up among the bestsellers in the shops this Christmas. And there’s another new one out later this month. It’s going to be another hit. Why? Because it’s a damned good read.

Grisham’s latest is The Associate. Cynics might suggest it has been stamped out at some thriller cloning factory. Its hero, after all, is a smart young legal beaver named Kyle McAvoy, who is recruited fresh from Yale law school to a major New York law firm. Think Tom Cruise as smart young lawyer Mitch McDeere in the movie of Grisham’s first bestseller, The Firm. True, young Mitch graduated from Harvard and worked in (more…)

“The Associate”, John Grisham’s new legal thriller and 22nd novel, due to premiere in January 2009. (And you can get your signed copy from VJ Books!)

The master of legal suspense, John Grisham was a criminal and civil lawyer in Mississippi when his first book, A Time to Kill, was published. But it was his next book, The Firm, that became a blockbuster and established him as king of the genre.

While working as an attorney, Grisham witnessed emotional testimony from the case of a young girl’s rape. Naturally inquisitive, Grisham’s mind started (more…)