I recently read Richard Chizmar's "Chasing the Boogeyman". I liked the book and it lent itself nicely to a sequel, which I started a few days ago. For context, the book is told from the point of view of the author of "Chasing the Boogeyman", which is a both the name of the book, and the name of the fictional book in the story. The story is taking place in 2021/2022, for reference, and the sequel I'm currently reading, "Becoming the Boogeyman", was published in 2023. Early in the book, a line stuck out to me:
"Chasing the Boogeyman stuck around on the hardcover bestseller lists for seventeen consecutive weeks – a rare occurrence these days unless your name happens to be Grisham, King, or Patterson…"
As someone who reads a variety of authors, I thought this line irked me, since although these authors are undeniably popular, I felt like it was leaving something out. I looked up the NYT Best Sellers for 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022, and found the following:
2019 – The most frequent best seller of the year was "Where the Crawdads Sing" by Delia Owens, 25 weeks at the top.
2020 – The most frequent best seller of the year was "Where the Crawdads Sing" by Delia Owens, 7 weeks at the top.
2021 – The most frequent best seller of the year was "The Four Winds" by Kristen Hannah at 5 weeks, followed by "The Duke and I" by Julia Quinn at 4 weeks.
2022 – "Where the Crawdads Sing" – by Delia Owens (again) at 12 weeks, followed by "It Ends With Us" by Colleen Hoover at 11 weeks. Hoover spent a total of 19 weeks at the top between 3 of her novels.
Considering the book is actively referencing real authors, it may have been worth it to accurately portray which authors are dominating the charts. A throwaway line in the book, but one that stopped me in my tracks and boiled my blood.
by coowoolooo