18 Holes in One

John Grisham's 18th book, The Broker, lands in the #1 spot on all the hardcover lists this week after less than a week in the stores, a feat the author has accomplished with all of his novels except the first two, A Time to Kill and The Firm. Both of those books, however, did get to the top spot after week one. Doubleday's laydown date for Broker (with 2.8 million copies) was January 11, and it launched the book with a "Trains, Planes and Automobiles" promotion. Special kiosks were set up in New York's Grand Central Station and the San Francisco airport, where the book was discounted to $20 (including tax) so people could just plunk down the money and go. American Airlines is giving away copies of the book in first class flights to Italy (much of the book is set in that country). First-week sales total at the three national chains—Barnes & Noble, Borders and Waldenbooks—was 81,284, slightly lower than the 84,575 for The Last Juror in February 2004, but considerably more than the 51,808 for Bleachers in September 2003. Grisham's opening-week sales record at these three chains was set back in February 1999, when The Testament racked up more than 126,300 copies sold within the first week.