'The Hypnotist,' Hot LBF Title, Tops in Sweden

Not too much new fiction made it to the top of the lists in the major European markets in August, but there was a new bestseller in Sweden, with The Hypnotist by Lars Kepler landing at #1. The novel was one of the hot books at the London Book Fair and was bought for the U.S. after the fair closed by Sarah Crichton Books/Farrar, Straus & Giroux. Kepler is the pseudonym for the established husband and wife authors Alexandra Coelho Ahndoril and Alexander Ahndoril; Hypnotist, which has drawn comparisons to the thrillers of megaseller Stieg Larsson, is envisioned as the first in a new series, with pub date in the U.S., tentatively set for 2011. Hypnotist kicked the latest installment in Mari Jungstedt's Anders Knutas series down to #2; Minotaur has published Jundstedt in the U.S. with the 2008 release, The Inner Circle, earning a PW starred review.

Some new nonfiction landed high up the charts in Germany, led by journalist Michael Jurgs's critical look at German culture, its title taken from Wetlands, the erotic bestselling memoir of TV personality Charlotte Roche, which was published in the U.S. by Grove. No word of a U.S. publisher for Shallow Lands.