Michael Crichton's latest techno-thriller,
State of Fear, had a December 7 one-day laydown and while sales were brisk, its first landing on PW's national charts is at #3. It could not get ahead of The Five People You Meet in Heaven and The Da Vinci Code—both novels that also headed the 2003 holiday season. HarperCollins reports 1.5 million copies in print in the U.S. alone for Crichton's newest; Prey, his previous bestseller, has more than three million copies in print worldwide. State of Fear is Crichton's first book since 1995 not to hit the charts in the #1 spot its first week out. First week's sales for State of Fear at the three national chains—Barnes & Noble, Borders and Waldenbooks—were 45,693 vs. 57,266 for Prey's first week sales at the same three places, a drop of 20%. BookScan reported a 108,000-copy sale for the book's first week, and HC reported total sales in all outlets nationwide were about 160,000 compared with about 145,000 for Prey. A good percentage of the sales are coming from nontraditional book outlets—i.e., price and discount clubs have been even stronger than they were for Prey. Since the book was embargoed, reviews—so far almost all excellent—are first coming in. PW's review noted, "There's a lot of message here, but fortunately Crichton knows how to write a thriller of cyclonic speed and intensity." Crichton did some national publicity, including Today and 20/20, and December 19 on CBS Sunday Morning, Janet Maslin gave the book a big plug. HC had tons of requests for time with Crichton, some of which it will reschedule after the holidays; the house only had a short time for Crichton in New York due to the embargo and his trip to the U.K. to do publicity for the HarperUK edition.
