Bestseller Read-Alikes for the Week of Feb. 27th

Can’t wait to get your hands on the latest best-seller, but the hold list is too long? To tide you over, every week we’ll offer similar titles and authors to the week’s fiction and nonfiction best sellers.

Fiction

This week's #1 fiction bestseller is Private Games by James Patterson. Private Games is the second novel in Patterson's "Private" series, this time written with Mark T. Sullivan. Private, the world's most renowned investigation firm, has been commissioned to provide security for the 2012 Olympic games in London. The opening ceremony is still hours away when Private investigator Nigel Steele is called to the scene of a ruthless murder. A high-ranking member of the games' organizing committee and his mistress have been killed. It's clear that it wasn't a crime of passion, but one of precise calculation and execution. Nigel and newspaper reported Karen Pope soon uncover a criminal genius who won't stop until he's ended the games for good.

You can catch up with Patterson's "Private" series by reading Private: #1 Suspect, co-written with Mark Pearson.

Other authors with similar writing styles to Patterson:

John Sandford - Like Patterson, Sandford writes fast-paced suspenseful crime novels, in series and stand-alone formats. The crimes are often committed by a serial killer, and the atmosphere of the novels is generally menacing and dark, with graphic descriptions of violence. Try Broken Prey, from the Lucas Davenport series.

James Grippando - Another author suspenseful mysteries, Grippando's novels feature likable and sympathetic central characters that do battle with contemporary evils, such corrupt politicians or greedy corporations. The inclusion of  true-to-life investigative details often make the stories highly believable and multiple plot-twists make for dramatic climaxes at the end. Try The Pardon.

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Nonfiction

This week’s #1 nonfiction bestseller is American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History by Chris Kyle. A former member of Navy SEAL Team 3 describes his life as a father and husband, and as the serviceman with the most confirmed sniper kills in the history of the United States military while serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Book similar to American Sniper include:

SEAL Team Six: Memoirs of an Elite Navy SEAL Sniper by Howard Wasdin - A Navy SEAL Team Six sniper reveals how he became an elite soldier while recounting the dramatic mission that nearly cost him his life, offering insider perspectives on his team's extensive training process at the Marine's Scout Sniper School

The Heart and the Fist: The Education of a Humanitarian, the Making of a Navy SEAL by Eric Greitens (359.984 GRE) - The author describes how, after working as a humanitarian around the world, he realized that he could do nothing to stop violence or prevent people from becoming refugees and soon joined the elite Navy SEALs, where he drew on his humanitarian training as he battled injustice.

Jarhead: A Marine's Chronicle of the Gulf War and Other Battles by Anthony Swofford (956.7044 SWO) - A memoir of the Gulf War by a front-line infantry marine recounts his struggles with the conflict on the front lines, his battles with fear and suicide, his brushes with death, and his identity as a soldier and an American.

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