What Were The Most Popular Books In Salem In 2018?

SALEM, MA -- Salem likes its James Patterson. The author cracked the top 10 list of checkouts from the Salem Public Library four times -- if you count co-authored books -- in 2018. We asked Salem Public Library director Tara Mansfield for the most popular books in 2018, and here's what she told us.

Descriptions of each title from each book's publisher.

1. "The Woman in the Window" by A. J. Finn

For readers of Gillian Flynn and Tana French comes one of the decade’s most anticipated debuts, to be published in thirty-six languages around the world and already in development as a major film from Fox: a twisty, powerful Hitchcockian thriller about an agoraphobic woman who believes she witnessed a crime in a neighboring house.

2. "Fifty Fifty" by James Patterson and Candice Fox

Detective Harriet Blue is determined to clear a convicted killer's name . . . but when there's another murder, can she escape the madmen holding her hostage?

What are the chances that convicted killer Sam Blue is innocent of the serial murders of three young women? Determined to clear his name, no matter the cost to her career, Detective Harriet Blue accepts a risky reassignment to a remote town where a diary found on the roadside reveals a murderous plan.

And the first killing, shortly after her arrival, suggests that the clock is already ticking. Meanwhile, back in the city, a young woman holds the key to crack Harriet's brother's case wide open. If only she could escape the madmen holding her hostage.

3. "Two Kinds of Truth" by Michael Connelly

Harry Bosch, exiled from the LAPD, is working cold cases for the San Fernando Police Department when all hands are called out to a local drugstore, where two pharmacists have been murdered in a robbery. Bosch and the tiny town's three-person detective squad sift through the clues, which lead into the dangerous, big-business world of prescription drug abuse. To get to the people at the top, Bosch must risk everything and go undercover in the shadowy world of organized pill mills.

4. "Count to Ten" by James Patterson and Ashwin Sanghi

In the #1 bestselling series, Jack Morgan teams up with the head of Private India to solve a high-stakes case: one by one, people are missing-and they have to find them before they're dead.

5. "Manhattan Beach" by Jennifer Egan

Anna Kerrigan, nearly twelve years old, accompanies her father to visit Dexter Styles, a man who, she gleans, is crucial to the survival of her father and her family. She is mesmerized by the sea beyond the house and by some charged mystery between the two men.‎

Years later, her father has disappeared and the country is at war. Anna works at the Brooklyn Naval Yard, where women are allowed to hold jobs that once belonged to men, now soldiers abroad. She becomes the first female diver, the most dangerous and exclusive of occupations, repairing the ships that will help America win the war. One evening at a nightclub, she meets Dexter Styles again, and begins to understand the complexity of her father’s life, the reasons he might have vanished.

6. "The Midnight Line" by Lee Child.

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Lee Child returns with a gripping new powerhouse thriller featuring Jack Reacher, “one of this century’s most original, tantalizing pop-fiction heroes” (The Washington Post).

7. "Little Fires Everywhere" by Celeste Ng

Little Fires Everywhere explores the weight of secrets, the nature of art and identity, and the ferocious pull of motherhood – and the danger of believing that following the rules can avert disaster.

8. "Princess" by James Patterson and Rees Jones

A secret and the British crown make a murderous combination in this page-turning suspense novel in the #1 bestselling Private series.

9. "Wonder" by R.J. Palacio

August Pullman was born with a facial difference that, up until now, has prevented him from going to a mainstream school. Starting 5th grade at Beecher Prep, he wants nothing more than to be treated as an ordinary kid—but his new classmates can’t get past Auggie’s extraordinary face. WONDER, now a #1 New York Times bestseller and included on the Texas Bluebonnet Award master list, begins from Auggie’s point of view, but soon switches to include his classmates, his sister, her boyfriend, and others. These perspectives converge in a portrait of one community’s struggle with empathy, compassion, and acceptance.

10. "The People vs. Alex Cross" by James Patterson

Alex Cross is on the wrong side of the law. Charged with gunning down followers of his nemesis Gary Soneji in cold blood, he is being turned into the poster child for trigger-happy cops. Cross knows it was self-defense. But will a jury see it that way?

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Patch file photo of James Patterson (right).

Dave Copeland can be reached at dave.copeland@patch.com or by calling 617-433-7851. Follow him on Twitter (@CopeWrites) and Facebook (/copewrites).