Who is Dean Koontz, anyway? There are more than 100 million copies of his novels in print. His latest, Mr. Murder, which is about a mystery writer and an assassin whose destinies become intertwined, is currently No. 5 on the chart. Koontz should really be as famous as Crichton and Clancy. So why is he happy to be America's least familiar mega-author? ''I firmly believe that retaining one's anonymity is a fairly important part of being a good writer. If you become a celebrity, if everyone recognizes your face, you lose the ability to observe other people without them being aware that you are observing them.'' Weeks On Fiction List 1 Slow Waltz In Cedar Bend Robert James Waller, Warner, $16.95 5 2 The Bridges of Madison County Robert James Waller, Warner, $16.95 67 3 Nightmares & Dreamscapes Stephen King, Viking, $27.50 8 4 Without Remorse Tom Clancy, Putnam, $24.95 15 5 Mr. Murder Dean Koontz, Putnam, $23.95 4 6 Like Water For Chocolate Laura Esquivel, Doubleday, $17.50 34 7 Lasher Anne Rice, Knopf, $25 10 8 A Dangerous Fortune Ken Follett, Delacorte, $23.95 7 9 Decider Dick Francis, Putnam, $22.95 6 10 The Robber Bride Margaret Atwood, Doubleday/Nan A. Talese, $23.50 3
Nonfiction 1 See, I Told You So Rush Limbaugh, Pocket Books, $24 3 2 Private Parts Howard Stern, Simon & Schuster, $23 7 3 The Hidden Life of Dogs Elizabeth Marshall Thomas, Houghton Mifflin, $18.95 14 4 Seinlanguage Jerry Seinfeld, Bantam, $19.95 13 5 Wouldn't Take Nothing For My Journey Now ^ Maya Angelou, Random House, $17 9 6 Stop The Insanity! Susan Powter, Simon & Schuster, $22 9 7 The Downing Street Years Margaret Thatcher, HarperCollins, $30 4 8 Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus John Gray, HarperCollins, $20 36 9 Embraced By The Light Betty J. Eadie, Gold Leaf Press, $14.95 28 10 Reengineering The Corporation Michael Hammer and James Champy, HarperBusiness, $25 27
Mass-Market Paperbacks 1 Mixed Blessings Danielle Steele, Dell, $6.99 3 2 Along Came A Spider James Patterson, Warner, $5.99 2 3 Dolores Claiborne Stephen King, Signet, $6.99 1 4 The Joy Luck Club Amy Tan, Ivy, $5.99 59 5 The Killer Angels Michael Shaara, Ballantine, $5.99 7 6 Inadmissable Evidence Philip Friedman, Ivy, $5.99 6 7 The General's Daughter Nelson DeMille, Warner, $6.50 6 8 Red Square Martin Cruz Smith, Ballantine, $5.99 2 9 Point Of Impact Stephen Hunter, Bantam, $5.99 1 10 Mitigating Circumstances Nancy Taylor Rosenberg, Signet, $5.99 9
Source: Publishers Weekly
