Here are the Top 10 ebooks downloaded from the Free Library's OverDrive Digital Library in December 2015 to close out last year.
More than 85,000 ebooks were checked out and downloaded for the month!
New entries to this month's Top 10 include the latest installments in long-running series from Lee Child and Janet Evanovich respectively, featuring their characters Jack Reacher and Stephanie Plum. Downloads for Andy Weir's outer space survival adventure The Martian are still holding steady since the popular movie adaptation starring Matt Damon. Mystery and Suspense Thriller genre titles filled out the rest of this month's most downloaded titles from authors as Gillian Flynn, Harlan Coben, David Baldacci, and two novels from John Grisham..
The following list comprises titles from across all genres, downloaded from both our website and mobile site.
1. | The Girl on the Train (fiction, suspense) by Paula Hawkins Continuing with the "unreliable narrator" theme, The Girl on the Train is a classic and suspensefully thrilling page turner. Rachel rides the same commuter train every morning, a boring and predictable experience each ride, until she catches a shocking glimpse of the unspeakable. Unable to keep it to herself, Rachel offers what she knows to the police, and becomes inextricably entwined in what happens next, as well as in the lives of everyone involved. Has she done more harm than good? |
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2. | Go Set a Watchman (fiction) by Harper Lee Overdrive would have you believe this is book two in the To Kill A Mockingbird Series. Um, NO. What this book is—depending on what you read or believe—is a separate novel set after the events in the Pulitzer Prize–winning To Kill A Mockingbird or excerpts from said novel that were edited out of the published draft. |
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3. | All the Light We Cannot See (historical fiction) by Anthony Doerr Set in England and France during World War II, Anthony Doerr's All the Light We Cannot See is a book about the human spirit and the will to survive under insurmountable odds. The story of a blind French girl and an orphaned German boy whose lives cross paths, children thrust into a war-torn world and forced to make life a death decisions. Emotional and suspenseful, with intricately written detailed passages among the backdrop of history. |
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4. | The Martian (fiction, sci-fi) by Andy Weir Recently adapted from book to screen, Andy Weir's story of astronaut Mark Watney is one of survival, determination, and the true meaning of living life to the fullest. After becoming one of the first people to walk on Mars, Mark is suddenly stranded by a freak dust storm. With no way to signal Earth from the mysterious red planet, he puts his engineering and science skills to the test to stay alive. The journal entry style storytelling and dramatic action really immerse the reader in the events of this sci-fi thriller. |
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5. | Make Me (fiction, mystery suspense thriller) by Lee Child Stephen King calls Jack Reacher "the coolest continuing series character", so it's no surprise that this newest (and 20th overall) installment of the action adventure star's series would make our monthly Top 10 list. What starts out in a small, sleepy town called Mother's Rest winds up being a mystery road trip that takes Reacher through LA, Chicago, Phoenix, and San Francisco, the dark web of the Internet, and up against thugs and assassins every step of the way. |
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6. | Tricky Twenty-Two (fiction, romance and mystery) by Janet Evanovich Bounty hunter Stephanie Plum is back in her 22nd mystery, involving a fratenity, goofy pranks, a big man on campus nicknamed Gobbles, and a murder. There's also the requisite love triangle, this time between Trenton cop Joe Morelli and security expert Ranger. Can Plum solve the case and get the guy? |
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7. | The Stranger (fiction, suspense thriller) by Harlan Coben Harlan Coben checks in with another shocking thriller full of all the genre's requisite lies and secrets. Adam has a perfect life but doesn't realize how close he is to losing everything until he meets "The Stranger". He soon finds himself tangled in dark deception and conspiracy. Who is "The Stranger" exactly? This page turner will have you reading feverishly as you go along with every twist and revelation. |
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8. | Rogue Lawyer (fiction, suspense thriller) by John Grisham Another day, another new John Grisham novel set in the apparently dangerous and thrilling world of Law. Sebastian Rudd is not your typical lawyer: he cruises around in a custum van while drinking small-batch bourbon with a heavily armed driver / bodyguard, defending the defenseless, trying to right injustices wherever he sees them. More fast-paced entertainment from a character we're sure to see more of from the Grisham-verse. |
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9. | Gray Mountain (fiction, suspense) by John Grisham If it's a John Grisham novel, you can expect a suspenseful legal drama to unfold between the pages. Gray Mountain does just that and ties in nicely to current global warming and environmental issues with it's Big Coal and fracking backdrop. After she is downsized from a a huge Wall Street law firm, Samantha Kofer moves from NYC to a sleepy little burg in Virginia to work at a legal aid clinic. Her new job takes Samantha into a dangerous world of big business corruption, as she fights to give a voice to and legally protect the residents of her new home. |
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10. | The Escape (fiction, thriller) by David Baldacci U.S. Army special agent John Puller is back for his 3rd and most dangerous mission yet in David Baldacci's The Escape. A prisoner has escaped one of the most secure military prisons in the world and Puller is called in to track the fugitive—his own brother. Once on the case, questions quickly arise about the validity of his brother's conviction. But if his brother is innocent, who framed him and why? Pick up this pulse-pounding, action-adventure tale and find out! |
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You can check out these ebooks, plus browse for audiobooks, music, and videos, across all kinds of different genres, all from your desktop, tablet, or smartphone!
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What ebooks are you looking forward to downloading and reading? Tell us in the comments!
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