‘Rainmaker’ Off To Thundering Start

Highbrow critics may shudder, but John Grisham has once again set the publishing world afire, selling about 300,000 copies of “The Rainmaker” in its first week in bookstores (the initial printing was a record 2.8 million copies).

And last week, the book stepped neatly into the No. 1 spot on the New York Times best-seller list. No one need ask who the real rainmaker is.

Even by today’s publishing standards, with blockbusters all but required to keep publishers afloat, this book is off to a phenomenal start.

“It’s the fastest-selling hardcover book ever, as far as we know,” said Ellen Archer, a spokeswoman at Doubleday, Grisham’s publisher.

Spurred in part by Grisham’s publishing-day television appearances on “Today” and “Entertainment Tonight,” a flattering review in USA Today and a large ad in The Times, the book found an immediate audience.

Chain stores sold tens of thousands of copies in a matter of days. Even many independent booksellers, whose sales of best sellers are more modest, saw 40 to 50 copies walk out the door.

“It was far and away our No. 1 book last week,” said Lisa Herling, a spokeswoman for Barnes & Noble. “It did six times better than our No. 2 book. That’s what we expected. But our booksellers and buyers say it is his best one yet.”

Grisham’s primary appeal, the booksellers say, is that his plots, while suspenseful, are so easy to follow that a reader can return to the plot even after a substantial break and quickly find the place.

Grisham’s previous novel, “The Chamber,” continues on the fast track as well and is still No. 1 on the Times paperback fiction best-seller list.