Reese Witherspoon Surpassed by Surprising Author on 'New York Times' Bestsellers List Erin CrabtreeOctober 23, 2025 at 2:12 AM 0 Marc Piasecki/Getty Images Reese Witherspoon's first novel, Gone Before Goodbye, seemed like a lock for the top spot of every New York Times bestsellers list after its...
- - Reese Witherspoon Surpassed by Surprising Author on 'New York Times' Bestsellers List
Erin CrabtreeOctober 23, 2025 at 2:12 AM
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Marc Piasecki/Getty Images
Reese Witherspoon's first novel, Gone Before Goodbye, seemed like a lock for the top spot of every New York Times bestsellers list after its release, but another highly anticipated book stood in its way.
Gone Before Goodbye — which Witherspoon, 49, wrote with thriller author Harlan Coben — debuted at No. 2 on the hardcover fiction list, falling behind Nicholas Sparks and M. Night Shyamalan'sRemain at No. 1.
Interestingly, the rankings were reversed on the combined print and e-book fiction list, with Gone Before Goodbye achieving the No. 1 spot and Remain following at No. 2.
Witherspoon celebrated the achievement after the lists were revealed on Wednesday, October 22, writing via her Instagram Story, "Gone Before Goodbye is officially a #1 New York Times Best Seller for print and e-book fiction!!! Thank you to everyone who picked up the book, listened to the audiobook and shared your love for this story!"
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Gone Before Goodbye and Remain were both released on October 14 and marked first-time collaborations for Witherspoon and Coben, 63, and Sparks, 59, and Shyamalan, 55, respectively.
Witherspoon and Coben's book, Gone Before Goodbye, is described as "an unforgettable suspense novel" that follows "a woman trapped in a deadly conspiracy — where uncovering the truth could cost her everything," according to its synopsis.
Meanwhile, Sparks and Shyamalan's novel, Remain, "grapples with the supernatural mysteries of life, death and human connection." The collaboration promises the best of both worlds since Sparks is known for his romances such as The Notebook and A Walk to Remember, while Shyamalan is famous for twist-filled films such as The Sixth Sense.
A Remain movie written, directed and produced by Shyamalan is also in the works, with a projected release date in October 2026.
Witherspoon was the one to approach Coben with her idea for Gone Before Goodbye, telling CBS Mornings earlier this month, "In my mind, he is the greatest thriller writer there is right now."
Coben was instantly intrigued. "Immediately, I had a yellow legal pad out," he recalled. "We started going back and forth with ideas for three hours."
Of the pair's intentions for the novel, Coben added: "We really wanted this to be the book you take to bed at 11 o'clock and be like, 'Oh, I'll read for 10 minutes,' and the next thing you know, it's four in the morning."
As for Sparks and Shyamalan, the two worked together to create a story that could be turned into a novel and a feature film.
"It wasn't really an adaptation. It wasn't a novelization," Sparks explained to The Hollywood Reporter earlier this month. "It was both of us taking that original story we first conceived at the very first meeting, and then he worked in his medium, and I worked in mine. I gave him a real long leash on his medium, and he gave me a real long leash on mine."
This story was originally reported by Parade on Oct 23, 2025, where it first appeared in the News section. Add Parade as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
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