The Bestseller Test • Are bestsellers worth the hype? • Episode #186

What makes a bestseller? Is it the quality of the writing, or just the right book at the right time? This week Kate is joined by co-host Laura Potter and returning guest Phil Chaffee to find out.Between us we've tackled six of the biggest bestsellers out there – Dan Brown's&nbsp;The Secret of Secrets, Freida McFadden's&nbsp;The Housemaid, Andy Weir's&nbsp;Project Hail Mary, Matt Dinnerman's&nbsp;Dungeon Crawler Carl, SenLinYu's&nbsp;Alchemised, and Sarah Adams'&nbsp;In Your Dreams&nbsp;– and we have some opinions.We're sharing our honest experiences of each one: what worked, what didn't, and whether these books truly earned their place on the bestseller lists. But this isn't just a round of verdicts. We're also pooling our recommendations for the bestsellers we genuinely think are worth your time, like The Correspondant by Virginia Evans – because there are some real gems out there among the hype.And as always, we round off with our current and upcoming reads.Press play to find out which bestsellers passed the test – and which ones didn't.Support the pod on PatreonExplore all the benefits of membership. Kate's weekly reading diary is available to free members. Paid tiers include ad-free episodes, extra shows, chat group access and our monthly book club at Patreon.com/thebookclubreview. BooklistYou can also find all the books mentioned in The Book Club Review bookshop on Bookshop.org, the online bookstore that supports independent bookshops.The Secret of Secrets by Dan BrownThe Da Vinci Code by Dan BrownThe Housemaid by Frieda McFaddenGone Girl by Gillian FlynnIn Your Dreams by Sarah AdamsAlchemized by SenLinYuGideon the Ninth by Tamsyn MuirDungeon Crawler Carl by Matt DinnimanThe Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas AdamsProject Hail Mary by Andy WeirThe Martian by Andy WeirNobody's Fool by Harlen CobdenThe Correspondant by Virginia EvansThe Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas (Robin Buss)Rivals by Jilly CooperThe novels of Stephen KingThe Time Traveller's Wife by Audrey NiffeneggerThe Smiley books by John Le CarreThe Underground Railroad by Colson WhiteheadThe Night Always Comes by Willy VlautinIce by Jacek Dukaj (Author) , <a href="https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/author/ursula-phillips/"