Remain has become a #1 New York Times bestseller, giving the Nicholas Sparks and M. Night Shyamalan collaboration a much stronger debut than a curiosity project ever would have needed. Random House celebrated the milestone on social media, and the publisher’s own book page is now carrying the same billing.
The book, published on October 14, 2025, was always going to draw attention because of the pairing alone. Sparks is one of the biggest names in modern romance, and Shyamalan brings a very different storytelling reputation with him, one tied to mystery, unease, and the supernatural. Remain leans right into that overlap. It is romantic, but it is also built around grief, strange experiences, and the feeling that the world may not be as sealed off as it first appears.
That combination is probably a big part of why the book stood out so quickly. Remain was never just another Nicholas Sparks release, and it was never just M. Night Shyamalan borrowing somebody else’s sandbox for a minute. It arrived with the novelty of the collaboration, yes, but it also arrived with a hook readers clearly responded to.
For anyone following the project because of the planned film, this is an impressive early sign that the title connected on its own. The movie is still ahead, but the book has already landed a real public milestone, and that gives Remain a little more heft as it keeps building toward the screen version.