There used to be warnings on books that if it was missing its cover it wasn't a copy intended for sale.
When I was in college there was a book fair that sold misprints and books with other minor cosmetic issues.
Neither are necessarily fake but different than the retail copies you'd get at B&N.
If you thought this was over the top try Memory Man. I love Baldacci's books like a good Chinese buffet. You know it's cheap trash but it's damn good cheap trash.