BEAUTIFUL LIES by Lisa Unger

'It's dark in that awful way that allows you to make out objects but not the black spaces between them.  My breathing comes ragged from exertion and fear.  The only person I trust in the world lies on the floor beside me.  I lean into him and hear that he's still breathing but it's shallow and hard won.  He's hurt, I know.  But I can't see how badly.  I whisper his name in his ear but he doesn't respond.  I feel his body but there's no blood that I can tell.  The sound of his body hitting the floor minutes before was the worst thing I've ever heard.

I feel the floor around him, looking for his gun.  After a few seconds, I feel the cool metal beneath my fingertips and I almost weep with relief.  But there's no time for that now...I hold the gun in both hands and wait.  I've never fired a gun before and I don't know how many bullets are left in this one.  I think we're going to die here.

"Ridley, please, please don't do this."  The voice echoes in the dark and comes from up above me.  "We can work this out."  I don't answer.  I know it's a trick.  Nothing about this can be worked out now; we're all too far gone.  There have been plenty of chances to close my eyes and go back to the sleep of my life as it was, but I haven't taken any of them.  Do I wish now that I had?  It's hard to answer that question, as the wraiths move closer.

"Six,"  he whispers.

"What?"

"You have six bullets left."

'A tense exploration of what lies beneath the white picket fence of ordinary life.  Harlan Coben has a new rival for his thriller crown.'  John Connolly.

Soft cover, good condition.  Front cover is a little bent.