Excerpt from Blind Spots by Thomas Mullen, plus links to reviews, author biography & more

"Shut up or I'll shoot!" Slade sounding like someone who realizes he is no longer in control.

"You don't have to talk, Jimmy," Owens assures his partner. "I can hear him breathing."

Owens can also hear Slade purse his lips in hopes that it silences his breathing. His nostrils flare as a result, the breaths just as loud as before. Slade's panicked and his chest is heaving and all his muscles are tense as he tries to move the very large Peterson along with him, but he can't stop how loudly he's breathing.

Owens thinks they're maybe twenty feet away.

"Keep breathing, Slade. Keep breathing."

Of course, Peterson is breathing too.

Maybe Peterson's eyes have widened as he realizes what's happening. Maybe that's Peterson panting, out of breath from wrestling the goon a moment ago. The fear Owens senses—the hairs prickling along the back of his neck, the taste of the air and the smell of the sweat—maybe that's coming from his partner, not from Slade, and Owens has misjudged the situation badly.

He's only fifteen feet away. Close enough. Holding the gun at what he imagines to be the level of Slade's head, based on sound and proximity and his memory of the man's height. Taller than Peterson by at least three inches.

Or maybe only two? No, three.

He tells himself that if Slade moves his gun from Peterson's head and toward Owens, he'll hear Slade's sleeve rustle.

He's pretty sure Slade is holding his breath now.

"More to your left!" Peterson blurts just in time, and Owens fires.

He normally wouldn't trust a single bullet, but he's afraid to fire a second. Either he's right, or he's catastrophically, tragically wrong.

He hates the silence almost as much as the darkness. Two seconds, three …

Something lands on the ground. Gravity still works.

"Fuck you, Mark!" Peterson screams. Aghast, stunned, and so hyped up he sounds like he could punch through a wall. But not shot. "You can't see?!"

"Not a thing. But I imagine he looks pretty bad right now."

Excerpted from Blind Spots by Thomas Mullen. Copyright © 2023 by Thomas Mullen. Excerpted by permission of Minotaur Books. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.