Rapture

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PRAISE FOR THOMAS TESSIER!

RAPTURE

"Ingenious. A nerve-paralyzing story."

-Publishers Weekly

"Nerve-tingling suspense."

-Booklist

"Truly scary."

-Kirkus Reviews

"Top-flight terror!"

-Washington Post Book World

"Shocking. As horrifying as a novel can be."

-Rocky Mountain News

"Superb!"

-Chicago Sun Times

"Completely frightening!"

-Richmond Times Dispatch

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FINISHING TOUCHES

"A novel of erotic cruelty... seductive and compulsively readable."

-Publishers Weekly

"A decidedly adult horror novel that deserves a wide audience."

-Library Journal

"A beguiling read through a compact yet splendidly evocative-even mesmerizingnovel of style and high entertainment."

-Booklist

"One of the most terrifying novels I have ever read"

-Ramsey Campbell

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MORE PRAISE FOR THOMAS TESSIER!

"Thomas Tessier is one of those writers who can find the unexpected poetry and subtlety in horror."

-Peter Straub

"Vastly talented... Tessier is a masterful practitioner of the art of dark fiction."

-Publishers Weekly

"Thomas Tessier is horror fiction's best kept secret."

-Washington Post

"Tessier is a vastly talented writer, who uses not just words, but always just the right word, to tantalize his readers:'

-Rocky Mountain News

"A master of quiet terror."

-Anniston Star

"Tessier is one of the most capable and conscientious writers to grace the contemporary field."

-The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction

"Tessier knows how to write a crackling good story."

-The Tribune (San Diego)

"Thomas Tessier is one of the genre's living masters. His novels and stories combine the visceral satisfactions of first-rate popular fiction with the aesthetic satisfaction of literary fiction at its best."

-Bill Sheehan, author of At the Foot of the Story Tree

"One of the very best writers of horror fiction of this generation."

-Shadowings: The Reader's Guide to Horror Fiction

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Other Leisure books by Thomas Tessier:

FINISHING TOUCHES

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THOMAS TESSIER

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. The Girl in the Very Long Dream ...........................1

II. A Friend of the Family .......................................107

III. Lateral Movement ..............................................143

IV. Rendezvous with an Echo .................................205

V. The Land of Lost Content ..................................283

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PART I

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The Girl in the

Very Long Dream

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CHAPTER ONE

This business with Diane was a bizarre flourish in Jeff's life. Their sessions were trivial but vaguely worrying. Should he be carrying on like this? At his age? But maybe this was the right age for such behavior to start manifesting itself. He didn't like that thought at all. Fortunately, Diane rescued him, as she so often did.

"Honey ..."

The voice of a teenager. She was standing with her back to him, slowly tugging a pair of tight shorts up over her girlish ass. She knew he loved to watch her, especially from behind. When they were together, she spent most of her time composing herself in pictures for him. The rest of the time, they fucked.

"Hm?"

"You gonna come see me again soon?"

"Of course."

"My folks are always out, you know...."

He nodded, smiling as he tied his shoes.

"Daddy's always working," she went on in that little-girl tone, her face a mild pout. "And my mother can't stand to be around the house. She's out somewhere with her friends every day."

"I know," he said agreeably.

"They leave me all alone here...."

She had turned to face him, and now stood twirling her long blond hair idly in front of her breasts. They weren't quite as full as Jeff would have liked, but they weren't far off either, and he knew this could never be the ideal situation of his dreams.

"You know I'll be back," he told her.

"Really? Promise?"

He was nearly a foot taller, and she had to look up at him as he stood before her. She pressed her lips with her thumb like a shy, fearful child. It always amazed him how she could invest her appearance with so much vulnerability. It was strangely moving, and he knew that was what he liked most about Diane.

"Yes," he said. "I promise."

She smiled sweetly. Now he could go. She pulled on a T-shirt and accompanied him to the door. He gave her a long, lingering kiss.

"You won't tell your parents?" he asked.

"Not if you come back."

"You got me."

He winked, and left. Traffic was light at this hour, and he was soon out of Los Angeles, heading into Ventura County. How lucky he'd been to find Diane! None of his previous attempts had worked out the way he had hoped. Diane was an angel. A real find, no question.

Still, he told himself a moment later, the whole thing was really rather silly. He turned on the radio so he wouldn't have to think about it any more.