Opening paragraphs.....................

I awoke with foreboding.  My hand closed in a reflex on the Luger under the pillow.  I listened, acutely attentive.  No sound.  No quick surreptitious slither, no rub of cloth on cloth, no half-controlled pulse-driven breath.  No enemy hovering.  Slowly, relaxing, I turned half over and squinted at the room.  A quiet, empty, ugly room.  On third of what for want of a less cozy word, I called home.
-Dick Francis,  Blood Sport