Novel offered for free online

Charles Bock’s “Beautiful Children, a best-selling debut novel about characters adrift in Las Vegas, is the latest book to be offered for free online.

Starting Wednesday, Bock’s novel can be downloaded from the Web site http://www.beautifulchildren.net/read. The free electronic edition will also be available from such leading retailers as Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.com.

“I want people to read the book,” Bock said in a statement issued Tuesday by the Random House Publishing Group. “If that means giving it away for free online, great.”

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