You've Got Five Pages, The Ferryman by Justin Cronin, to Tell Me You're Good.

The first chapter can make or break a reader's engagement with a story. We as writers must craft brilliant opening pages in order to hook those picky readers, so let's study the stories of others to see how they do it! Ever hear of the sci-fi cult classic Logan's Run? It's a 1976 film about a world where everyone is young and perfect, and life will always give you just what you want. Once your hand's computer light starts flashing, you have to go be "renewed"--or as one quickly finds out, you die. This immediately came to mind when I picked up Justin Cronin's The Ferryman, so I was a little wary of how this deceiving utopia would compare with the likes of Logan's Run. Happily, my concern was unnecessary. The prologue (yes, a prologue) introduces readers to the "mother" of the book's protagonist. She is preparing to leave all that she knows; since the dust jacket says that folks of a certain age in this utopia are taken away to be "renewed," we can safely assume she's preparing herself for that journey. Unlike Logan's Run, it appears this renewal is almost like a reincarnation: the aged or taken away, bodies de-aged and minds erased, to come back to the island as teenagers to start life again as wards to selected adults of the city. Yes, this prologue is a lot of exposition, but the prose fits the moment, for the woman is describing all that she says as she says farewell to her life. She then recalls meeting her ward, the protagonist Proctor, and is surprised by the maternal feelings she holds. She doesn't understand them. And frankly, the alienness of family feeling is what I find so compelling here. As a writer, we can create whatever kind of world we want, and I see Cronin's done precisely that. Yet something must be relatable for the reader, or they won't feel the story is accessible. Most people have their own sense of family, whether by birth or friendship, but the fact that this society has turned that sense of family into an alien feeling leads readers to question what else has been essentially removed from the human experience--perhaps the soul itself? And what will you learn from these opening pages? Let's find out! Cheers!