You've Got Five Pages, The Last Party by Clare Mackintosh, 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! Another thriller, another prologue. Is this a thing? Are thrillers required to have prologues in order to achieve publication these days? Not that I'm complaining in this case. Clare Mackintosh's The Last Party contains beautiful setting details that could easily be the stuff of prose poetry. The third-person omniscient narrator allows for easy movement through the occasional mutterings of different village characters before the main event: the annual New Year's Day dive into a lake along the Welsh/English border. Only this year, these villagers are joined by a dead body. The prologue is long enough that it took me to the end of the episode, and yes, I admit to being a bit silly this time with my movie trailer voice. :) The premise here just reminded me of too many trope movies--the "cop who doesn't play by the rules," the "outsider who must become a hero," and so on. This time, we have "the victim who wanted everyone dead and everyone is a suspect." Goodness, the dust jacket itself says, "With a lie uncovered at every turn" and "In a village with this many secrets..." It feels a touch absurd with such descriptions, but you know what? Action schlock with those anti-rule cop buddies are still fun. Fantasies that always count on that reluctant hero are still fun. So I bet this mystery with a town full of Edward Gorey-esque suspicious people will be fun, too.   What will you make of these first five pages? Let's find out!