Over at the website Thriller Central, William Dietrich posted a really fun list of first lines from various thrillers and mysteries. Do you know where these come from?
- “The last camel collapsed at noon.” (My favorite.)
- “Where’s papa going with that axe?” (That one’s good too.)
I highly recommend checking out his entire list.
I got to thinking that it would be fun to pull out our first lines and see how they stand up. Here goes.
The Paris Lawyer, by Sylvie Granotier: “One early afternoon, in all other ways like any other afternoon, her mother takes her out in her stroller, soothing her with a laughing mom’s voice.”
Treachery in Bordeaux, by Jean-Pierre Alaux and Noël Balen: “The morning was cool and radiant. A west wind had swept the clouds far inland to the gentle hills beyond the city of Bordeaux.”
The 7th Woman, by Frédérique Molay: “It felt like lightning had struck him.”
A Cursed Week, the first story in the 52 Serial Shorts collection: “Let me introduce myself: My name is Monday.”
The Bleiberg Project by David Khara: “Two years. Two long years in the frozen hell of northern Poland.”
Greenland: The Thriller by Bernard Besson: “Lars Jensen felt the ground tremble beneath the snow.”
OK, Greenland wins for me. What do you think? I would say they all set the tone well for each book. Anybody have any favorite first lines out there?
Comments about First lines in thrillers and mysteries
Mark
on March 19, 2013
I think you picked a good one. “Lars Jensen felt the ground tremble beneath the snow.” Definitely has some punch.
“One early afternoon, in all other ways like any other afternoon, her mother takes her out in her stroller, soothing her with a laughing mom’s voice.”
I like the round about nature of that one.
“Let me introduce myself: My name is Monday.”
Simple but would make me keep reading, I think mostly because the name is very secret code-ish.