that the reader is compelled to move on to the next page, next chapter, and before you know it, the last word, you’ve created a successful hook. Some of the more successful hooks from my Russell Quant series, each appearing as first lines of the book, are: From Sundowner Ubuntu: Murder. There are many reasons to commit it. Mine? My mother asked me to. From Aloha, Candy Hearts: “Russell Quant, will you marry me?” From Date With a Sheesha: You are invited to the death of Nayan Gupta. Immediately, and with only a few words, the reader is led to want to know more. Who is committing murder? Why did
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his mother ask him to? Who is asking Russell to marry him? What will his answer be? Who is Nayan Gupta? Why is he dead? Who the heck gets invited to a murder? Another example from the superb Saskatchewan mystery novelist Gail Bowen, and her book A Killing Spring: In the twenty-five years I had known Julie EvansonGallagher, I had wished many things on her. Still, I would never have wished that her new husband would be found in a rooming house on Scarth Street, dead, with a leather hood over his head, and electric cord around his neck, and a lacy garter belt straining to pull a pair of sheer black stockings over his muscular thighs. Oh my. Who doesn’t want to know more?
Now a dozen years into my career as a thriller-cum-mysterywriter, The Hook is something I still pay attention to whenever my thoughts turn to a new book, and I begin filling a blank computer screen with words. Or even when I’m writing an article, such as this one. Who was Rayce Tallent, you’re wondering? Did he ever get his contract? Did he go on to publish a successful mystery series? Yes, he did. But instead of using his mystery-writer nom de plume, he used his thrillerwriter real name of Anthony Bidulka.
Like his protagonist, Anthony lives a big life in a small city on the Canadian prairie. He also loves to travel the world— meeting people, sampling food and wine, walking sun-drenched streets, making good use of swim-up bars, and being awed.
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