After the cover, this is your first chance to convince the reader that they weren't an idiot for picking up your book. Your first chance to hook them. To let them know something about the story, and something about you--the writer. About how precise you are. How succinct. How sick. How entertaining.

Let me share the opening lines of my novels, from oldest to newest.

From Cloudburst: The calf-high, black leather boots hit the carpet with a muffled thud. Now, this was my first novel, and I might ...