Thriller opening needs action

A thriller opening needs action to grab the readers

The most effective thriller opening hits the reader with action right away. It’ll hook them to the story, particularly if you make it clear that the action involves the hero who we’ll accompany and root for throughout the book.

The best example of this kind of instant action is from Trust No One by the excellent Gregg Hurwitz. Gregg has the main character of the book kicking back in his apartment on page one. Then a SWAT team smashes through his window and drags him off to a helicopter.

Needless to say, I continued reading….

The action can include some mystery too. In my international thriller The Damascus Trance, set in Syria, the thriller opens in Damascus with a man fleeing toward the airport. We see the scene from his point of view, so we soon know that he’s being pursued, but we don’t know by whom.

They mystery of the scene is played out as the action unfolds. We listen in, as it were, to the character’s thoughts, while he flees the dangerous men who’re after him.

Then at the end of the chapter there’s a big violent climax…Which sets up the appearance of the novel’s hero in the next chapter.

This thriller opening is a sort of prologue to the main action, which allows the writer to introduce the hero in a quieter way. But it means there’s a clear sense of what’s at stake for the hero.