208 WORDS

Maybe it’s the relaxed day. Maybe it’s the teenage son voluntarily listening to jazz and doing dishes in the kitchen. Maybe it’s the knowledge that “Mr. Spazz,”—the squirrel haunting our attic—has finally gone to a better place. (Easy there, PETA.  “Better place” in this vernacular means “wildlife preserve on the opposite side of a major waterway.”)

Whatever the reason, here I am, reading an actual book.  Or I was, until I decided to post about reading an actual book. And it may not count as an actual book, since it’s actually the Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) of a book that’s already been released and was probably modified from the version I have. But let’s not quibble. The first page impressed me. It was good enough that I had to put the book down and talk about it.

In one-half page and 208 words, the author (1)  bricks out a solid, sympathetic protagonist, (2) throws down a red herring or two, and (3) establishes three different  sources of conflict.

Hoping the rest of the book delivers. . .