First Line Friday - Naked in Death

Welcome to my first "First Line Friday" blog hop. To join the fun, post your link here and comment below. Or just tell me what's on your TBR pile that you plan to get to this weekend. 

I have on my nightstand the paperback of J.D. Robb's Naked in Death, the first of her Eve Dallas novels. (With over 50 books in the series? Oh man.)

I've never read a Nora Roberts / JD Robb book before, but my niece really enjoys this "In Death" series and may have read them all. The copy I have is the 25th Anniversary edition from 2020 - originaly published 1995.

What grabbed my attention is the genre - futuristic suspense. So that sounded interesting! And, of course, you have to read the first lines (or paragraphs) of the first chapter to see if it pulls you in. 

So here goes. Let me know if you like this opening...

She woke in the dark. Through the slats on the window shades, the first murky hint of dawn slipped, slanting shadowy bars over the bed. It was like waking in a cell.

For a moment she simply lay there, shuddering, imprisoned, while the dream faded. After ten years on the force, Eve still had dreams.

I like it! I like that we know the person's name right away. I hate it when an author tries to keep an identity secret, just using pronouns for a page or two thinking that increases interest. It doesn't. It's frustrating. I want to know who the story is about, and now I know right away. Eve.

The alliteration is almost a bit too much here (dawn slipped, slanting shadowy bars), but the image is great. Bars. Cell. Imprisoned. Very good. And the last line of the second paragraph sets the context perfectly. I'm glad Robb wrote simply: Eve still had dreams. No adjective. 

I'm also glad we didn't start with a dream - hate that writing strategy too. You're reading along thinking this is real and then the MC wakes up! Dumb. I'm sure in this case, we'll find out what Eve has been dreaming... 

Oh, and the next line to the third paragraph is even better: Six hours before, she'd killed a man.

Okay, I'm hooked. What about you?

BTW, another Fiday blog hop is #Friday56 - which means you turn to page 56 in your paperback (or go to 56% in your e-book) and share a snippet.

This particular meme is hosted by Freda's Voice - so click here to participate.

Here's my p.56 snippet from Naked in Death by JD Robb...

"It was an early evening. By eleven I was alone, with a book and a brandy, until about seven A.M., when I had my first cup of coffee."

Sure he was! Lt. Dallas is interviewing a guy named Roarke and is already suspicious. Don't know if he's guilty or not. Haven't read the book yet! ;-)

There you have it. Two memes for the price of one. 

Thanks for dropping by. Chat with you below!