Feb 23, 2012

Opening sentences: The Confession by Charles Todd

Opening sentences in a novel can set the tone and help readers decide about a book. Here are the opening sentences for The Confession, a detective mystery.



The Essex Marshes, Summer 1915

The body rolled in the current gently, as if still alive. It was facedown, only the back and hips visible. It had been floating that way for some time. men in the ancient skiff had watched it for a quarter of an hour, as if half expecting it to rise up and walk away before their eyes.

"He's dead, right enough," one said. "One of ours, do you think?"

"This far up the Hawking? It's a German spy,: the second man said, nodding, as if that explained everything. "Bound to be. I say, leave him to the fish."

"We won't know who he is until we pull him out, will we?" the third said and leaned out to touch the corpse with the boat hook.

"Here!" the first man cried out, as if this were sacrilege.
The body bobbed a little under the weight of the hook.


Title:  The Confession: An Inspector Ian Rutledge Mystery by Charles Todd
Published Jan. 3, 2012; William Morrow
Source: complimentary copy from the publisher

Goodreads description: In the latest of Charles Todd's "New York Times"-bestselling series, Scotland Yard inspector Ian Rutledge wrestles with a startling and dangerous case that reaches far into the past when a false confession from a man leads to a brutal murder.

6 comments:

  1. I have this book in my TBR- looks so good!

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  2. This does sound intriguing, and like something that would keep me ensnared. Thanks for sharing this little bit with us!

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  3. This author is new to me. It sounds interesting,and I love the cover.

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  4. I like this opening....this is an author that I have on my list of future reads!

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  5. Hi Harvee,

    This is a definite 'read on' for me.

    I couldn't understand why I had never come across this author before, then realised that it was an American author writing about a British detective.

    I really need to check this one out, to see just how the storyline and narrative is handled given the Anglo-American connection.

    The fact that Charles Todd is a mother/son partnership is even more intrguing. You often here of sibling or husband/wife partnerships, so I am wondering just how this will work given the generation divide, although there seem to be so many books in the series, spanning a good number of years, thatI guess it must work well.

    I am off to check out some of the reviews for this series of books,

    Great post.

    Yvonne

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  6. I heard the opening of this book in the audio form on Elaine Charles' radio show, The Book Report. You can listen to the archived shows on http://www.bookreportradio.com. It certainly is a greta way to get interested in a book.

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