For the first time in a while we have us a prologue, folks. But what a prologue.

As writers, we hear all the time that we’ve got to hook readers in just the first few pages or else. We’ve got to hook agents in the first few pages or else.

Whether you’re looking to get published or just hoping to hook your reader, first impressions are vital. Compelling opening scenes are the key to catching an agent or editor’s attention, and are crucial for keeping your reader engaged.

JEFF GERKE, THE FIRST FIFTY PAGES

Well then, let’s study those first few pages in other people’s stories, shall we?

Today I snagged from the New Release shelf:

Distant Sons by Tim Johnston

We are transported to a 1976 summer evening tense with sport and hormones and mystery as two brothers run off to play a baseball game…but only one returns.

It’s a damn beautiful prologue, the cadence of the prose flowing like a river such boys would splash in to cool off after a hard nine innings in the schoolyard. The narrator focuses on the experience of the elder brother, stuck with his younger brother for the game, so caught up in the game he forgets about the brother altogether. As he walks home through the woods he remembers the boy who had gone missing a year ago—and as the prologue ends, it sounds like the younger brother has met the same fate.

Now one of my biggest beefs about prologues of this caliber is that they’re often some sort of cover for a lousy first chapter, one that brings the momentum to a grinding halt and dumps us with information before attempting to restart the narrative action. For Johnston, this is not the case. Granted, we have been shifted to a new time—2018—and ride with a new character named Sean. However, we are not given a ton of exposition—hardly any at all, really. We are watching Sean deal with his busted truck and his prediction of how his future interaction with his father may go when he gets home. I stopped at this point due to time, so how this broken truck impacts Sean, I cannot say.

What I will say is that the prologue is a brilliant study of powerful prose that balances a lush setting with the relatable pangs of a boy aspiring to be more and with the looming fear of nefarious danger in the background. Even if you don’t want to read the rest of the novel, I recommend fellow writers check out Distant Sons for the prologue alone.

No matter what the season brings, keep reading!

Read on, share on, and write on, my friends!