How early have you been hooked?

I got to thinking about a book a read many years ago and began thinking about how quickly it hooked me. With this particular book I was hooked with the first word. The first word was the first sentence. The book began with the word Heat. This single word, the first word, made me want to read more. Of course, I had read and enjoyed numerous other books by this author. The name of the book is Overload and the author is Arthur Hailey.

Has anyone been hooked that quickly? I realize I was influenced by the author, but the first word in this novel really was the hook for me.

Charlie

Sometimes a title has hooked me, even before I opened the book or read the back jacket.

Never hooked by one word--guess I am a hard-sell.

I have been hooked on the first sentence but it had more than one word. If I am not hooked by about the 3 page or so, it is labor for me to finish the chapter to give the author a chance. I have found that sometimes if I get to the end of the first chapter the hook will be there, so I am then glad I read that far.

I believe, though, the hook needs to be set at least on the first page if possible, the second at the most.

Anyone elses thoughts?

The first three words of a book I once started to read caused me to put it down.
It began, "Life is difficult." That was the summation of the entire book and I didn't want to read a few hundred pages to arrive at the same conclusion.

Abe F. March wrote:

The first three words of a book I once started to read caused me to put it down.
It began, "Life is difficult." That was the summation of the entire book and I didn't want to read a few hundred pages to arrive at the same conclusion.

Very wise decision.

If everybody just did what I have repeatedly told them to do and read the books and short stories of Cornell Woolrich (pseudonym William Irish) they would be hooked by titles alone. Here was the greatest of all writers of suspense so knowing that could you not read:
I wouldn't be in your shoes
Charley won't be home tonight
I'll take you home, Kathleen
The black path of fear
He became so good at it that he could use one- or two-word titles and horrible things were conjued up in your mind: Hotel Room; Rear Window, Mannequin. The premise of his final short story, For the Rest of Her Life, was so horrible it could never be forgotten. He never had to resort to paranormal props. He knew the most fearsome of all creatures is man. Or sometimes woman.
When he died there was a scrap of paper in his pocket with the words "First you dream, then you die." No one has ever been certain if it was the title for a story or the way he felt about his life.
Someday I may again write about this haunted man.

Mike Nevins used it for his biography of Woolrich.

Back when I read in my bed with a flashlight under the covers, "Once Upon A Time" released my day into the night of imagination and always made me feel better. The words that followed told some lovely story that had not one thing to do with my life. Drifting off into another world. Once Upon A Time hooked and enfolded me.

Once Upon A Time hooked me on reading , The stories were not my life. The wonderful stories from so many minds inspired so many dreams that I could see in the middle of the dark nights. When I discovered Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, well, my world enlarged past the city dump and into mystery.

I know that children today do not know those old stories that I know by my heart. Every word, each illustration, each vision I had of little children that were not me is stored within me.

I was talking to someone the other day and mentioned The Little Red Hen. I told her how the little chicken worked so hard and asked for help from all around her to no avail.

This person said, "Never heard of the hen, tell me about that."

You know I did, word for word. I know that is a little nuts on my part.

So, I would have to say, Once Upon A Time is the best hook ever written.

Love,
Betty

Charlie,
Sometimes the book's front cover, if it has a nice picture, can hook me. You know what they say: a picture is worth a thousand words. Next to this would be the title: I would much rather read "A midsummer night's dream" than "Who framed Roger Rabbit?"

My book of fairy tales is titled, "Now Is Once Upon a Time." It is a group of nine fairy tales, on amazon at a ridiculous price or available through my website for $15. No, it wasn't published by PA but by Lulu where one is supposed to be able to choose their book's price. It is not the price I chose.

I am just venting here, but those once upon a time words are important.

Carol

Once, years ago, I was browsing in a bookstore, and came across a title that intrigued me so much that I bought the book. When I got home, and began to read it, I realized that the book's premise had nothing to do with what I read into the title, so I put it on the shelf. Several years later, when i was in a very bad place in my life, a friend made a comment which reminded me of the premise of that forgotten book. I went home, pulled it from the shelf, and started to read. Lo, and behold, I found myself reading about my current problem, and found the precise answers I needed to move beyond the struggle that had been keeping me stuck in that bad place.

Ann

Dear Carol,
Your book, Now Is Once Upon A Time is one of a kind. the illustrations are lovely and the stories are beautiful.

Thank you for understanding the Once Upon A Time thing.

I was awake last night thinking how, It Was A Dark And Stormy Night, could be used in that same way to tell little mysteries to children.

Love,
Betty