Name a book that had you utterly hooked very early on.
I tend to struggle if a book doesn’t draw me in quickly.
I know some books are a slow burn and worth the early effort, but I want to hear about the ones that grabbed you early on and held you until the end! 😊
Thanks
Project Hail Mary!! I could not wait to see where that story was going!
GuruNihilo on
Blake Crouch’s man-on-the-run thriller **Dark Matter**. It has a light sci-fi basis.
mingie on
The Red Rising series is pretty non-stop. I was hooked with the first chapter and the series is just non-stop, barely any fat on it
SparklingGrape21 on
The Shadow of the Wind. By page three I was hooked. By page six I knew it would be an all-time favorite.
Taste_the__Rainbow on
Seveneves, from the first sentence:
*The moon blew up without warning and for no apparent reason.*
Bechimo on
Replay by Ken Grimwood.
Jeff Winston was 43 and trapped in a tepid marriage and a dead-end job, waiting for that time when he could be truly happy, when he died.
BJntheRV on
Parable of the Sower
Kindred
Both are f these hooked me as soon as I started and I finished them fast because I stayed hooked.
Susaleena on
Watership Down
midnightbizou on
I just started Nos4atu by Joe Hill the other night, fully intending on reading a couple of chapters before bed. I was up until 2 am, doing the “one more chapter, then bed” routine, we’re all familiar with.
The funny thing is, is that I had borrowed it off the Libby app, and it sat there until I had 3 days left on it, so had to wait to re-borrow it. Got it back yesterday!
Bourbon_bonanza on
The Pillars of the Earth
actvscene on
Love Medicine, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, Wuthering Heights, Infinite Jest.
paylos5032 on
Shantaram
RegattaJoe on
Shogun, but given its length “early” is relative
elizajaneredux on
The Secret History by Donna Tartt!
Pristine-Fusion6591 on
Piranesi by Susanna Clarke. I could have easily finished the book in one sitting, but I kept forcing myself to take breaks so that I could prolong my time in that world.
rowdover on
The Goldfinch! I started it on a long plane ride and was 100 pages in before I put it down
GoingForGold88 on
All systems red, Martha Wells, the first page had me.
unknowinglurker on
Catch-22. It was love at first sight.
Conscious-Dig-332 on
Will always mention Gone Girl
teethinthedarkness on
The Gunslinger by Stephen King hooked me from the opening line: ”The man in black fled across the desert and the gunslinger followed.“
fejobelo on
Great question! For me it was The Ruby in the Smoke by Phillip Pullman. The last sentence of the second paragraph made the book impossible to put down for me.
“ON A COLD, FRETFUL AFTERNOON IN EARLY OCTOBER, 1872, a hansom cab drew up outside the offices of Lockhart and Selby, Shipping Agents, in the financial heart of London, and a young girl got out and paid the driver.
She was a person of sixteen or so—alone, and uncommonly pretty. She was slender and pale, and dressed in mourning, with a black bonnet under which she tucked back a straying twist of blond hair that the wind had teased loose. She had unusually dark brown eyes for one so fair. Her name was Sally Lockhart; and within fifteen minutes, she was going to kill a man.”
twilighttruth on
The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton
I read the whole thing in one day because I just couldn’t stop.
goagod on
11/22/63
That book gets going very quickly and just keeps getting better!
MrsPedecaris on
Leave it to Psmith, by PG Wodehouse.
natsugrayerza on
Misery by Stephen king. Hooked me immediately and kept my interest the whole time. I loved it
JimTheGiant53 on
Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz
Passname357 on
Within the first three pages of The Bluest Eye, I knew Toni Morrison was a genius, and I knew nothing else about her. My brother just gave me the book because he read it in a women’s studies class and said he liked it. Turned out I was right on the money. It’s unbelievable that it’s a first novel. The first opening is great, and then the narrative opening might be even better (if disturbing).
>Quiet as it’s kept, there were no marigolds in the fall of 1941. We thought, at the time, that it was because Pecola was having her father’s baby that the marigolds did not grow. A little examination and much less melancholy would have proved to us that our seeds were not the only ones that did not sprout; nobody’s did.
UgoStraight2Jail on
American Psycho had me hooked from the first page. I loved the pace and the fact that you have no idea what to expect. Just mayhem and psychopathy at its finest.
SnakePlisskin987 on
The Vampire Lestat!
RichyCigars on
American Gods
BitchWidget on
Tommyknockers. Stephen King. He’s just an excellent writer.
Snooberry62 on
The Name of the Wind
LifeContestant on
*Blood Meridian* by Cormac McCarthy is one of the best American novels from the 20th Century, and it will capture you and absolutely destroy you (in the best possible way).
sweetlyspun on
She’s Come Undone by Wally Lamb
IronAndParsnip on
Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
CPA_Lady on
“Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again.”
MMMcFlurryy on
*The Glass Castle*. This memoir has stuck with me for years, and I still think about the stories and experiences of the Walls family. Jeannette Walls has a command of language that’s enviable, and her descriptions quite literally breathe life into words on a page.
lightningfootjones on
Is it cheating to say A hitchhikers guide to the galaxy?
MtBaldyMermaid on
Every VC Andrews book I read in middle school.
happybamboo on
Pachinko! I read the first 12 pages in the bookstore and disappeared for the next few days.
All The Light We Cannot See.
Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow.
I wish I could reread them for the first time again 🥲
PeachesSwearengen on
To Kill a Mockingbird
op_249 on
All Quiet on the Western Front. I don’t even know why, I’m not big into war novels but I couldn’t stop and read it in like 3 days during down time at work.
42 Comments
Project Hail Mary!! I could not wait to see where that story was going!
Blake Crouch’s man-on-the-run thriller **Dark Matter**. It has a light sci-fi basis.
The Red Rising series is pretty non-stop. I was hooked with the first chapter and the series is just non-stop, barely any fat on it
The Shadow of the Wind. By page three I was hooked. By page six I knew it would be an all-time favorite.
Seveneves, from the first sentence:
*The moon blew up without warning and for no apparent reason.*
Replay by Ken Grimwood.
Jeff Winston was 43 and trapped in a tepid marriage and a dead-end job, waiting for that time when he could be truly happy, when he died.
Parable of the Sower
Kindred
Both are f these hooked me as soon as I started and I finished them fast because I stayed hooked.
Watership Down
I just started Nos4atu by Joe Hill the other night, fully intending on reading a couple of chapters before bed. I was up until 2 am, doing the “one more chapter, then bed” routine, we’re all familiar with.
The funny thing is, is that I had borrowed it off the Libby app, and it sat there until I had 3 days left on it, so had to wait to re-borrow it. Got it back yesterday!
The Pillars of the Earth
Love Medicine, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, Wuthering Heights, Infinite Jest.
Shantaram
Shogun, but given its length “early” is relative
The Secret History by Donna Tartt!
Piranesi by Susanna Clarke. I could have easily finished the book in one sitting, but I kept forcing myself to take breaks so that I could prolong my time in that world.
The Goldfinch! I started it on a long plane ride and was 100 pages in before I put it down
All systems red, Martha Wells, the first page had me.
Catch-22. It was love at first sight.
Will always mention Gone Girl
The Gunslinger by Stephen King hooked me from the opening line: ”The man in black fled across the desert and the gunslinger followed.“
Great question! For me it was The Ruby in the Smoke by Phillip Pullman. The last sentence of the second paragraph made the book impossible to put down for me.
“ON A COLD, FRETFUL AFTERNOON IN EARLY OCTOBER, 1872, a hansom cab drew up outside the offices of Lockhart and Selby, Shipping Agents, in the financial heart of London, and a young girl got out and paid the driver.
She was a person of sixteen or so—alone, and uncommonly pretty. She was slender and pale, and dressed in mourning, with a black bonnet under which she tucked back a straying twist of blond hair that the wind had teased loose. She had unusually dark brown eyes for one so fair. Her name was Sally Lockhart; and within fifteen minutes, she was going to kill a man.”
The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton
I read the whole thing in one day because I just couldn’t stop.
11/22/63
That book gets going very quickly and just keeps getting better!
Leave it to Psmith, by PG Wodehouse.
Misery by Stephen king. Hooked me immediately and kept my interest the whole time. I loved it
Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz
Within the first three pages of The Bluest Eye, I knew Toni Morrison was a genius, and I knew nothing else about her. My brother just gave me the book because he read it in a women’s studies class and said he liked it. Turned out I was right on the money. It’s unbelievable that it’s a first novel. The first opening is great, and then the narrative opening might be even better (if disturbing).
>Quiet as it’s kept, there were no marigolds in the fall of 1941. We thought, at the time, that it was because Pecola was having her father’s baby that the marigolds did not grow. A little examination and much less melancholy would have proved to us that our seeds were not the only ones that did not sprout; nobody’s did.
American Psycho had me hooked from the first page. I loved the pace and the fact that you have no idea what to expect. Just mayhem and psychopathy at its finest.
The Vampire Lestat!
American Gods
Tommyknockers. Stephen King. He’s just an excellent writer.
The Name of the Wind
*Blood Meridian* by Cormac McCarthy is one of the best American novels from the 20th Century, and it will capture you and absolutely destroy you (in the best possible way).
She’s Come Undone by Wally Lamb
Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
“Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again.”
*The Glass Castle*. This memoir has stuck with me for years, and I still think about the stories and experiences of the Walls family. Jeannette Walls has a command of language that’s enviable, and her descriptions quite literally breathe life into words on a page.
Is it cheating to say A hitchhikers guide to the galaxy?
Every VC Andrews book I read in middle school.
Pachinko! I read the first 12 pages in the bookstore and disappeared for the next few days.
All The Light We Cannot See.
Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow.
I wish I could reread them for the first time again 🥲
To Kill a Mockingbird
All Quiet on the Western Front. I don’t even know why, I’m not big into war novels but I couldn’t stop and read it in like 3 days during down time at work.