Would this beginning to a book make you want to purchase it?

“Kill the kid.”

He sat looking at the sleeping child, who was dressed in a clean white T-shirt and shorts that had grown dingy in the week they’d been here. The blond curls were cut tight to the head like those of the angels he remembered from childhood Sunday school lessons.

“Kill the kid.”

The words echoed in his head, bouncing off the walls and returning to haunt him. Those three words had ended the conversation he’d had with his partner late last night. He knew she was right—they had to get rid of the evidence. Why hadn’t he done it yet?

Because our book launch is in a restaurant, we can’t do a book reading. Applebee’s wants two teaser posters with words from the book. But how do you choose a couple of sentences from an entire book? I chose part of the prologue because I’m particularly proud of one character Mom created in Violet Fate, and let’s just say, it isn’t the hero. Mom got into the mind of the bad guy long enough to give us a glimpse of motive, and I had a blast expanding on the villain’s story. Some of our favorite books are those in which the bad guy’s zeal for what he or she does captures the imagination. I think it eases our conscience when the person doing wicked or evil things is driven by passion and/or misfortune. We want a theory on why they do what they do.

Mom created enough facts in Violet Fate to make you wonder, and I gave you even more reasons to speculate.

Oh, and just to really leave you in a loop: here’s the end of that prologue. It’s what I’ve chosen for the second poster board:

Suddenly, he knew what he had to do.  He picked the child up gently and carried the snoozing form down the wooded path to the lake, laying the small body gently on the ground, then bending over and taking off his shoes.  The sand felt warm on his feet.  Did that mean the water would be warm?  He hoped so, though he didn’t understand his own thinking.

He shook himself, then scooped the child up close to his chest and slowly walked into the lake. When the water got to his upper chest, he lifted the body high above his head. The child stirred; eyelids flickered opened and he was staring into eyes so deep blue they looked purple.

He flung his burden as far as he could.

 Do you want to know more about this villain? Good, then I’ve accomplished my objective.

–Genilee Swope Parente