In the Heart of the Fire (Nameless: Season One, #1)

by Dean Koontz

The sky is the blue of a birthing blanket, the day newborn and filled with the light of innocence, when the air brakes of the bus whistle softly, waking him.

Most often, it’s good advice to open a story in the midst of action or with an ominous note. But sometimes I like to find ways to bury that ominous note deep enough that it speaks only to the subconscious. By opening with the birthing-blanket image and the reference to innocence, the suggestion is that all is well in this best of all possible worlds. . .but then the two words “waking him,” suggest that the serene sky and the light of innocence are figments of a dream, and that the waking world will not be as benign.