First Lines Fridays is a weekly feature for book lovers hosted by Wandering Words. What if, instead of judging a book by its cover, its author or its prestige, we judged it by its opening lines?

The Rules:

• Pick a book off your shelf (it could be your current read or on your TBR) and open to the first page.
• Copy the first few lines, but don’t give anything else about the book away just yet – you need to hook the reader first.
• Finally… reveal the book!

First Lines:

“18 February 1921

I do not have long now. I can feel it. It has crept over me so slowly that, at first, I was hardly aware of it, but it’s in my flesh now. A burning, tingling feeling, like when I was bitten by a spider as a child. Spreading through my limbs and my body, inexorably and painfully. I am outwardly in good health, despite the wound’s grey festering. But I know, and my minders know, that there is no forestalling the investable result. And I am always hungry.”

This definitely caught my attention, and I can’t wait to start this one!

Do you recognize the lines?

Here’s a hint:

This is an upcoming horror novel.

Still not sure? Here’s another hint:

It’s written by Nicholas Mullen.

The First Lines Friday book is:

The Black Hunger.

About the Book:

• Title: The Black Hunger
• Author: Nicholas Pullen
• Page Length: 325 pages
• Publication Date: October 8, 2024
• Publisher: Redhook

Synopsis:

John Sackville will soon be dead. Shadows writhe in the corners of his cell as he mourns the death of his secret lover and the gnawing hunger inside him grows impossible to ignore.

He must write his last testament before it is too late.

It is a story steeped in history and myth—a journey from stone circles in Scotland to the barren wilderness of Ukraine where otherworldly creatures stalk the night, ending in the icy peaks of Tibet and Mongolia, where an ancient evil stirs.

Links: Goodreads     

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links, and I may earn a small commission at no cost to you if you purchase through my links.