TITLE: ADULT
GENRE: SECRET
Note to self, always have a backup getaway car. The Volkswagen’s engine clicked dejectedly as Sara turned the key. It wouldn't start. The car was ten years old, and it had carried Sara through college, but today, when she needed it the most, nothing.
Rain drummed on the windshield and raced down the cracked paint. Sara scratched the back of her head. Her feet were soaked, and water seeped out of her shoes, darkening the carpet of the front seat. Her duffel bag grew heavier with each passing second. She thought she heard the whine of a siren in the distance, but it must have been her imagination. No humane policeman would blare a siren at three in the morning. Would they?
Sara pounded her fist against the leather steering wheel. She had relied on the car for years, but this was the first time she had used it in a heist.
Thriller. I like the detail about the water in her shoes. The heavy duffel bag part threw me because I wondered how she felt its weight behind the wheel of the car. Does she have it on her lap? Good luck with this project! :)
ReplyDeleteThriller. But for some crazy reason, I want to do a mash-up and say "cozy thriller."
ReplyDeleteIt's the last line that cleared it up for me, though the duffel bag detail and her worry about the car are nice details.
Guess, I should add:
ReplyDelete"Cozy thriller" because I get the impression the MC has sort of fallen into this heist thing by accident.
Thriller.
ReplyDeleteI thought it was woman's fiction up until that last sentence. Then I was like "Awesome."
Thriller
ReplyDeleteReferences to getaway cars, a police siren, and a heist.
Thriller
ReplyDeleteThe feeling I got is that she's running from the police with something of value in the duffel.
Mystery/Thriller.
ReplyDeleteDitto the comments above. I think the duffel holds something of value...but not sure how she "feels" the weight. I's also recommend moving the "kicker" line ("note to self...) to the end of the first paragraph...so it's a true kicker. Fun stuff.
Thriller
ReplyDeleteThriller because of the heist and her (so far) failed getaway.
ReplyDeleteMostly convinced it is a Thriller
ReplyDeleteLike others have stated it feels like a "cozy thriller" but I could see it becoming a romance (she is about to meet the cop who sounds their siren at 3am - that could lead to romantic conflict).
Thriller. Maybe with a chick lit vibe.
ReplyDeleteThriller
ReplyDeleteThe opening is intense, the heist.
Women's Fiction.
ReplyDeleteHeist indicates the heroine has committed a crime, but that could be a humorous exaggeration. In a mystery or thriller, the main character (as this sympathetic woman appears to be) is not the criminal. That makes me think women's fiction.
Contemporary.
ReplyDeleteTen year old VW, getaway car, police and siren, all speak of today.
CONTEMPORARY SOMETHING
ReplyDeleteI'm struggling with the "something." The tone makes me think chick-lit, but I don't know if there's a "heist" sub-genre for chick-lit. It seems too light-hearted for a thriller, and cozy mysteries are usually from the POV of the detective rather than the criminal. So I'm semi-stumped.
Mystery?
ReplyDeleteI guess it could also be a thriller, but there will definitely be something big to figure out.
Crime
ReplyDeleteShe seems to be alone, so not likely a caper. Probably not a mystery, as the protagonist is the criminal.
Contemporary. Interesting that she's panicked about getting away, but doesn't really believe the (real? imaginary?) siren is for her. Also interesting that she's more concerned by the siren than whoever she's just stolen from. Could go anywhere from here. Possibly women's lit, but I'm not getting a romance vibe at all.
ReplyDeleteContemporary.
ReplyDeleteFirst time though I mis-read "humane" as "human" and started to get excited it might be a fantasy heist :)
MYSTERY
ReplyDeleteI'd say Crime, but this MC obviously isn't very good at it. I'm thinking she's going to turn detective at some point :-)
The opening sentence feels tense to me: a getaway car implies she needs a fast getaway. But then the action slows WAY down and I'm not feeling her fear.
Thriller
ReplyDelete"getaway car" implied some kind of excitement.... then I started to think maybe that was a metaphor and it was women's fiction... but then, she worried about the sirens and admitted she'd been involved in a heist.
There are lots of ways this could go, though—I could see it being a star-crossed romance, where she falls for the detective pursuing her, I could see her developing powers in an urban fantasy... I just don't see anything concrete except that she's a criminal of some kind.
Contemporary.
ReplyDeleteI could see Thriller (it's a bit creepy), but it isn't quite creepy enough for that. There's more desperation/running away from something than fear of monsters.
Thriller
ReplyDeleteWith a romance thrown in for good measure. I'm thinking she and the cop will team up to catch whoever it was who probably blackmailed her into committing a crime. She is obviously too inept to be a real criminal.
Suspense, which most other people here are calling "thriller."
ReplyDeleteWhat cracked paint is the water racing through? Why would her duffel get heavier inside a car?
I'm not sure a character in such a tense situation would scratch her head. Unless there's some explanation for these odd features in the next paragraph, I have to say this opening makes no sense. Sorry.
Thriller.
ReplyDeleteI would have thought contemporary until the last sentence and the reference to a heist.
Contemporary/Mystery/Thriller
ReplyDeleteGood start here. I'd read more. Good luck, Sarah
Thank you everyone for your guesses and comments!
ReplyDeleteMy novel is an Adult Contemporary Mystery/Thriller.
A botched heist puts her on the police's radar. When the houses she's already stolen from are set afire, the police think she's the arsonist. She has to find the real culprit before anyone gets hurt. Or arrested.