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It's hard to know what's going to "grab" someone in the first few pages.
When I read openings that seem to have come out of a college workshop, meant to "grab" readers right from the start, I'm actually kind of turned off. You know the sort of stuff I mean, I'm sure: "Bailey put his hand over his heart as he looked up at the corpse hanging from the flagpole." Unless it's a Tim Dorsey sort of book, not meant to be taken seriously, those kinds of openings strike me as amateurish.
I'm "grabbed" more by solid prose that gives me the assurance that I'm in good hands, prose that doesn't seem to be doing a song and dance to get my attention.
Tastes vary so widely, it's hard to make any kind of recommendation.
I'm reading Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children right now, and it's moving along at a nice clip. It might have too much of a fantasy slant for you, though. Cannibal Nights is a great collection of woman-centric short stories by Kiana Davenport. I don't know...hard to say without knowing what you like.
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