[QCrit] Adult upmarket suspense - A SEA CHANGE - 98k - 3rd attempt

Got great feedback on my earlier attempts. Now I have two "final" versions. Please help me choose!! Ultimately my question is how important it is to start with the character instead of a two-line intro that I feel really helps place the characters and action within the unique setting of my novel:

Version A :

I am seeking representation for A SEA CHANGE, a 98,000 word multiple POV upmarket suspense.

High school dropout and recovering addict Troy has just arrived on the private island campus of his father’s successful marine biotech firm in the Bahamas. He’d rather not be working for the man who failed him his whole life, but after his latest stint in rehab, he can’t refuse the offer of a job. He soon faces far worse than a bruised ego, however, when the firm’s top scientist shows up dead, and initial evidence points to Troy.

At least, for once, his dad Jamie’s got his back. Jamie suspects Andrea, a prominent Bahamian businesswoman and former InnovaMar employee, of trying to sabotage the launch of InnovaMar’s latest innovation. As father and son work to expose Andrea, they are drawn closer than Troy ever dared dream, healing their once-fraught relationship. Troy also meets and quickly falls for Katy, a brilliant and successful young InnovaMar scientist. He’s in deep by the time he discovers she’s been lying to him about her relationship with Andrea. As the search for the killer becomes increasingly intertwined with the clash between InnovaMar and its critics, Troy is pulled in conflicting directions by his closest allies. He must overcome his sense of powerlessness—a legacy of his past trauma—and dare to probe for himself what is happening in InnovaMar’s high-tech labs. Even at the risk of losing the woman who means everything to him, or the father he only just gained. When he does, he uncovers a truth more horrifying than anything he could have imagined.

A SEA CHANGE will appeal to fans of books with suspenseful and strong plots but also well-developed characters (like Tana French's books), and more specifically fans of suspense novels that feature themes of corporate intrigue (All Her Little Secrets by Wanda M. Morris, Dead Money by Jakob Kerr, Anna Bright Is Hiding Something by Susie Orman Schnall and Beyond Reasonable Doubt by Robert Dugoni), as well as fans of suspense fiction that engages with environmental themes (Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton, Once There Were Wolves by Charlotte McConaghy and Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy).

When not writing, I work in economic development and cleantech business advising, where I have the opportunity to work with many passionate entrepreneurs, a fascinating and larger-than-life breed of people who inspire my writing with their fearless and occasionally ruthless drive to transform their dreams into reality. I live in Montreal (Canada) with my husband and two children, but have spent time living and working in the Caribbean in the past. A SEA CHANGE is my first novel.

I hope you enjoy the attached sample of A SEA CHANGE. Please let me know if you’d like to see more.

Kind regards,

VERSION B (same opener and comps and bio, but different plot summary):

A novel strain of toxic cyanobacteria has erupted into a massive bloom across the Caribbean, plunging the region into an unprecedented crisis. But InnovaMar, a successful biotech firm based in the Bahamas, has a solution—a virus, precision-engineered to attack the cyanobacteria causing the bloom. If only they can get a permit for its release.

Enter Troy, high-school dropout, recovering addict and son of InnovaMar’s CEO, who reluctantly accepted a summer job at the firm. He’d rather not be working for the man who failed him his whole life, but was too broke after his latest stint in rehab to refuse. Arriving on InnovaMar’s private island campus, Troy soon faces far worse than a bruised ego. Within the week, the firm’s top scientist is killed, and initial evidence points to Troy.

At least, for once, his dad’s got his back. Working together to identify the culprit brings them closer than Troy ever imagined possible, gradually healing their fraught relationship. Troy’s also helped by a gifted young scientist he meets, the brilliant yet down-to-earth Katy, for whom he falls hard. But after the big launch of InnovaMar’s newest innovation is derailed by activists opposed to the release of the virus, Troy finds himself pulled in conflicting directions by his closest allies. As the search for the killer becomes increasingly intertwined with the clash between InnovaMar and its critics, Troy must overcome his lack of agency and dare to seek his own answers. Even if he risks losing the woman who means everything to him. Or the father he only just gained. When he does, he uncovers a truth more horrifying than anything he could have imagined.