The First Impulse is about the still-unsolved murder of Filipino-Canadian film critic Alexis Tioseco and his girlfriend, Slovenian film critic and magazine editor Nika Bohinc, as retold by Laurel Fantauzzo.

This book recounts the love and life of Alexis and Nika, the circumstances surrounding their murder in September 2009, the investigations, and what happened for the people related to the couple before and after the incident, aside from some commentary on the Philippine film industry.