It’s time for a sudden, innocent event that sends our client on edge.
The phrasing at the start of the sentence makes it precise and dramatic. It also reminds you of the narrator. They’re recounting events, and this is obviously an important one.
It was then that a car in the street backfired.
Can you see the same pattern in these examples?
At that moment there was a knock on the door.
Suddenly a man shouted, “Don’t say another word!”
