I agree—set up a central problem ASAP. Use something to pull the readers in, and establish that suspense. Suspense, after all, is unanswered questions.

On the other hand, of course, don’t give them too much. In Maass’s Breakout Novel, he uses the example of John Grisham’s The Partner, where Grisham withholds a main character’s motivation until very late in the novel, but keeps suspense by keeping the stakes and motivations high for the other characters looking for him. Sounds like a pretty tough balance to hit, of course.

One piece advice I’d add:
Don’t beat around the bush. Just tell the reader what the issue is, preferably from the first line/paragraph with the main character. I call this the “problem statement.” This statement leads to something known as the “story question.”

So if my First Line was something like, “John slammed the phone down, severing the connection with his wife.”
the problem statement could be, “John is having marital issues” and the story question could be, “does John reconcile with his wife or move on?”

The sooner you bring the reader in, the better.