Inspiration (or Lack Thereof)

I'm waiting for some inspiration.

My shiny new idea has a few things going for it:

• a fantastic setting (Hong Kong!)
• great characters (this protag cracks me up)
• an intriguing problem (someone's gone missing)

But it's lacking something very important:

that high concept hook that pulls everything together!!!

Until I work that part out, I'm sort of stuck. I can't move forward until I know what's bonding these characters to one another.

I've had a few horrible ideas:

• dreams (over-used?)
• e-mails or letters (too weird)
• dance (huh?)
• visitations (I'm not sure I want this to be a ghost story) 

I know I'm being very cryptic, but the point is I NEED INSPIRATION. I'm terrified that all my ideas for that big, overarching HOOK are coming from other books I'm reading. *shudders*

Have you ever been stuck like this before? Where do you find inspiration?