And on the Eighth Day

Ellery Queen Detective #28

by Ellery Queen (Pseudonym)

It's April 1944 and Ellery Queen has been working for the military making films in Hollywood. Driving through Death Valley on his way home, his car breaks down. Stumbling over a rise in the desert, he encounters an odd man who seems to come from an earlier time, and is welcomed into his community as a sort of prophet. Queen must root out a growing corruption while operating within the limits of an alien world and comes to the realization that evil can invade the most guarded of people's hearts and societies.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Detective, Crime, Classics, Mystery Thriller, Religion

157 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1964

About the author

aka Barnaby Ross.
(Pseudonym of Frederic Dannay and Manfred Bennington Lee)
"Ellery Queen" was a pen name created and shared by two cousins, Frederic Dannay (1905-1982) and Manfred B. Lee (1905-1971), as well as the name of their most famous detective. Born in Brooklyn, they spent forty two years writing, editing, and anthologizing under the name, gaining a reputation as the foremost American authors of the Golden Age "fair play" mystery.

Although eventually famous on television and radio, Queen's first appearance came in 1928 when the cousins won a mystery-writing contest with the book that would eventually be published as The Roman Hat Mystery. Their character was an amateur detective who used his spare time to assist his police inspector father in solving baffling crimes. Besides writing the Queen novels, Dannay and Lee cofounded Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, one of the most influential crime publications of all time. Although Dannay outlived his cousin by nine years, he retired Queen upon Lee's death.

Several of the later "Ellery Queen" books were written by other authors, including Jack Vance, Avram Davidson, and Theodore Sturgeon.

Reviews

[Daniel Hiland · Rating 2 out of 5]

As far as Ellery Queen books go, fans either love or hate this book. Though it does involve Ellery, and there is a murder, the pace is extremely slow, and will try the patience of many a reader. Lost in the SW desert, Ellery stumbles upon a desert commune, run by a religious leader considered by his subjects to be a prophet. From an atmospheric standpoint, the story is awash in surreal description, at times thoroughly dreamlike and hallucinatory. It also dabbles in more than its share of religious imagery and philosophizing. By doing this, the author paints himself into a narrative corner from which there is little room to maneuver, geographically or from the standpoint of tone. For this and other reasons, the solution to the mystery, as well as the conflict resolution, are unsatisfactory. To make matters worse, the contrived, anti-climactic ending cheapens all that has gone before. As a study on religion and corrupt leadership, this book makes some good points. But as a mystery, it is tough sledding, and not recommended for those seeking an introduction to Ellery Queen mysteries, or Ellery himself.

[Elizabeth Carpenter · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite Ellery Queen novel. It's unique and beautiful.

[Greg · Rating 3 out of 5]

COUNTDOWN: Mid-20th Century North American Crime
BOOK 137 (of 250)
This won France's "Grand Prix de Litterature Policiere (International Prize). Perhaps for the absolute strangeness...
HOOK - 3: "Somewhere sagebrush was burning, but on neither side of the road could Ellery see smoke..." You'll know soon enough we've entered the world of burning bushes and the arrival of some kind of savior. It's the mid-60's flashing back to the 1940s, but even by 1930 or so, Dashiell Hammett writes about odd cults in his very good "Dain Curse." And in the 50's, Vidal has given us "Messiah". Queen's spin is different: there is never a question as to the reality of this world by the characters, including Queen.
PACE -4: In under 100 pages, the author delivers his most unusual work.
PLOT -4: A member of this clan, invisible to the rest of the world, is murdered. Ellery must figure it out, but no one will talk. There are strict rules against "gossip". And whatever happens, happens for a reason and isn't to be questioned. "The Book of Mk'n" is their guide, and to understand it all, Ellery must also find this book and understand the contents. There are 2 very clever twist, so I gotta add a 4th star.
CHARACTERS - 2: Ellery blacks out often, comes to, and there are many melodramatic likes like "He remembered only standing in the open and gulping great gulps of air as if he could never gulp enough." Enough already! And I must quote the entirety of Chapter 7: "And Ellery wept." Good grief, talk about going over the limit of melodrama! The authors just take it all a tad overboard. Characters say things like, "Will you sup with me." (My answer? No, thanks, gotta run, have a nice day.") But Ellery succumbs to it all.
ATMOSPHERE -3: An isolated cult unknown to the rest of civilization in 1960s California? Interesting. Unbelievable, though. You just have to drop an pretense of believability and go along for the ride. If you can get on board and just enjoy, you're in for some fun/scary twists.
SUMMARY: 3.2. Queen has written some odd works ('Egyptian Cross Mystery', the novella 'Adventures of the Abraham Lincoln Clue") but this one takes the cake for weird. The double twist at the end, though, is ingenious, and one of them is deeply disturbing. Early, on page 1, we read "In that December of 1943, depots and terminals and waiting rooms across the land demanded 'IS THIS TRIP NECESSARY..."

[Ken · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of the two Queen novels that were co-written by Avram Davidson. (The other was The Fourth Side of the Triangle. In both cases, Davidson worked from a detailed and extensive outline written by Queen (Dannay & Lee); his drafts were then extensively revised by Queen. See the discussion of the authorship of these two books, and of The Player on the Other Side, co-written by Theodore Sturgeon, in Ellery Queen, The Tragedy of Errors, Crippen & Landru, 2000, an anthology containing a first draft of an unpublished novel by Queen and some uncollected Queen stories, and a number of articles about the Queen ouevre.)

I don't underestimate the imagination of Dannay & Lee, but this book (unlike The Fourth Side of the Triangle) seems to me to owe as much to Davidson as to Queen. This is mainly because it's the sort of off-the-wall plot that is typical of Davidson at his best, and which Davidson handles so well. The minor subplot around the "Book of MKH" sounds especially like Davidson. But I wouldn't put either that or the basic plot past Queen. I can well imagine that Queen handled the co-authorship with the same professionalism and devotion to quality that was evident in his editing of Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine.

Davidson's co-authorship is not a bad thing at all. I like Queen very much, but the Queen-Davidson combination is an unusual treat.

Check out Davidson's The Adventures of Doctor Eszterhazy (which includes the earlier collection The Enquiries of Doctor Eszterhazy) for Davidson at his best (better than in the Queen books): short stories, rich historical background (a fictional empire corresponding the Austro-Hungarian Empire), mysteries (some with intelligently-handled supernatural or apparently supernatural backgrounds), and a few tantalizing links to the enquiries of Esterhazy's contemporary, Sherlock Holmes.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Most of the Ellery Queen mystery novels of the sixties were ghostwritten by other authors. Avram Davidson, better known for his fantasy/sf fiction, wrote And On the Eighth Day based on an outline by Frederick Dannay, half of the Ellery Queen writing team.

Driving from Los Angeles to Las Vegas, Queen gets lost in the desert and ends up in a valley populated by a Utopian community who have lost touch with the modern world. In this village where a crime hasn't been committed in decades. Of course a man is murdered and Queen must solve the mystery. This is an unusual mystery and Davidson spends much time explaining how this community works. Davidson has an excellent knowledge of history, religion, and literature and it shows in this short novel, which won France's Grand Prix de Littérature Policière (International Prize).

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you’re going to read Ellery Queen, don’t start with this one. This one is written by one half of the Queen partnership (Fred Dannay) and Avram Davidson, the sci-fi author. Not that this makes it worse than the others—in fact, Davidson is rather a better writer than Manfred Lee, the other usual half of Ellery Queen. But this is the Queen novel where the spiritual elements head for a really odd, Dune-ish place. I have to say that it’s one of the best Queen novels, but it is much more a religious analysis of a mystery than a mystery itself. It thoroughly confounded the contemporary reviewers, and I’m sure I found it totally whack when I read it forty years ago. But I also remembered it clearly even before I reread it. Which is something amazing. Some of it is too much, but a lot of it is just right. So maybe you should start with it.

[Michelle F · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was my first Queen! I read and reviewed it in 2007 (on Librarything), and it kicked off a great appreciation in me. I do realize now that this book was a bit of an outlier in the Queen catalog, but I’m really glad it got me started. My original review:


As a somewhat enthusiastic mystery fan, I'm a bit ashamed to admit that this is my first Ellery Queen novel. I was quite excited to finally explore this big name in crime fiction...and I have to say, I was incredibly surprised.
I don't suppose I expected a proper British cozy. Nor, I think, was I anticipating a gritty forties police procedural. Perhaps the best description of what I thought I'd get was something of a gruffer, more modern Holmes: still quaint, but more modern.
I was actually blown away by what I instead found. From the reviews on the book cover, it seems that this is not a typical period mystery, even for Ellery Queen. I'm interested to know if other Queen books ARE similar to this; if so, I will begin collecting immediately.
Sparing a description of the plot itself, I will say that the most remarkable thing about this book is that although there IS a murderous mystery to be solved, there is a far greater, far more enticing puzzle presented in it's grander scheme. Queen becomes investigator for a small commune of highly peaceful, highly religious hermits...and the questions of who they are and how they came by their strange and significant beliefs are far more interesting. Queen himself goes through quite a personal change...
Not at all what I expected. Non-formulaic, inciteful, and dynamic. I see now why the name Ellery Queen has gained such regard.

[William · Rating 4 out of 5]

This love-it-or-hate-it Queen was a pleasant surprise. Folks reading any of my updates are probably sick of hearing about how little I care for late Ellery Queen vs his (their) earlier work. Eighth Day is a WEIRD book.

First, it's one of several Queen books where a ghostwriter filled out an outline devised by Queen. Dannay and Lee did revise the result heavily, but the result definitely diverges from normal Queen.

Second, the setting is unlike anything else in the Queen oeuvre. A tired Ellery wanders into a pseudo-Christian commune in the desert where crime hasn't been committed in fifty years. The community revolves around a strong-willed Moses-esque leader, and the book spends considerable time detailing both the community and the leader. As such, the beginning is just a tad slow.

And then, the mystery is less a fair play plot and more of a courtroom thriller with some Christian allegory thrown in. The puzzle elements, such as they are, aren't terribly difficult to figure out, but the plot is engaging regardless.

So it's a strange stew. But since Queen wasn't writing strong puzzle plots at this point anyway, this new direction works. I liked it enough that, though I'll be getting rid of the five novel omnibus containing it, I'll look out for a used copy of this entry in the future.

[Judy · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book begins during WWII. Ellery is mandated to help the US compose material to make films for the purpose of education for soldiers. Other films are to be used to education the citizens of the US. He seems to be worked 24/7. He becomes so exhausted that he desires to go home.

He heads east from California. At the end of the world gas stop/carry out/ diner he encounters the owner of the store. He further encounters two men, one young one old. The younger one is looking at Ellery's car. The young man seems to not have seen a car before. The two men depart. The shop keeper just says these men come periodically to his store. They never bother anyone.

Ellery asks for directions to Neveda. He is shown the way with several twists and turns. However, Ellery looses his way. His car stalls and won't start. Dead battery. Than out of the wilderness comes the old man who was at the store. Thus begins Ellery's journey to a desert oasis town in the middle of a dry dusty desert.

The book was okay. I pretty much guess most of the puzzles. However, the ending was just a little paranormal. But it is an okay read.

[Martin Gibbs · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was blown away by this when I first read it, mainly because it was so far outside of the traditional Queen book that it really caught my attention. One reviewer states that it fits more with Cadfael and that comparison does hold.

There is a murder, of course, and the ensuing tale is fast. Maybe too fast, too quick. But the story is wonderfully written and captivating. As the outsider descends into the secluded conclave, the story weaves well among the then-modern world and those who have hidden themselves away. The stranger works through their primitive sense of justice and the story ends perfectly.

However, there is a catch—a very big one. This gets three stars for its too-brief storyline and for another, glaring "problem."

Too bad this isn't really "Ellery Queen" (Dannay and Lee) writing this. (Crime Fiction, 1749-1980: A Comprehensive Bibliography by Allen J. Hubin, Garland, 1984). Nope, it was ghost-written by Avram Davidson. You see, a few EQ stories were not written by these men but ghost-written by others. For shame, for shame!)

[Name Not Found · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm pretty sure the feeling of puzzlement I got after reading this wasn't because it was one of those great books that makes you question everything, it was because it was just plain puzzling.
Interesting book, but if you read a murder mystery expecting to have logical explanations of everything, and at least some fun trying to unravel the mystery yourself, pick up a different book. It's rather like the author didn't really want to write a detective story, they wanted to write a literary novel. But detective stories would sell, and literary novels wouldn't. So they wrote a detective story sprinkled with elements of their literary novel instead. And it's not a very good or convincing combination, sorry.

[Roger · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like all the Ellery Queen mysteries I've read, and I thoroughly enjoyed this one right up to the end. It's difficult to review though, because it's not a conventional whodunnit. It is a fairplay whodunnit, but the murder doesn't take place until halfway through the book, and it's atypical for other reasons that I can't explain without spoilers. The first half of the book follows Ellery on his way home from Hollywood in his Duesenberg, taking a wrong turn in the desert to discover a hidden valley inhabited by an unknown sect (something like Mennonites / Hutterites, but different, less Christian, as it turns out). This might sound dull if you're hoping for murder mystery; but it is well-written and fascinated me more and more, a page-turner long before the murder. Good humor the first half too; the second half is dead-serious.

[Michael Ritchie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have found Ellery Queen books a mixed bag. Some are fun, some are stylistically strange, and none are very much like the movies or 70s TV series. This one is quite unusual and a pleasure to read. Set during WWII though written in the 60s, it finds Queen stranded in the desert and taken in by strange religious sect who have remained isolated from civilization for some 70 years. They think he's a figure whose arrival was foretold, and his presence becomes important when a murder is committed and Queen has to solve it and mete out justice. Good, fast read.

[Lee Murray · Rating 4 out of 5]

A mystery of a different kind is the only way to describe this book. It does indeed involve the solving of a murder, but the rest of the story is most disorienting and mystical.

A combination of literature, biblical and Jewish motifs, down to the Savior concept, this is a most unusual read. Probably not a book for everyone, but it is unique and absorbing in its own way.

I enjoyed the story, but it will not be everyone’s cup of tea.

[Peter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mystical and carefully constructed, this murder-mystery is most unusual in setting and theme for a 1964 novel. Ellery Queen is returning to New York through the desert country on the Nevada/California border during WWII when he breaks down and comes across a self-sufficient religious community hidden for seventy years. They believe he is a biblical prophet and when a man is murdered he has to find the killer despite many red herrings. The ending doesn’t have the same impact today but it’s still a compelling read. 3.5 stars.

[Sergio · Rating 2 out of 5]

I due cugini scrittori una volta tanto hanno "toppato": un giallo questo non all'altezza della loro fama

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice little whodunit.

[Jan Yarnot · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one was certainly different!

[Rick Mills · Rating 5 out of 5]

Major characters:

Otto Schmidt, storekeeper
The Teacher
The Successor
Storicai the Storesman
Ellery Queen

Locale: The Nevada desert

Synopsis: It is 1944 and Ellery Queen is just finishing up a job in Hollywood producing films for the war errort. He drives across the desert into Nevada, and stops at a remote outpost, The End of The World Store, Otto Schmidt, proprietor. While there, he encounters two strange men: one quite old, one middle-aged; dressed in robes and speaking in a stilted old fashioned English. They pay for their supplies with a large silver coin.

Ellery gets his own supplies and inquires on the best route. He gets confused in the desert, and winds up approaching a lush agricultural community in an isolated basin. He is welcomed by the old man from the store, who introduces himself as The Teacher, leader of their community; and his protegé, a young man called The Successor.

The community is an independent town of several hundred, and have developed their own ways and customs; eschewing contact with the outside. They are religious, and follow practices which are a mix of Christianity, Judaism, and other beliefs. The town operates smoothly, and Ellery (called El-roi Quenan) is welcomed as someone the prophets had foretold would arrive prior to a time of great trouble.

The Holy Congregation House is their church. The Teacher and The Successor live there. There is a sacred room, the Sanquetum, which holds their prayer scrolls, a holy book of some sort, and their 'treasure', consisting of (originally) fifty silver dollars, obtained from selling some possessions in their move. The dollars have diminished a bit, 19 of them having been used over time to purchase supplies from The End of The World Store, where a sympathetic Otto Schmidt takes the rare silver dollars into the city to sell them and credit the group's account.

As foretold, trouble begins. Someone has been trying to get into the Sanquetum. Then their inventory manager, Soricai the Storesman, is found murdered. It is the first crime to occur in their community, and Ellery steps in to investigate.

Review:

*POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD* I cannot write about this book without revealing the following plot line.

About halfway through, the reader, if at all familiar with the account of the resurrection of Jesus in the Bible, will realize we are in a carefully constructed allegory. Most of the major events of the crucifixion/resurrection are present, applied to the current day (well, 1944) - even some of The Teacher's dialogue at his trial is taken verbatim from the Bible.

"Teacher" is another name used for Jesus in the Bible.
The Teacher decides to sacrifice himself in order to save others.
The Teacher is betrayed for 30 pieces of silver.
The Teacher is tried, convicted, and sentenced to death.
The Teacher invites Ellery to share his last meal of bread and wine on Thursday, reminiscent of The Last Supper.
The Teacher leads his followers up the hill to his punishment on Friday.
The Teacher dies on the hill on Friday.
On Saturday, the only event: Ellery wept.
On Sunday, the surprise appearance of Manuel (emmanuel) from the heavens.
I enjoyed the book, especially the descriptions of how the independent community organized themselves.

The only loose end was the revelation of the sacred book - it did not seem to make sense to me how it became so, and what the point of it was; since it was never referred to. Suffice to say, it was not a religious book, and has no connection to the Bible.

[Conni Wayne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really strange. It definitely didn't feel nearly enough like an Ellery Queen mystery. I do like the idea of Ellery being mistaken for a biblical or messiah figure, but the whole Amish-esque, biblical-esque, cult-esque story line being somewhat real (prophecy-wise) towards the end felt off-putting, and Ellery's ongoing issue with constant fatigue (that I feel must be due to an illness, or burn-out) is never resolved. In fact, the ending feels very unresolved as well. Also, The whole Mein Kampf plot point felt weird AF and while I appreciate that the plot was not a racist as I thought it was going to be, none of it felt extremely satisfying.

I will say, the point where Ellery is confronted by people claiming he's the [chosen-one equivalent] was funny, but it's wild to me that he just went along with it. Was no one missing him? He effectively disappeared into the dessert for like a week, maybe longer, and no one was worried? The friends he was staying with in CA didn't worry when he didn't show up? His dad didn't worry that he wasn't in contact for a week? And Ellery just stayed with this cult/commune... just because he was curious about their lifestyle? Bizarre.

And the murder mystery aspect seemed like a throw-away plot point. Most of the plot was just Ellery learning about this new culture and these people. Like, the murder/trial/judgement could have been removed, and the ending wouldn't have had to have been changed nearly at all.

Not the worst Ellery Queen book by far, but I could definitely tell (although maybe it's confirmation bias) that this one was ghost written by a different author.

[Kayt O'Bibliophile · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would like to know what possessed some brilliant mind to make this the first story in a collection of five complete Ellery Queen stories. This is the 28th Ellery Queen story, it starts with little introduction to the title character and a confusing setting, and this is what someone thought should start off a book of "compelling mysteries," as the dust jacket says?

That's not the fault of the story itself, but it's weird. And the story is weird. Look. Say you have around 30 detective stories. You're gonna highlight five. And the one you choose to start with--the one that's gonna set the tone for the whole collection--is about some dude who gets called out to Hollywood to write movies for WWII troops, works so hard he gets sleep deprived and exhausted to his bones, then discovers a pseudo-biblical isolated commune in the middle of the desert and eventually has to solve a murder, all while in a state of semi-delirium.

I have questions.

It was a decent mystery--Goodread's explanation of three stars ("I liked it") is correct. But it's kinda weird and confusing (again, the main character is suffering and recovering from sleep deprivation the entire time and it permeates the story)--the sort of thing you expect to read after you're familiar with a literary character and their style. Don't read this as your first Ellery Queen story, and then maybe it'll be enjoyable.

[Nigel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I recently stumbled across the information that Avram Davidson had ghost-written two Ellery Queen books, and one of them was this, which happens to be the only Ellery Queen book I've ever read, having purchesed it at a sale of work in, I think, Castleconnell some time during my teens, and which was the weirdest, strangest most haunting murder mystery I've ever read.

1944, Ellery Queen, after a stint as a writer of propaganda films for the war effort in LA, brilliantly depcited in the opening section, gives up and sets off home, driving cross-country in a state of near ecstatic exhaustion, then stumbling on a remote hidden desert valley where a small religious community has lived undisturbed for sixty or seventy years in a peaceful idyll. His coming is foretold, apparently, and heralds something terrible happening, which it soon does when a member of the community is murdered in their most sacred space. How do you solve a murder in a place that has hardly ever known crime?

The mystery itself isn't that difficult to work out, but it is carefully worked through. Of more interest is the strange atmosphere, the scraps of erudition, the murky history of the sect and its odd traditions and how the murder could threaten all of it. It even has a 'and the book turned out to be!' twist, but it works and is played for poignancy rather than a cheap stab at shock.

[Alonzo Church · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s 1944 and Ellery Queen is exhausted and burned out. He’s driving back to New York from Hollywood and gets off the main road. Through a feat of misbegotten navigation, Ellery finds his way to a religious settlement in the desert that has been completely forgotten. He is surprised to find that his coming has been foretold as a precursor to a time of troubles. Crime, previously unknown, is about to visit...

This is Ellery Queen for people who prefer sci-fi with a pseudo-religious element. The mystery element shows up after page 70 or so. The real murderer is easy to figure out, though exhausted Ellery has some troubles figuring it out, because his mind is a muddle. The ending is a demonstration on why I dislike a lot of sci-fi — when you are making up cultures out of whole cloth, you can come up with any pat ending you want, even though it makes absolutely no sense.

Props to the authors for a very different Ellery. However, I found the opening, creating a sharply characterized, time specific, and exhausted Ellery, far more convincing than the lost civilization mumbo jumbo.

[Japunkt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ellery Queen, a successful mystery author, is pressed into service in World War II in a creative capacity. When he burns out, he starts driving home, and discovers a hidden colony in the middle of the Nevada desert, and is greeted by its leader as its chosen one. Then it gets weird.

I’d first read this book when I was a teenager. It turns out that I appreciated Ellery’s sleep-deprived crime-solving much more this time around.

[Ted · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an atypical book in the Ellery Queen collection. I enjoyed it as part of the whole, but if this were the first Queen book I'd read, I doubt I would read more. I think that the clues were fairly obvious, and I knew how it would end chapters before the main character -- not the norm for me. But it had an interesting, and certainly different, story.

[Becky · Rating 1 out of 5]

Wow - the first Ellery Queen book I pick up and it's this steaming pile of crap. I remembered enjoying the short-lived TV series when I was a kid so when I saw this at the library I figured I'd give it a try. Couldn't even get past the first few chapters it was so weird. I was looking for a good old-fashioned murder mystery and was sorely disappointed.

[Larry V. · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Different Short of Ellery Queen!

But just as engrossing, literate, witty, and engaging as the other Ellery Queen stories I have read! This story is different because of its pacing, the setting, the lack of regular police-type characters. But the story is powerful, the mystery still very real, and Ellery is still Ellery! I am firmly a fan of the Ellery Queen oeurve!

[Maggie Foster · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was struck forcefully by the beauty of the prose in this work, and by the erudition of the writer(s). One gets lost in the setting. The resolution is nothing short of a Greek Tragedy. I was left pondering the human condition, free will, and the nature of god(s) (both upper and lower case). Not a traditional detection story and missing the fast pace that marks most of the genre.

[Lisa T. Ungerer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Somewhere between the Twilight Zone and Doctor who

This story is a real departure from the usual Queen books. Set in WWII, in the desert Southwest, Ellery comes across a lost civilization. There is ultimately, A mystery which he solves, but this fantasy is a journey for the poet and those who wonder.

[Bibì · Rating 2 out of 5]

Inizialmente è interessante, ma appena ci troviamo di fronte al 'morto di turno, come in ogni giallo che si rispetti, si fa subito chiaro il finale. Di conseguenza il resto del romanzo diventa prevedibile e noioso.