Any story depending heavily on suspense, rather than on more leisurely sources of reader interest, requires a fast opening to engage the reader’s attention and a swift closing after suspense has attained its peak. The climber’s abandonment on the tower where he can neither ascend nor reach the ground again certainly provides the latter. William Sansom achieves the first requirement by jumping into the middle of the climb, then backtracking to explain the situation.As he felt the first watery eggs of sweat moistening the palms of his hands, as with every rung higher his body seemed to weigh more heavily, this young man Flegg regretted in sudden desperation but still in vain, the irresponsible events that had thrust him up into his present precarious climb. This promise of excitement-to-come sustains the reader for the several paragraphs of preliminary events. These lend credibility to the situation, showing how it arises from the natural self-absorption, sexual rivalries, jealousies, and insecurities of young people everywhere. The brief reference to the protagonist’s aspiring to “the glamour of a uniform” when he pretends to throw bricks with the special lobbing action of throwing hand grenades suggests a wartime milieu in which heroic action is even more a part of young male psychology. Sansom is adept at describing how the appearance of an object changes radically from different perspectives. When Flegg first looks up from his position on the vertical ladder, the effect is quite alien to the impression it gives even a few yards away from the tower. The precision of this passage is remarkable for both its visual accuracy and its psychological effect.From this angle flat against the iron sheeting