This is another of the somewhat calm chapters — almost like the ‘nice to be domestic’ vibe from a few chapters before, but in an entirely different sense. It has none of the relief from that chapter and in fact that the players are taking one last night to let loose before the Game really reaches a tipping point only serves to increase the tension. Because a reader paying attention to the nights and with a sense of lunar phases will note that the new moon approaches. I forget if it’s been mentioned in the story proper, but that really is when everything changes and there’s no more casual business with the party lines (more or less) drawn. It’s also somewhat disconcerting to hear of the means in which the players ‘relax’ since at the very least Rastov’s festivities aren’t exactly healthy.
And the second fun little note from this chapter is the small bit added to Larry in that he’s ‘good at anticipating’. It can be easy to overlook, but the evidence of his anticipation proves it to be more than just good foresight since he brought exactly what Jack needed and appeared at the exact spot to help him escape detection. It forms an interesting contrast to Snuff’s own calculation of lines, with Larry’s own part in the Game. They aren’t precisely the same thing, since Larry does more of an inspection of casual patterns as opposed to Snuff’s geometric and geographic patterns, but it is a similarity that can stick out all the more when you consider what else the two share.
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