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Combine that with a story about people who are constantly trying to deceive one another, and it becomes a puzzle just to work out moment to moment what they characters are thinking and what they're trying to accomplish. We don't even really know the protagonist's goal until the very end.

It also means it's using physical descriptions actions and objects to convey mood and pacing. There's one bit where it spends like a page describing Sam Spade rolling a cigarette in exacting detail, conveying a thoughtful and focused mood without ever getting in his head.