This chapter opens with a conversation between alex and tanterview. Alex asks to be excused from the interview because he wants to write in his journal and enjoy everyday life. Tanterview tells him that it would be great if they could become friends and that he should keep doing his interviews as well. He tells Alex that he'll see him again next week. The conversation turns to crime novels, and Alex says he'd like to go home after the interview to read a delightful crime novel on his break. He says he has a deadline, and he's the one who has to meet that deadline. He asks if he likes crime thrillers, and says he doesn't know if he've heard of this book before. He's curious because he finds it curious that a person would be reading a fictional novel on their break. The narrator says that he has enjoyed all of Alex's novels, but that he finds his writing too real. He wants to kill someone, he says, because he has experience killing people. He also says that what he reads is "mere fiction," and that it's impossible for people to understand the real events he writes into words. He adds that he would like to write a novel about the love he feels for someone, and that nobody will ever understand it.