Guess the scam is only when you don't need it, funny how that works.

I used to defend endings like that, honestly. I'd say well the author surprised you, isn't that the point, and my sister would just stare at me. But "the author just gave up" is the right call here. A surprise only works if you can look back and see the clues were there the whole time, and a parrot with a letter opener is not a clue, that's a coin flip. I read a book last year where the killer turned out to be a guy who showed up on page 290 with no name before that, and I finished it feeling cheated instead of shocked. Dana earned her 12 dollars back. Letting a story break its own rules isn't a twist, it's a shrug.

Tbh the 99 cent notebook would probably work fine, but calling the fancy system just "cost and rules" misses that some of us need the setup to actually sit down and use it. Grandma had a system too, it was just cheaper.