And the agent said "no".

[desuvan]

But kudos to him for a four-day turn around and telling me why he's passing on it. He cited the present/past transitions (A frustrating fact, since some people have referred to that technique as "brilliant") and then said my plotting lacked "much needed subtlety", in that Ryjel hears the five men's names that he wants to kill. The second point isn't that big a deal, as it would be easy enough to plot in hiim discovering their names during incarceration. (Although writing the prologue without naming four of the characters could be kind of a pain...) The first point, however, I'm not willing to budge on. Regardless that, as they say, is that.

Since this particular agency was a fluke anyway, I haven't really lost anything. I'm disappointed, to be sure, but I'll live. At least I know my query letter doesn't out and out suck.