This is something we’ve all seen clearly, the waving of hands by a magician to direct our eye away from the hand palming the card or coin. It’s simple, but surprisingly effective. Writers do this, too. We throw red herrings at the reader, drop misleading clues, even create unreliable characters whose perceptions are skewed to keep the truth hidden.

This is nothing new.

In politics, it’s also the norm. So and so is a liar! Oh, but so and so is just as bad! So and so cheats people! Oh, but so a...