If I had to guess, I would say this is a novel in need of editing. It's a pretty tight story, but a publisher might find some things that need fixing. That's why I couldn't submit it as my own--it would need revising. And it's a dark book about death and destruction, so I'd have to add a couple of prat falls. And those long philosophical discussions without any puns...

I'd get busted in the re-write phase, so I just want to forward it to the family.

I've definitely bought bound books that I enjoyed less, and I thought while I was reading them that they should've been bound and gagged.