Fred knew that for certain. Because Fred had it. Bernhardt gets his licks in against the Blaylock corporation, too. Bernhardt has a very visible dramatic sense, so readers don't have to wonder what a character's motivation might be. Bernhardt uses lots of dialogue to move along the action.
Every sentence has a subject and a verb.
There is nothing experimental about his prose. While it might not be considered lean, it is clearly functional. Bernhardt is also generous to his readers. While he tells us about the drudgery, he skims the surface so that we don't have to endure that drudgery. Ben Kincaid does swim ultimately to the top of the waterfall.