One story I like quite a bit gives away the end before you know who 'John' is.
The Long Watch starts with this as heading for the first chapter:
"Nine ships blasted off from Moon Base. Once in space, eight of them formed a globe around the smallest. They held this formation all the way to Earth.
"The small ship displayed the insignia of an admiral-yet there was no living thing of any sort in her. She was not even a passenger ship, but a drone, a robot ship intended for radioactive cargo. This trip she carried nothing but a lead coffin and a Geiger counter that was never quiet."
—from the editorial After
Ten Years, film 38,
17 June 2009, Archives of the
N. Y. Times
Before you know anything you know someone dies a hero. By the time you know the players you can guess quite accurately how it ends.
Oh and by coincidence the Hero is Johnny Ezra Dahlquist, so John does die pretty close to the end.
Sadly on reskiming the story I see that written in the 50s means it is as 'clean' as if every character is Ned Flanders and it does hurt the story, there are times profanity is called for and is replaced with less strong language.
Still Heinlein is a good enough writer that the story is worthwhile.
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