
Book · Other fiction
The Savage Detectives
by Roberto Bolaño
Page count, estimated reading time and reading quiz: everything to know before you start The Savage Detectives, and the Vread challenge to get to the end.
- Pages
- 922
- Reading time
- ≈ 16 h 40 min
- Checkpoints
- 26
- Genre
- Fiction
Free on iPhone and Android.
How long does it take to read The Savage Detectives?
At 922 pages, The Savage Detectives is a doorstopper. Expect about 16 hours 40 minutes of reading to finish it, based on 250 words per page and an average reading speed of 230 words per minute. A fast reader will go quicker; a careful read (or reading in a second language) will take longer.
At 30 minutes a day, that is about 34 days of reading. At the median pace of Vread readers, 72 pages per reading day, it takes 13 reading days. For a book of this length (600 pages or more), Vread readers who finish it take a median of 6.4 days between the first and the last checkpoint (Vread Reading Barometer 2026).
- 30 minutes a day34 days
- Vread median pace (72 pp./day)13 days
Estimates; see the method at the bottom of the page.
Prove you read it
The Vread challenge: 26 checkpoints
- Checkpoint 1, page 35
- Checkpoint 2, page 71
- Checkpoint 3, page 106
- Checkpoint 4, page 142
- Checkpoint 5, page 177
- Checkpoint 6, page 213
- Checkpoint 7, page 248
- Checkpoint 8, page 284
- Checkpoint 9, page 319
- Checkpoint 10, page 355
- Checkpoint 11, page 390
- Checkpoint 12, page 426
- Checkpoint 13, page 461
- Checkpoint 14, page 496
- Checkpoint 15, page 532
- Checkpoint 16, page 567
- Checkpoint 17, page 603
- Checkpoint 18, page 638
- Checkpoint 19, page 674
- Checkpoint 20, page 709
- Checkpoint 21, page 745
- Checkpoint 22, page 780
- Checkpoint 23, page 816
- Checkpoint 24, page 851
- Checkpoint 25, page 887
- Checkpoint 26, page 922
In Vread, The Savage Detectives is split into 26 checkpoints, one every 35 pages or so. At each checkpoint, a question covers the passage you have just read: a correct answer validates the step, and your progress moves forward like a training plan.
The challenge: validate all 26 checkpoints through to the last page. No giant quiz at the end, no summary to copy out: short questions along the way that prove the book was actually read. It also works as a reading quiz to check your understanding before a test.
Also available in French on Vread.
Illustrative example
What a checkpoint looks like
A short, precise question about the pages you have just read: a character, a place, a choice.
The answer is in the text: reply in the app.

This is not a question from The Savage Detectives: to avoid spoilers, the real questions stay in the app.
Answer in the app, one checkpoint at a time.
Summary, quiz, reviews: frequently asked questions
How many pages is The Savage Detectives?
How long does it take to read The Savage Detectives?
Is there a quiz on The Savage Detectives?
Where can I find a summary of The Savage Detectives?
Similar books: other fiction

The Screwtape letters : with Screwtape proposes a toast
Clive Staples Lewis
674 pages

The Scribner Anthology of Contemporary Short Fiction: Fifty North American American Stories Since 1970
Michael Martone, Lex Williford
1,120 pages

The Sea
John Banville
225 pages

The Seven O'Clock Club
Amelia Ireland
400 pages

The Shallows
Nicholas Carr
276 pages

The Shipping News
Annie Proulx
408 pages
Read The Savage Detectives with Vread
Add the book to your library, read at your own pace in whatever format you use, and validate each checkpoint. Vread is free on iPhone and Android.
Take the challenge