Point of View

Black Water uses a third-person, limited omniscient narration, focusing on John Harper. The reader meets Harper as an adult in hiding, convinced that the Institute he works for is trying to kill him. It sets a tone of distrust and paranoia, reflecting the unrest of the region in 1998.

Harper is jaded, having lived a life marked by tragedy, from his father’s beheading, his mother’s alcoholism, and witnessing his brother Bud’s death. Harper’s character is as world-weary as the region he is assigned to, Indonesia. He witnessed a failed uprising in Indonesia as a young man and is witnessing further unrest in the region as an older man.

Harper’s view of the world is uneasy and distrusting. Building on what he witnessed as a child, Harper’s experiences of the world as an adult continue to include loss, notably the death...