Point of View

The novel’s narration is written in the limited third person. In addition, the narration is mostly written in the past tense, with the one exception being that the flashbacks to Caitlin’s kidnapping and captivity are written in the present tense in order to heighten the emotional immediacy and urgency of those scenes. The third-person narration is bound to one character at any given time. The novel’s point-of-view characters are Grant, Sean, Caitlin, Angela, Billy, and Sheriff Kinney. Through the portrayal of these characters’ perspectives, the novel can provide a fuller practical illustration of events between Caitlin’s kidnapping and rescue. Moreover, the novel can more directly juxtapose the beliefs, outlooks, and dispositions of these characters.

The novel heavily focuses on both the physical and emotional journeys of the Courtlands in the time following Caitlin’s disappearance, and thus the novel’s shifting...