Point of View

Terri Blackstock tells her novel "Justifiable Means" in the third-person and omniscient point of view, with the intent of allowing the reader to see all sides of the mystery as it unfolds. The reader, from the position of an objective and omniscient third party, is able to follow developments among each of the major characters, including Larry and Melissa, and including the movements of the criminal, Soames and Pendergrast. Choosing to tell the novel in the third person as opposed to the first person is beneficial to the novel, because otherwise, the novel would be confined to the point of view of one of the major characters, rendering all other major and important developments obsolete until they are learned by the character and the reader.

Setting

The setting of Terri Blackstock's novel "Justifiable Means" is that of the town of St. Clair, Florida. The town is...