Point of View

The novel begins with a prologue presented in the second-person narrative. This second person narrative is meant to underscore the idea that the events that unfold in the work could happen to anyone. She describes a seemingly benign community, "the safest place you can imagine-in the suburban development where you grew up" in an effort to hold today's suburban developments under a microscope in an effort to truly examine what they have become. Scottoline opens with the idea of coming-of-age peer pressure to which all individuals succumb and then likens it to the collective thinking of Nazi Germany. Using the second-person attempts to develop a connection that allows for people to pay attention to the events and acknowledge the fact that everyone is complicit when society no longer holds individuals accountable.

Scottoline then segues into the third person narrative from the main protagonist, Allie Garvey...