Point of View

The novel is written in the first person and the past tense. Maggie is both the novel’s protagonist and narrator, and thus the entire story is told from her perspective. Maggie’s character arc heavily centers around Kim’s disappearance, as Maggie’s investigation into the disappearance is both a reaction to Maggie’s own interiority and a means by which that interiority changes. Maggie decides to investigate Kim’s disappearance out of a sense of moral duty, as well as a sense of personal redemption. At the beginning of the novel, Maggie is living a somewhat apathetic and unfulfilled life, but eventual triumph in finding Kim’s killer gives her a renewed sense of courage and determination in general.

Despite the fact that the story is consistently told through Maggie’s perspective, the conflicting perspectives of supporting characters help to shape the novel...