Structure

For the most part, Brand structures his book in a chronological format. The only point at which Brand deviates from this structure is when he jumps ahead in time to tell the reader about the conditions that he and his unit members found at the Dachau concentration camps. Brand does this to impress upon the reader that this experience had a profound impact on Sheeran and his behavior.

The remainder of the novel details Sheeran’s life, beginning with his abusive childhood, so that the reader can understand the sort of life that Sheeran lived. The reader sees how Sheeran became involved with mafia activities before he even realized for whom he was working. This chronological format moves through time, describing how Sheeran reached such a high level of power in the mafia even though he was not even full-blooded Irish.

Perspective

Sheeran’s story is told...