Point of View

Stuart Woods' novel Dirt is written entirely from the perspective of an omniscient narrator. There may be several reasons for this, the most obvious being attributable to the genre itself. Since Dirt is a relatively standard thriller, the convention of the omniscient narrator helps to maintain a steady pace. That is to say, the narrative action moves quickly in a linear progression. There are no departures from the plot itself. Also, the use of an omniscient narrator makes it less difficult for the reader to engage the characters, all of whom are more types than individuals. For example, Amanda Dart is "the high-powered bitch," Enrico Bianchi is "the mob boss," Dino Bacchetti is "the tough but fair Italian-American cop" and so on. In this particular thriller, the way the plot unfolds takes precedence over the intricacies of the characters. If the author were to use characters...