Point of View

Nightcrawling is narrated entirely in first person and present tense by Kiara Johnson, a Black teenager living in poverty in Oakland, California. The present tense brings a sense of immediacy to the novel that heightens dramatic tension and suspense, as events unfold that put Kiara in potential danger, particularly her involvement in a sex trafficking ring run by Oakland police. With the present tense narration, the events seem to be occurring in real time, and this quality propels the narrative forward as readers wait to learn Kiara's fate. The first-person narration ensures readers have direct access to Kiara's thoughts and feelings as they occur, allowing a level of intimacy and understanding that makes it easy to empathize with her as she struggles with poverty, sex work, interpersonal conflict, and the injustices of police brutality.

The author's intention with this novel is to put a human...