Point of View

The story is written in third person from the limited view of the main character Stephen Lewis. Stephen is a children's writer and the father of Kate, who is kidnapped as a three-year-old. This perspective means the reader is very limited in the understanding of anything that does not occur in the direct sight of Stephen. The author counters this by relating things that Stephen learns through conversations. For example, Stephen learns what happened to Charles through the conversations with Thelma. In another instance, Stephen has to guess what Julie is thinking after the disappearance of Kate. The lack of communication means that Stephen's guesses are all he has to go on and he adjusts those to include the fact that Julie is too weak to handle the situation. This lack of communication between the two leaves the reader in the dark as to Julie's thoughts...