Guterson's skillful use of shifting narrative perspective, flashbacks and limiting the point of view allows Guterson to interweave the many elements of his story into a complete tapestry and gives the reader a deeper understanding of the characters, their lives and their motives.

Guterson goes against the usual crime genre narrative, as he does not deal with events in chronological order. In fact, Guterson uses his shifting point of view for major effect and the narrative operates retrospectively. Although the timeline of the trial occupies four days, through flashbacks and movement into shifting timeframes Guterson unravels a narrative that encompasses twenty years of history.

This shifting perspective is highly effective for two reasons. Firstly, it generates suspense in the plot as information is slowly gleaned from different sources - we never know when the next twist is going to occur. Secondly, this changing time frame, combined with the...