comment on structure

Positioned as a mystery novel, the narrative does not follow a typical mystery format. Often once a crime has been committed, the police are heavily involved in investigating the scene, questioning victims and witnesses and tracking down leads and pursuing the perpetrator. But this novel contains very few of those elements. In fact the story is not plot driven in the traditional sense. While the story does move forward as the reader acquires new information about the suspects in the case or about the neighbors in the community, it is not delivered in a chronological manner. The actual timeline of events is not strictly followed.