What is the author's style in The Comfort of Strangers by Ian McEwan?

The narrator of The Comfort of Strangers is third person, though not quite omniscient. Instead the narrator focuses mainly on Mary and Colin, and so knows only what they know. The narrator describes the other characters in detail, but makes no comment on them. For instance, when Robert appears suddenly on the darkened street, this creates suspense in the reader, but not because of any hints from the narrator. In another instance, the reader watches Caroline struggle with her injuries for quite sometime with no idea of what they are or where they came from. Thus, the reader is as much in the dark as the main characters, Colin and Mary. Therefore the final violence has as much shock value as possible.

In other words, every event - however mundane or horrific - is described in the same even tones. Mary and Colin appear to echo this to a degree, as they seem incomprehensibly dense in realizing that Robert is a dangerous personage who should be avoided no matter what. This general calm amid so much violence, and the threat of so much violence, causes the events as they unfold to be that much more outrageous.