Point of View

A Spark of Light is written entirely in third person but from the point of view of 10 different characters, the shooter, Hugh, and the eight hostages. The author switches from one person’s point of view to the next throughout each chapter, telling what each of them is doing during that hour of the day. Since the book progresses backward through the day, this results in some characters who are dead at the beginning of the novel later being alive and contributing to the novel’s plot and themes.

Although the novel is written in third person, it does not use an omniscient point of view. This is important because it allows the author to explore the connectedness of people through their similar thoughts and experiences even when each of them feels alone because they do not know one another. It also shows how the...