Anderson employs a plain writing style by using simple sentences, dialect from everyday speech, and clear and direct statements. She narrates the story in chronological order through the protagonist's eyes.

Her realism depicts the epidemic of yellow fever and the frequently callous responses to it.

Anderson's imagery is detailed and effective and yet occasionally hard to fathom.

She gives readers a concrete sensation of the aspects of yellow fever; the delirium caused by the fever, and the vomiting of blood and black liquid. She describes the gruesome reality of people discarding dying people on the street, banning sick people from other cities, and burying the dead in mass graves. Anderson presents enough information to make the events believable, without turning the novel into a horror story.

Anderson uses historical speech patterns and period slang of 1793. Doing so may facilitate young adults' understanding of this time in...