Lehane uses several literary techniques that are unique to this, his sixth novel.

The previous plots have proceeded chronologically, with numbered chapters, but this novel begins with a twenty-five year flashback, and the book is divided into four segments: I. "The Boys Who Escaped from Wolves 1975"; II. "Sad-Eyed Sinatras 2000"; III. "Angels of the Silences"; and IV.

"Gentrification." The novel's epilogue is entitled "Jimmy Flats Sunday."

Within the other segments, there are more flashbacks, created primarily to create startling juxtapositions in the narrative. For example, the search for the missing Katie is contrasted with Jimmy's younger daughter's First Communion. Jimmy stands, holding his middle child in her church finery, feeling as "happy as you could get," and reflecting on Annabeth's falling in love with him years earlier, all only seconds before he understands that Katie is dead. Similarly, Sean finds Katie's body immediately after a flashback to the happiest...