Point of View

The novel is told in the first person point of view. Dave Robicheaux, a New Orleans police detective, is the narrative character. Dave tells the story through his point of view, expressing his thoughts and feelings as though he is writing in a journal or diary. There are times in which the authorial voice is heard, disguised as Dave's voice, in which Dave comments on events not as they are happening but with a sort of twenty-twenty hindsight. When Dave relates the shooting of Segura, he expresses his regrets in his actions as well as his opinion on how the episode could have played out differently if he had made other choices.

The point of view of this novel works well because the first person narrative allows the reader a close relationship to the main character, establishing the intimacy that is necessary for the reader to...