Point of View

With the exception of the prologue, the novel is written in third person. We never hear from the prologue's first-person narrator after that section of the novel concludes -- instead, Dee floats among a mostly equitable distribution of major and minor characters. Throughout the novel, he writes in fairly brief spurts from the points of view of Mark, Karen, Candace, Gerry, Haley, and Mark's parents, who constitute the novel's main characters. However, he also gives attention to the points of view of less important characters, such as the postmaster Glenn Brooks, or Trooper Constable. Some characters points of view are visited once and then never again -- for example, the chef and restaurateur Todd Van Dyke; the purpose of their point of view seems to be to shed light on previously unvisited corners of Dee's fictional world.

Notably, the one major character whose point of...