Point of View

The Scapegoat is narrated in first person in past tense by a mysterious and unreliable person who is referred to only by the initial N. N provides little information about himself and the reader must piece together his backstory from vague remarks. Often, the author drops clues about N's past, the meaning of which only become clear later when more information is provided. For instance, N alludes to Ottawa and the events that occurred there multiple times, but it is not revealed until late in the plot that he was having an affair with a married man and that he tried to kill himself by jumping off a bridge while living there. When the novel begins, N tells the reader that his father has recently died under suspicious circumstances that he plans to investigate. As the investigation progresses, however, N begins to exhibit signs of...