Point of View

Tears of Autumn by Charles McCarry is narrated anonymously in the third person, past tense omniscient. Dialog is used extensively, switching naturally between past, present, and future. The narrator is positively inclined towards the protagonist, Paul Christopher, but allows his ex-wife Cathy and girlfriend Molly to chip away at his smooth veneer, trying to find a person under the agent's armor and journalist's disguise.

A White House aide, painted entirely as unsavory, at first meeting finds Paul obsessive/compulsive, and rejects his theories out of hand because they might tarnish the memory of John F. Kennedy, who is portrayed almost as a demigod. Paul has allies in the Agency who believe him, but Dennis Foley has the clout to shut down any official investigation. This only make Paul resign and continue on his own. As he reaches this decision, his old friend in the Agency, having...