Author, David Baldacci, uses a third person narrative to weave his complex tale of corruption, murder, greed, and blackmail, but the reader notices a definite division among the characters that is revealing from the very beginning, relative to omniscience. The narrator has total omniscience with most major characters who are, in fact, innocent or involved in crime investigation. For example, the reader knows quite early that Sidney Archer is innocent of any collusion with her husband, through complete knowledge of her thoughts, including her complete lack of knowledge of the true purpose of Jason's "business" trip and her thinking processes as she attempts to investigate her husband's activities, in order to prove his innocence. As well the thoughts and deliberations of Lee Sawyer, chief FBI investigator, are revealed so that the reader can follow the steps that will eventually combine three crimes into one of such complex nature, that only his thoughts can steer the reader down the correct path. Relative to the culprits, however, character, values, goals and thoughts are incomplete, as these are only partially revealed through an objective accounting of their activities and through their conversations with others. This partial-to-no omniscience is necessary, because the true "bad guys" cannot be revealed to the reader until the end. While we understand their motivations and their values, and certainly suspect their guilt, the full extent of everyone's involvement cannot be known, in order to protect the suspense of the tale.
Total Control