Genre
Thriller
Setting and Context
England, the United Kingdom
Narrator and Point of View
Part of the book is told from a third person point of view and has a third person narrator; another part of the book is told in the first person with a named narrator (e.g. Kate).
Tone and Mood
Tense, Violent, Intense, Energetic, and Anxious.
Protagonist and Antagonist
James vs. Kate
Major Conflict
The conflict between James, who is trying to prove his innocence, and Kate, who is prosecuting James.
Climax
When James is taken away in a police car.
Foreshadowing
James eventually being arrested and taken away from his home and his life in a police car is foreshadowed early on in the novel.
Understatement
Sophie's intelligence and complexity is fairly frequently understated by her husband.
Allusions
To the political scene in the U.S. and the U.K., religion (particularly Catholicism), popular culture (including films, television shows, music, and books), and to the history of the United Kingdom, the law, and politics as a whole.
Imagery
Vaughan uses imagery of striking homes to underscore how rich and out of touch James and people like James are.
Paradox
James is patently guilty, yet his wife believes in his innocence.
Parallelism
James' crimes and the crimes of the Prime Minster are frequently paralleled in the novel.
Metonymy and Synecdoche
N/A
Personification
Kate's wig is personified in chapter two of the novel. "My wig," Kate says, "is slumped on my desk."
