Cullen
Cullen is the main character in the first part of the story. He is a teenage boy, fresh out of high school who is affected by his brother’s disappearance. Cullen lives a boring life in the small town where he lives with his parents and he is always looking for something exiting to do. Cullen is attracted to a young woman named Ada but he realizes that there is little possibility that he will ever end up with her. When Gabriel disappears, he becomes desperate to find him and is as if his life has no meaning after Gabriel disappears. He becomes involved with two women in his attempt to prove that he is a real man but his sexual escapades prove to be unsatisfied. When Gabriel comes back home, Cullen becomes the person he was before and he regains his happiness.
Gabriel
Gabriel is Cullen’s little brother. Even though Gabriel is younger than Cullen, Gabriel is much more physically developed than his brother and because of this he appears to be much older than his brother. Gabriel is just as attached to Cullen as Cullen is to him and the two are almost inseparable. While Cullen is bullied at school, Gabriel does not have the same fate as him. Gabriel is interested in music and books and he uses those things as a way of escaping boredom and to occupy his mind. Gabriel is mistaken for his brother and thus he is kidnapped in his place. Gabriel is kept safe however and he is eventually let go.
Aunt Julia
Aunt Julia is Oslo’s mother. She appears in the beginning of the story when she finds that her son was killed and she stays briefly with her sister and with Cullen and Gabriel. After that, she returns home but she remains affected by her son’s death. She becomes depressed and she becomes incapable of taking care of herself. Thus, Cullen makes a habit out of going to her house and bringing her food regularly.
Ada Taylor
Ada Taylor is the girl Cullen falls in love with at the beginning of the novel. She is regarded as being the most beautiful girl in school. Ada was in a relationship with a boy named Russell, the boy who used to bully Cullen in school. Ada is known for having had numerous boyfriends and every one of them ended up either injured or dead. This also happened to Russell who after breaking up with Ada become involved in a car accident and remained severely injured.
Cullen’s father
Cullen’s father remains unnamed in the novel but he is an important character. He is deeply affected by his son’s disappearance and he becomes willing to do anything just to have his son back. Cullen mentions that his father spent almost all their savings on funding campaigns to find his missing son but he doesn’t forget about Cullen either and he insists that Cullen focuses on getting into college.
Cullen’s mother
Just like the father, the mother remains unknown. At first, she is not as affected by Gabriel’s disappearance like the father and she chooses to focus on her work. After a month and a half however, she becomes depressed and disinterested in everything that used to make her happy, choosing instead to lock herself up in Gabriel’s room and spend her time with his belongings.
Russell Quintman
Russell is a young man from the same city from where Cullen and Gabriel were and also a bully. Cullen mentions him as being the one who took pleasure in making him suffer and Cullen often imagined himself confronting and standing up against Russell. Quintman was also Ada’s boyfriend for a few months but they ended the relationship. After that, Russell was involved in a car accident and he remained disabled and unable to breathe on his own.
Benton
Benton is another important character who is the protagonist in the second part of the story. Benton is a missionary sent to Ethiopia to spread to word of God but he is unsuccessful and is called back home. After that, he spends some time with his parents before deciding to enroll into college. He realizes quickly that he is failing his classes and instead of accepting the responsibility for his actions he decides to kill himself by jumping off a church.
Cabot
Cabot appears as a character linked to Benton as he is his roommate during the time he spent at the collage where he wanted to get a degree. After Benton dies, Cabot discovers his diary and becomes interested in religion. Cabot comes from a wealthy family but his inheritance is taken away from him when his father becomes dissatisfied with the subjects he chose to study. Cabot meets Alma after Benton dies and they become involved, even getting married briefly. When Alma decides to return home, Cabot decides to follow her and even kidnaps Gabriel, thinking that he is the one with whom his wife sleeps with.
John Barling
John is an expert in birds who comes to Lily after hearing that a woodpecker thought to be extinct was sighted in the town. He is immediately hated by everyone mainly because he becomes involved with a woman form the town and when it is proven that the woodpecker did not appeared he is forced to return home.
Oslo
Oslo is a Cullen’s and Gabriel’s cousin. He dies in the beginning of the novel from a drug overdose.
Lucas
Lucas is Cullen’s best friend in the book. The two spend most of their time together and Lucas is very sympathetic towards his friend when Gabriel disappears. Lucas even takes it upon himself to find who was responsible for Gabriel’s disappearance and goes as far as to become violent with some of the people in the town he suspected as being guilty of the boy’s disappearance.
Mena Prescott
Mena is Lucas’s girlfriend, a girl Cullen doesn’t like mainly because she used to date his cousin Oslo as well. Towards the end of the novel he admits that Mena is not as bad as he thought and he begins to warm up to her.
Alma
Alma is a woman from Lily with whom Cullen gets involved with briefly. Alma is older than Cullen, being a woman who finished her college education and was even married but that didn’t stopped the two from becoming intimate.
Libby Truett
Libby is Gabriel’s best friend in the novel who appears briefly.
Rameel
Rameel is Benton’s friend from Ethiopia.
