Straightforward and Poetic
If you're scratching your head wondering how something can be both straightforward and poetic, stick with us and we'll happily spell it out for you. It's kind of our thing, after all.
To be clear, by poetic, we don't mean tricky to understand—in fact, that's where the straightforwardness comes in. Hartnett's writing is clear and easy to grasp, even though we're in a psychological thriller. We're never wondering what the sentences mean, giving us room to instead focus on trying to figure out what the characters are up to. Take this exchange between our two(-ish) main guys:
Finnigan smiled wolfishly. "But I'm allowed to do wrong things. We agreed, remember? You swore."
I set my jaw; I was still on my knees. Naturally I remembered our poisonous promise, but I hadn't expected him to take to his task so dramatically. (7.29-30)
We see exactly what the characters are thinking and experiencing here, in a way that's easy to understand. Yet, we can also see it—and herein lies the poetic element of the writing style. The fact that Finnigan is described as wolfishly, for instance, gives us a vivid clue as to exactly how he looks in this moment. Throughout the book, Hartnett's language is crammed with metaphors and imagery to help us know what's going down. Coupled with her straightforward style, it makes for quite a compelling read—it moves along, while keeping us sucked in.