Who is the narrator, can she or he read minds, and, more importantly, can we trust her or him?
(Central)… With a Twist
From the first line of the first chapter, "I walked into biology and my jaw fell open," we know a first person narrator is running the show, and that this narrator is an active participant in the story. The narrator, Nora, is also the story's main character, and she is a reliable and believable narrator who not only gives us events as they happen to her but also shares her thoughts and feelings, including her doubts, fears, and uncertainties. For example, after the person in the ski mask attacks Nora while she is in Vee's car, Nora thinks:
The harder I tried to recall the crash, the more I couldn't. Little blips of missing information cut across my memory. The details were fading. Was he tall? Short? Thin? Bulky? Had he said anything?
I couldn't remember. That was the most frightening part. (4.28-29)
She's definitely not omniscient, but at least she lets us in on what's going on with her, internally and externally.
The Twist
The prologue, which comes before the first chapter, is written in third person limited omniscient. This point of view means that we have an uninvolved narrator—meaning the narrator isn't a character—but the narrator does have special access to one or two of the character's thoughts. And guess whose thoughts we get? Chauncey's, a.k.a. the bad guy's. We follow along with Chauncey during his encounter with a mysterious stranger who tells Chauncey that he is half mortal, half fallen angel, and who demands that Chauncey be of service to him for two weeks every Cheshvan.
The prologue sets up the conflict between Chauncey and Patch, showing that both Chauncey and Patch operate within this mythological angel world that most humans know nothing about. Importantly, the prologue also sets us up with more information than our next narrator, Nora, has. So although Nora tells us all she knows, we always know more than her.