Who is the narrator, can she or he read minds, and, more importantly, can we trust her or him?
First Person (Central Narrator)
The entirety of Things Not Seen is told from the perspective of Bobby Phillips, which puts us right into the thick of the action. As soon as he goes invisible, the reader is the first to know—besides Bobby, of course—and the reader is privy to the full range of his panic when he realizes what has happened:
I feel kind of dizzy, so I make my way up to bed because if I'm dreaming, bed is the place, right? And I wait to wake up. But I don't because I already am.
I feel my heart pounding in my chest. My breath comes fast and my mouth is dry. I lift my head off the pillow and see my shape on the bed. It's right there, under the covers. Then I pull off the electric blanket and the sheet.
Nothing. (1.8-10)
By getting the entire story from Bobby's perspective, the reader is able to get a firsthand account of all of Bobby's feelings and fears. Most of the time when he's talking to other people, he tries to be stoic and put on a brave face; he pretends that he can figure this out and fix himself if he just tries hard enough. But when he's alone with his inner thoughts, Bobby is afraid. That fear is always present in his everyday thoughts, and because we hang out with him the whole time, as readers, we never forget it either.