Jonasson writes as the omniscient narrator from the third person point-of-view: He can shift his focus to any character in the story to explain the character’s history and motives. The author often digresses either from the current narrative—Allan’s attempts to avoid capture by the police—or his historical adventures to describe the pertinent elements of the various characters. For instance, he explains why the Tehran police chief wants to assassinate Winston Churchill and the reason that Mao Zedong gives Allan a small fortune to escape from North Korea.

The novel is panoptic: It covers the 101-year scope of Allan’s life. Jonasson also uses this historical purview to describe the motivational forces in the lives of other characters. For example, he explains how Pike assembled his Never Again gang in prison, how it fell apart when his mother wrote him a sentimental letter, and how bitterness and humiliation thus fueled Pike’s ambition.

Rather than starting with Allan’s childhood and proceeding chronologically through his life, Jonasson begins “in media res.” He opens with a May 2005 “current moment,” describing Allan’s escape from the nursing home and the immediate aspects of his getaway. Then, beginning with Chapter 4, the author intersperses chapters of the current story with chapters of Allan’s chronological history.