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The unnamed narrator has spent four years researching the disappearances of John and Kathy Wade, including undertaking the quoted interviews with the Wades’ family members, friends, and colleagues. The book is the result of the narrator’s research and reflects an imaginative reconstruction of events based on the available facts, interviews, and evidence. Even after all this work, the narrator doesn’t know what happened to the Wades. The narrator has continued this work to try to find answers yet was unable to do so and feels both frustrated and fascinated by the enigma.

Like John, the narrator is a Vietnam War veteran—a private first class—and can attest to certain elements about the war and the massacre that John mentions, particularly the ghosts, the sunlight, and the sin and wickedness. The narrator returned to Vietnam while researching the book and visited Thuan Yen and other crucial locations. To the present day, the narrator has suppressed memories of what happened in Vietnam.

The narrator maintains a light presence in the book. All that readers know about the narrator comes from footnotes in the “Evidence” chapters, which are used to explore not only the mystery of John Wade but also deeper questions about secrets, truth, and narratives.

Previous section Kathleen "Kathy" Wade

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