How does the author’s use of short chapters, frequent scene shifts, and third-person narration following multiple characters shape the reader’s understanding of the protagonist and supporting characters and add to the mystery’s suspense?

How does the traveling salesman’s dialogue about knots in the Prologue set the stage for the rest of the novel? How do his words connect to the story’s title, themes, and overall meaning?

Although Cady is the novel’s protagonist, the story follows several other characters as well, including the Ashers. Select two members of the Asher family. Compare and contrast their personality traits and character arcs. Does their relationship change throughout the novel? If so, how and why? What do these two specific characters add to the novel’s plot and the theme of Family Connections?