Edward “Teddy” Daniels is a World War II veteran, a U.S. Marshal, and the main character of Shutter Island. The novel is told from a limited third-person perspective, which means that the story is filtered through Teddy’s experiences, thoughts, and feelings. In many ways, that means Teddy interprets the events of Shutter Island for the reader, and his perspective shapes readers’ beliefs. Writing in this perspective allows Lehane to build a complex plot with multiple plot twists that hinge on changes in Teddy’s perception.

Teddy’s character also lets Lehane explore both reality and truth. As an investigator, Teddy is trained to find the truth, whether that is about Rachel Solando’s disappearance, Laeddis’ whereabouts, or Ashecliffe Hospital’s experiments. But as the story unfolds, the truth becomes more and more obscure. By the end of the novel, the truth is defined not by what is objectively fact but through a combination of perspective and belief. Lehane does much the same with reality. As Teddy spends more time on the island, the separation between what is real and what is not becomes more difficult to navigate. This crescendos with the question of whether the “real” Teddy is the U.