In “Nighthawks” by Micheal Connelly, the perspective is that of a third person who is limited to following the character of Bosch, a private investigator tasked with looking for Griffin’s runaway daughter. Initially, the reader does not know Bosch’s reasoning for surveilling this young woman, drawing in the reader through mystery and intrigue.
While that drew me in personally, what really got my attention was the importance of the painting and how it connected to the characters. The conversation that Bosch has with the young woman is interesting because she points out the painting and asks him which person in the painting he thinks he is. He chooses the man sitting at the counter alone, same as her. This sparks a conversation between the two, and she ends up finding out why Bosch is really there. The conversation about the painting caused Bosch to become vulnerable in a moment in which he knows he should not be because he found commonality between himself and the young woman through the painting.
What makes this interesting is the point of view we are reading this story. We are but an observer, much like the lone man in the painting that Bosch and the young woman see themselves as, which creates a different relationship between the reader and the characters. And though the audience follows Bosch as a main character, they are still somewhat distanced from him.