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If I were the editor, I might have suggested to Larsen to start the novel where it ends--Irene in distress after Clare's plunge, without giving away any of the details. Then I would have told the story in one long flashback, so the reader knows that all the scenes are leading up to something dramatic. The way the book reads now, it feels unfocused; I didn't know where anything was heading. The first two sections drone on and on, and then the last section is packed with dramatic events.
I am probably influenced by my reading of suspense and the way those novels are often structured. But I think I would have enjoyed the process of reading Passing more if I'd known there was a dead body at the end of it.
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