Designated Hero: Jon from The Shade of the Moon is a very unlikable protagonist. Aside from the fact that he caused Julie's death by attempting to rape her, he acts like a massive prick while insisting that he's a better person than the other upper-class residents of the city.
First Installment Wins: While the second is generally considered to be almost as good as the original, and the third to be all right, the fourth is generally considered to be pretty awful.
Fridge Brilliance: Miranda packs a pen and blue journal on her suicide mission to the town. At first, this seems like a somewhat odd detail to include, as the pen and journal never come into play later...that is until you remember the novel is Miranda's diary, so the only information we can receive is if Miranda catalogs it. The pen and journal let the reader know there's a possibility Miranda is writing this as she slowly withers away in the town, never making it back to her family. It was a very subtle way of solving Spoiled by the Format.
Unintentional Period Piece: The rudimentary state of the internet and landlines still being commonplace are enough to place it in the mid-2000s, but the president being a very blatant caricature of George W. Bush makes it obvious.
The Scrappy: Come the fourth book, Jon, for attempting to excuse Attempted Rape, acting highly entitled, and generally just being not as interesting a protagonist as either Miranda or Alex.
