The Pickwick Papers is a series of linear adventures, unlike the convoluted plots of Dickens's later novels. In other words, we follow our heroes from one stop to the next and meet interesting characters, rather than unraveling a mystery. The novel is a late example of the picarequese, a style of story in which we follow a rough, but still likable, hero through his adventures. The hero of The Pickwick Papers is Sam Weller, though Sam isn't always the focus of the narrative.