Though Pop Goes the Weasel has plenty of characters, the protagonist and antagonist, Alex Cross and Geoffrey Shafer, carry the weight of the novel. Characters like Cross's boss, George Pittman, are not developed, and the murder victims never last long enough for development. In fact, their lives are reconstructed after their deaths in typical scientific detection fashion. But because the novel is a battle between good and evil, the characterization relies on the two representatives of these opposing moral forces.

The most unusual thing about Patterson's Alex Cross novels is his choice of an African-American hero. Patterson notes to Bernard and Zaleski report that I've always found it mesmerizing, the magical appeal of somebody like Muhammad Ali. And yet so much of the society seems incapable of dealing with your average black person, other than with celebrities. Also, it struck me that a black male who does the...