The overwhelming character in the Prisoner's Dilemma is Eddie Hobson, the linchpin of the Hobson family, the everpatient, ever-teaching father modeled on Powers's own father. Eddie's black humor, his irrepressible punning, his preoccupation with games all contribute to the overall thematic structure of the novel.

Eddie's wife, Ailene, is quietly and practically subversive. She keeps the family running. She goes along with the denial that Eddie is seriously ill but still contrives to get him into the hospital, from which he bolts and disappears.

The children adore their father and are torn by their inherent knowledge of how ill he is. Artie, the elder son, is a law student. Eddie, Jr., is a teen-ager, who, when his father disappears, goes to Alamogordo in a futile attempt to find him. On the trip, however, he is the gawking, ever-curious tourist who takes in everything he can in the vicinity...