Although Arch Carroll is distantly related to cops of detective fiction and pulp noir, he is closer to the protagonists of thrillers of the last twenty-five years. Carroll is not enough of a cynic or loner to have much in common with Sam Spade. Black Friday is part of a subgenre of novels of political intrigue which emerged in the 1970s. As the Cold War grew colder in the 1970s and 1980s, novels that centered on political intrigue and terrorism were increasingly popular.

The issues associated with the global economy and turmoil in the Middle East and behind the Iron Curtain manifested itself in these novels as a fear of threats to the American way of life. Yet Patterson's novel lacks the jingoism and technical hyperdetail of a Tom Clancy novel. Thomas Harris's novel Black Sunday (1975) focuses on many of the same issues and concerns as...