What Robert Begiebing said of Mailer's rhetoric and style in "Miami and the Siege of Chicago", his book-length coverage of the 1968 Democratic convention, could be said of "Red Light". Begiebing states that Mailer "doesn't so much convince readers as sweep them along, beyond agreement/disagreement, in cataracts of prose. Lengthy catalogues of detail, quick-changing sequences of metaphor, startling aperçus, quick and revelatory character sketches, and sonorous rhythms are all on display." J. Michael Lennon echoes Begiebing by observing that Mailer's character sketches of figures like Goldwater and Eisenhower are "acerbic, unforgiving, and hit the mark".