Though one would recognize a book by John Updike from its style or one by Philip Roth from its subject, the protean Oates is able to assume any stylistic guise and to write about anything. One seldom feels that from book to book one comes to know her better. IN this novel the author herself seems accessible, and in it she shows a relaxed and accepting attitude toward plot. But in the spirit of realism modern novelists have tended to conceal contrivance and to strive for the form of formless life. Her interest has seemed to be in elaborating and adapting them.
Satire is always implicit in the reworking of an old story or a moribund genre.
Even those who find balloon abductions thin should be satisfied by this richness of detail. Diane Johnson's new book, ''Terrorists and Novelists,'' will be published next month.