Patrick Jane has a playful and cocky personality and a tendency to ignore authority, often using unorthodox methods which are met with disapproval by his coworkers. Jane is considered to be the finest detective in California. He is capable of amazing feats of observation and induction and although he says he isn't psychic, some people maintain that he must be. Jane is not afraid of taunting others, although after the deaths of his wife and daughter he is more cautious and knows that his actions can have terrible consequences.
Although he generally exhibits a happy demeanor, Jane suffers enormous guilt over the deaths of his wife and daughter as well as a ferocious determination to kill Red John, the serial killer that murdered them. After Sam Bosco and his CBI team are murdered by the team's assistant Rebecca Anderson, it's revealed that she's Red John's minion. Rebecca tells Jane that the slaughter was committed to give the case back to Jane because Red John "knows it will make Jane happy". This "cause and effect explanation" generates more guilt in Jane.
Despite his grudge against Red John, Jane is reluctant to wield weapons except in extreme circumstances; notably when he saved Lisbon using a gun against a man who might have given him information about Red John. When he met the man who he believed was Red John, Jane shot him to avenge his dead family.
Jane is a master manipulator, a trait also possessed by his enemy Red John. He's obsessed with Red John and, it has become apparent, Red John is obsessed with him. As Brett Stiles put it, "It's a kind of love, Patrick." Jane forms few personal attachments for fear of losing more loved ones. There is a close friendship and a hinted-at romantic attraction between him and Lisbon. Jane is aware that his attachment to Lisbon could make her a target for Red John.
Red John felt slandered when Jane called him sad, ugly, lonely, and tormented. This would make a case for him being anything but. His charisma, intelligence, plus three mistresses that we know of, support this. Since Lorelei made a comparison between Red John and Jane (who is beautiful, brilliant, charming -- and only sad, lonely, and tormented since Red John made him that way), it would stand to reason that Red John could hold a candle to Jane. Jane has compiled a notebook of everyone he knows believing Red John to be among them.
When Bret Stiles calls Red John's preoccupation with Patrick "a kind of love," he hits the nail on the head. No one gives Red John more attention than Patrick. Red John is a showman; he's performing. And he delights in having so discerning an audience. The brilliant Patrick Jane, whose life is devoted to deciphering his every move. His life would be diminished without Jane.
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