The Chocolate War, a brutal, forthright study in violence, ends in doubt—one might say, in an inglorious draw. Presumably the author was not evading an ending but honestly intended to suggest that no decision between Good and Evil was really possible. Extreme as his picture is, it can only too readily be believed…. Brother Leon's actions, seem entirely from the point of view of his pupils, are never truly motivated; he is, ultimately, a Bogyman, an embodiment of Evil who is, perhaps, only temporarily halted in his course. This is not a book for the squeamish and it contains a note of cynicism which might perhaps have been less obvious if the character of Brother Leon had been developed in depth, as the story seems to demand that it should be. (pp. 2657-58)

Margery Fisher, in her Growing Point, July, 1975.