[Many] questions are raised and solved in Ronald Harwood's The Guilt Merchants. Unfortunately, not all of them are solved satisfactorily, at least for this reader. This is partially so because the characters do not come sufficiently alive.

Guilt is, of course, a fascinating subject and much can be said about its universality. But in fiction this must be handled deftly and when characterization is rendered incomplete for purposes of structure, the novel suffers. In The Guilt Merchants, everyone has his say but after a while we are no longer listening. Perhaps because the story is over long before the ending, and all that is left is the working out of a psychic puzzle of dubious value or interest.

Shane Stevens, "Pursuit of the Past," in Book World—Chicago Tribune, February 8, 1970, p. 13.