Leon Garfield is one author who has invented what is almost a new category of his own…. His books are not historical novels—though they are set in the past—nor are they simply adventure stories—it is even possible to see them, in some lights, as fantasies. But they are more likely to be read and enjoyed by those who like stories with plenty of action and excitement, than by lovers of historical stories or fantasy…. (p. 98)

Although Leon Garfield's work has strengthened with each book, his manner and method has remained unchanged and it is impossible to mistake any book by Garfield for one by any other writer. They are all set in a not too precisely defined part of the eighteenth century; a period which seems to have been chosen more for the opportunities it presents than for any special reason of historical interest or research. It is not an imaginary period, in the sense that Joan Aiken's settings are imaginary,… but no serious attempt is made at historical accuracy. No doubt some reading must have been done to get the general picture of the period into the author's mind, but would not be the kind of research that a Rosemary Sutcliff or a Stephanie Plowman undertakes before writing a historical novel and there are, as a result, occasional anachronisms and inaccuracies. But these are minor blemishes and it is clearly not Leon Garfield's intention to aim at an accurate historical picture. (pp. 98-9)

Leon Garfield's second book, Devil-in-the-Fog, is not his best book, but it is an excellent example of the author's manner and serves as a good introduction to his work. If the reader likes this he will like all the author's work, if he dislikes it he will probably dislike them all. It is the story of George Treet, the eldest son of a family of strolling players, who learns suddenly that he may be the son of a nobleman and the heir to great wealth…. Devil-in-the-Fog is as stagey, theatrical and melodramatic as Treet's own performances no doubt were. The style of writing is high-pitched, inflated, with all the marks of the kind of historical writing which earlier had brought historical novels into disrepute. One almost expects a character to burst out with 'Gadzooks!' at any moment, and there are as many exclamation marks, leaders, and dashes as there ever were in Herbert Strang…. (pp. 100-01)

Yet despite all this the book succeeds with most readers, who are carried along by the impetuosity and verve of the author's writing and attracted by the very theatricality and staginess of the period atmosphere which other readers find overdone. (p. 101)

The book in which Leon Garfield comes nearest to making a complete success of the unique mixture of sinister characters, complex, sometimes obscure plots and macabre set-pieces that he has made peculiarly his own, is Black Jack. (pp. 101-02)

It would be difficult to imagine a more unlikely story. Yet Leon Garfield makes it not only readable, but compulsively so by the pace and tension of his writing and the almost frenzied 'come along quickly, let's get on with action and not bother too much about what is really supposed to be going on' that is the special mark of his manner. (p. 102)

His third book, Smith, is probably his best known, and is the one that has attracted most critical attention. It is a closely woven pastiche of the darker side of eighteenth-century London…. It is in many ways more like a miniature, and of course infinitely lesser, novel by Dickens than a children's book but there is no doubt at all that many children do read this, and all his books, with zest and find them both exciting and stimulating. His most recent book, The Drummer Boy, carries his strange tales even farther along the road to confusion. It is full of things that no other living author for children could achieve, but it would be an intelligent child indeed who could follow the author's tortuous threads to the true centre of his maze. Much as one has to admire his set pieces, and some excellent humorous writing, there is too much in this book that strikes false notes and too much that will mystify, confuse and unnecessarily distress young readers for it to be completely satisfying. Whatever may be true of Jack Holborn, Devil-in-the-Fog or Black Jack, or Smith, this book, one feels, should be in the adult section, because adults will be better equipped to get most value from it.

Leon Garfield's books, in fact, like those of some other writers, raise the question whether, in an age when the telling of straight narrative stories is no longer acceptable in adult novels, some writers may not be driven into children's books as the only way to make use of the gift that has been given them. I remember hearing an Australian writer, Ivan Southall, tell a seminar audience that this was why he wrote children's books, and one wonders whether Leon Garfield … may not be [a novelist manqué].

Leon Garfield's work has been highly praised, and many good critics admire it, but it seems to me too early for a reliable judgement to be formed on it…. It is always difficult for an adult critic to be completely objective about children's books—so many of them are so much beneath notice to an informed mind that anything at all unusual stands out sometimes undeservedly—and this is particularly so with a writer like Leon Garfield who is, as he himself so shrewdly analysed, doing something that is neither quite for adults nor quite for children. But it seems unlikely that he can continue to produce at regular intervals a succession of the same kind of pseudo-historical firework displays. If he does, he will become type-styled and of less interest, but he has such obvious talent, as a born novelist of the true storytelling kind, that he may well develop his work along other lines that are of more interest to critics and readers like myself, to whom his present work does not greatly appeal because of its basic unreality. (pp. 103-05)