From tone to theme to style, critics applaud Banks's accomplishment in this novel.

Many find The Sweet Hereafter to be a moving novel about how tragedy affects individuals and a community. Michiko Kakutani of the New York Times finds that The Sweet Hereafter is "often gripping, consistently engaging, and from time to time genuinely affecting." In Booklist, Joanne Wilkinson describes the novel as "haunting" in its portrayal of grief and guilt.

Banks's ability to move in and out of different personae impresses critics, who find this style compelling and artful. They generally agree that this approach to the subject gives a true portrayal of the complicated reactions to tragedy. Kakutani observes that Banks's narrative technique "creates a mosaic-like study of the ways in which a community copes with tragedy."

Reviewers are drawn to Banks's realistic handling of the theme of accidents as unlucky and uncontrollable events that happen in people's lives. A critic for Economist commends Banks's ability to communicate "moral ambiguity," adding that by "examining the crash through the sometimes overlapping, sometimes conflicting, accounts of four people whose lives are utterly changed by it, the novel also ponders the wider damage such a disaster does."

Richard Eder of the Los Angeles Times Book Review finds Banks's novel to be a "remarkable book" that captures the response of a community in a time of unbelievable tragedy. Eder is impressed with Banks's compassionate portrayal of this community and the stories of its citizens.

Many critics comment on Banks's moving portrayal of a community in crisis. Eder commends Banks's use of "a small town's response to tragedy to write a novel of compelling moral suspense." Kakutani notes that "Banks uses the school bus accident as a catalyst for illuminating the lives of the town's citizens. It's as though he has cast a large stone into a quiet pond, then minutely charted the shape and size of the ripples sent out in successive waves." A reviewer for Publishers Weekly writes, "With resonating effect, Banks … tackles the provocative subject of a fatal accident involving children, and its effect on a small community." The reviewer adds that Banks handles this "dark theme" with compassion and control.

Most critics rank The Sweet Hereafter among Banks's best work, if not the best example to date of his fiction.