There appear to be strong derivations in ["The Love Eaters"]…. Hamilton is bound to seem like a sinister modification of Sheridan Whiteside of "The Man Who Came to Dinner." There are country-club scenes and some domestic conversations reminiscent of "Appointment in Samarra." The book's philosophy, too, is about on the [John] O'Hara level. The author sees Selby as an incubus, feeding on the love of others—an explanation that fails to be adequate as character analysis.
Actually a substantial writing talent is latent here, with a vigorous dramatic sense. Sections of "The Love Eaters" are effective and have a strong occasional authenticity. Unhappily it simply does not cohere as a work of art, internally, or as a recognizable social portrait, aside from its random satiric thrusts. The result, as with so many contemporary novels, is a striking but basically artificial product.
Edmund Fuller, "Allegheny Upheaval," in The New York Times Book Review (© 1955 by The New York Times Company; reprinted by permission), April 3, 1955, p. 5.
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