Reed's writing style matured greatly between The Free-Lance Pallbearers (1967) and Mumbo Jumbo. Critical response generally reflected this assertion, although a few critics felt that "the full-blown explication of NeoHooDoo dulled the devilishly humorous cutting edge of the two previous novels." The characters are more complex in Mumbo Jumbo than in Reed's earlier works. In The Free-Lance Pallbearers the contradictions some characters displayed made them seem inconsistent. In Mumbo Jumbo, the characters all display contradictions but are drawn in such a way that the differences make them more human.