As a "popular" rather than a literary novel, Hatter Fox did not attract many reviews. The reviews it did receive, however, were generally favorable, although with some sharp dissenting views. A reviewer for Newsweek declared it to be a "touching, skillful melodrama," adding that "Fate conveniently glues a 'Love Story' ending onto this romantic fantasy." (The allusion is to the tragic love story that was made into a movie in the 1960s, starring Ali MacGraw.) High praise came from Pamela Marsh in Christian Science Monitor, who described Hatter Fox as "a steel trap of a book. Advance a few pages and you'll be stuck fast until [Harris] sees fit to let you go." Marsh offered this interpretation of the novel's theme:

Perhaps . . . Hatter Fox stands for the whole Indian
nation, puzzling whites by violent reaction to mistreatment,
puzzled in their turn by violent suppression
of that...