The critic for "The Financial Times", James Bredin, declared that "Thrilling Cities" "can—and will, compulsively—be read at a sitting", although he found that overall "it is an unsatisfying report" because of the brevity of the subject. Honor Tracy, providing the critique for "The Guardian" thought Fleming praiseworthy, as he "writes without any pretension at all", while also managing to be "invariably entertaining and often funny". Overall Tracy considered that "Thrilling Cities" was "a lively, enjoyable book, written from an unusual point of view and well illustrated." Writing for "The Observer", Francis Hope was surprised by Fleming's written style, which he found to be "more flabby verbose than one expects of a thriller writer", although this was redeemed by Fleming having "some interesting conversations with local experts on crime".