Okay, let me confess up front: I loved Red Dragon and The Silence of the Lambs. Loved them. I enjoyed the movies, too: the movie version of Silence of the Lambs scared the pee out of me, and even so, I didn’t want it to end. So, long years later when I finally got hold of a copy of Hannibal, I really, really, wanted to love it, too.

But I didn’t.

Well, that’s not entirely true. If I pretend that this wasn’t a sequel about characters I already know, then I can find some bright spots. The book has s More...

Lord, what an awful book. Awash in mediocrity from first page to last. It has mediocre characters (the same which were so captivating in "Silence of the Lambs"), mediocre dialogue, mediocre scenery, virtually no suspense (but a plethora of pointlessly putrid acts), and a meandering narrative that often lacks consistency of time and place. "Hannibal" does not induce fear or revulsion so much as groans and guffaws. But don't worry: there's a bleeding HIV-postiive woman holding a baby whose last li More...

I have a theory about this horrible book.

Both Red Dragon and The Silence of the Lambs are formidable pieces of pop fiction. They are well-written thrillers with great descriptions and characters. They were both adapted into great movies. They made Thomas Harris a very rich man.

I think Mr. Harris made a bet, maybe with a friend or just to himself. He knew that his next novel would be snapped up for big bucks for the screen rights. He knew he would not get any control over the script. So he dec More...

The book starts off wonderfully with Harris's visualization; you can see everything you read. There are complex characters introduced and of course a wicked weave between them. He shows the master insanity of Hannibal with his elaborate set-ups for escape from not only Starling but from a vile creature named Verger who sets out to seek revenge on the good doctor. And you are eating this up the whole time, because it seems that Harris is once again quite the masterful story teller. But then you g More...

I've been openly endorsing a lot of cannibalism lately, what with my "Eat the Rich" sign down at the ongoing occupy Philadelphia event up the street. As far as a strategy for revolutionary change and general economic improvement, I'm not sure it will work, but it couldn't possibly be any less effective than supply-side economics, and would be much more fun.

Hannibal Lecter is, arguably, literature's most beloved cannibal. I say "arguably" only because I want to start an argument so I'll have mor More...

When Thomas Harris created the infamous Hannibal Lector in Red Dragon he couldn't have known the influence that character would have on crime fiction for the next decade. By the time he came to write Hannibal, ten years after his previous book, The Silence of The Lambs, he must have felt some serious pressure. The fact that Hannibal is the book it is, when written under these circumstances, makes it all the more remarkable.
To call it a crime novel is doing it a grave injustice and reading it as More...

I was obviously relishing my next installment in the world of Clarice Starling and Dr Hannibal Lecter. The book opens explosively with dramatic happenings, despite Starling's FBI career being a slight anti-climax due to influences from former enemies. Again, I'd seen the film before I read the book and so most of the major plot occurences I was already aware of, but there are more differences between the two Hannibal medias than in the films of Harris' previous two novels. The film had the advan More...

Hannibal is the third book by Harris centering around serial killers with Dr. Lector somewhere in the action. In Red Dragon, the doctor was very much in the background, as the Dragon (Tooth Fairy) was the main killer, although he did have his memorable scenes. In Silence of the Lambs, of course, Lector met Clarice Starling and through his quid pro quo, managed to escape. Both were excellent thrillers.

With this book, though, Harris attempts to turn Dr. Lector into a sympathetic and attractive man More...

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Red Dragon: Good book. Pity that what seems to be the most enthralling character, dr. hannibal lecter, has only a few scenes.

Silence of the Lambs: The best book of the saga. Well paced, amazing dialogues, good insight into the work of the fbi and into the mind of the characters, etc etc

Hannibal:

After reading it i had to wonder what had happened. I checked if the book had been written after the film adaptation of its predecesor and it was. That makes me think the author perhaps didn't have any p More...

This isn't horrible, only gross. -Stephen King on Hannibal. I'd have to say the word I most often used to describe the book was gross.

But the main shock, asides from the physical grossness, was the ending. How did that happen? It was very strange to me that Clarice could change so much, and made me doubt the authenticity of her as a character. I've only seen Silence of the Lambs rather than read the other books.

It's a gripping easy read, the character Mason Verger is maybe the more satisfyingl More...

Having seen the film versions of both "Silence of the Lambs" and "Hannibal" first, and being immense fans of them, I approached the books eagerly, and found "Silence" to be very excellent, and was then able to applaud Johnathan Demme for such a good adaptation.
Then I got to Hannibal, and for the first part of the book, I wasn't feeling the strength of the writing style. But then it picked up and I was convinced of Harris' merit when we got to Florence. I suppose then when the story leaves Italy More...

This book was different than the others. Red Dragon was a police procedural and the author seemed to relish showing off his knowledge and impressing us with an inside view. Silence was less so, and Hannibal was as far from that as possible. Also, the realism was blunted and characters seemed a little comic book and society seemed more directly satirized through them. It was enjoyable but heavy-handed, and a little off-putting at times. I only remembered one scene or at least a snapshot of it in More...

I suppose it was only a matter of time before I found a second book to add to my list of one-star ratings. But this was BAD. I mean, really, really, really bad. The premise itself is fine: Hannibal Lecter, having escaped from captivity seven years before, is still being tracked down by the authorities. However, also tracking him down is Mason Verger, one of Lecter's surviving victims, who (view spoiler)[apparently, some years before, had been engaging in autoerotic asphyxia in front of Lecter, and Lecter drugg (hide spoiler)] More...

Disappointing after Red Dragon and Silence of the Lambs, which were good of their kind.

The opening scene in the fish market reeds like a film script, which is either good or bad depending on your view.

Lector is presented as a rather glamorous figure, aside from his homicidal tendencies. This could be seen as an extra layer of complexity to his character, or some misguided attempt to make him more sympathetic - a misunderstood anti-hero rather than the monstrous villain he is. It didn't ring true More...

Terzo episodio della saga di Hannibal Lecter. Un disastro totale, sia il romanzo, sia il film.

E’ del tutto fuor di logica che Clarice e Hannibal siano diventati quelle due macchiette che qui ci mostra Harris. Si perde completamente quel poco di buono che l’autore aveva saputo raggiungere con il precedente romanzo, “Il silenzio degli innocenti”. Spezzato l’esile e incerto equilibrio che rendeva abbastanza credibile il loro legame; Clarice mi diventa una specie di Lara Croft senza hot pants; Hanni More...

Wie bei seinen Vorgängern erhielt dieser Roman also Lob von allen Seiten, was einen natürlich schon auf eine gewisse Weise einiges erwarten lässt.

Die Geschichte beginnt also 7 Jahre nach der Flucht von Hannibal Lecter. Clarice Starling ist zwischenzeitlich Einsatzleiterin beim FBI und mit einer heiklen Aufgabe betraut, in deren Verlauf einige Leute sterben und der schwarze Peter für das Misslingen der Aktion ihr zugeschoben wird. Plötzlich wird sie wie eine Aussätzige behandelt und ihre Karriere More...

After blazing through The Red Dragon and The Silence of the Lambs, I couldn't wait for Hannibal. I was sorely disappointed.

The writing and action were just as good as the first two books of the series. I can't complain much about either of those qualities and was actually excited about the possibility of Lecter getting some payback. The concept was interesting and the manner of vengeance was going to be quite gruesome.

Harris also did a nice job of developing Starling a little more, although I More...

The only good part of this book is the part set in Florence. It is actually outstanding. I would recommend everyone read it just for those twenty-four chapters. Chief Inspector Rinaldo Pazzi is a fascinating character. A corrupt cop who will do anything for money. He and Lecter play mind games against one another. And of course, Lecter wins by throwing him off a balcony.

The rest of it is pretty ordinary. Mason Verger is too nasty to be believable, and the part where he traps Lecter and plans to More...

It's hard to know what Harris was about when he penned this. Perhaps he was trying to avoid a formulaic sequel. I'll never know. But whatever it was he was trying for, it didn't work out.

Some critics accused him of betraying his characters. It's hard to see his reasons for having his characters do blackflips, but they're a whole lot less convincing and less engaging this time around. Barney went from being noble to perfidious, Starling from complex to frankly a little stupid. Where Silence of th More...

A very creepy series, great to read over Halloween. The first book, The Red Dragon, I have yet to read because I refuse to. I saw the movie, and I didn't enjoy the plot. You can absolutely read the other three books without ever reading the first. The fourth book, Hannibal Rising, described the life of Hannibal Lector as a child and the horrors he endured. The Silence of the Lambs and Hannibal are absolutely fantastic and I wish he had made more of Dr. Hannibal Lector's life known after living i More...

Oh that ending. Sublime.

Gothic horror detective chase story, blends genres with great ease, affirming Harris as a master storyteller- as if we didn't already know. Don't go in expecting another Red Dragon or Silence of the Lambs. This is a much bigger, far darker experience. It's all in the title people. Silence was the story of Clarice Starling, so there is a lot of hope and innocence to it. This one, is about the dark side of her character- and of that awful/awesome Doctor Mr Lecter himself. More...

After reading Silence of the Lambs and thoroughly enjoying it, I took on board the recommendations for this sequel. The style is very similar to the original, as you would expect, and there’s plenty of action to keep you turning the pages.

As with the previous book, what struck me more than anything was the ability of Harris to turn Hannibal into a sympathetic character. The man kills and eats people, for goodness sake. Yet, most of the way through, you were rooting for him not to be caught. By t More...

Hannibal is Thomas Harris' third novel in the Hannibal Lecter series. I absolutely adored Dr. Lecter even in the previous works.
This novel is set up seven years after The Silence of the Lambs when the FBI is still searching for the cannibal psychiatrist, Dr. Hannibal Lecter. I so love him!
Clarice Starling, after the short lived Jame Gumb publicity, has got her career in a ruckus and is trying to get things straight by capturing Hannibal for the FBI.

The villain of this novel, Mason Verger, is one More...

Let me start out by saying that I loved "The Silence of the Lambs" more than I ever expected to. The characters were engaging and multifaceted, the story was riveting, and the suspense built at a perfect pace. Starling was a rookie and in some ways naive, but she was a powerful female lead, an excellent foil to the charming but nefarious Dr. Lecter.

Now take out everything likable about "Silence of the Lambs" and you have "Hannibal." I don't think words can do justice to just how distasteful I fo More...

*CONTAINS SPOILERS & SWEETBREADS*
After discovering Harris upon seeing the phenomenal movie 'Manhunter' in the '80s I sought out Red Dragon which was a fantastic and gripping cat & mouse rollercoaster ride. It's follow up was of course Silence Of The Lambs, equally engrossing and with a massively popular movie adaptation to boot. It was therefore such a massive disappointment to read Hannibal, a book I'd waited impatiently for for the best part of a decade.
In all honesty I don't think I' More...

To be completely honest, I think I liked the movie better than the book. Well let me take that back; I loved the ending of the book much more than the movie, but I thought the movie was more seductive.

The relationship between Dr. Lecter and Clarice Starling is one that has always puzzled and confused me. It might sound sadistic and strange but I have always been of the opinion that if I had had the attentions of Dr. Lecter I would be so very happy. Yes, even though he is a murderer and a cannib More...

Again, with Harris, I admire absolutely his attention to details. The man has definitely done his homework on how criminal justice works. His characters are varied and most of them very interesting, or at least certainly well-written. I will also say that the book leaves in quite a few interesting details and very interesting back story for characters that come across as flat and stupid in the movie. Having read the book now, I think it is MUCH better than the movie. Where Harris fails in this n More...

103 Chapters

I once had a friend tell me that she hated this book. She revealed the ending to me and my curiosity was peaked. I had already seen the film and was intent on understanding why the end would be so different.

Now I understand. My friend misunderstood the circumstances of the finale of Hannibal . She believed that the character made the choice of her own free will and did not understand the use of the hallucinogenic and hypnotic drugs in that character's immediate choice.

I am very h More...

What the....?

If when I was 400 pages into this read you asked me who I'd rate it, I would have replied that while it is a pretty sellar read it is definetely the weakest of Harris' Hannibal novels. Now that I've finished it I would dare mention that not only is it the weakest book Harris has written, but if there is a worse ending to a written work I haven't read it.

Unlike Red Dragon or Silence of the Lambs, Hannibal is written like a supernatural thriller. Red Dragon and Buffalo Bill were both More...