Red Dragon (Hannibal Lecter, #1)

Red Dragon (Hannibal Lecter #1)

3.93 of 5 stars 3.93  ·  rating details  ·  81,850 ratings  ·  1,170 reviews
Will Graham stands in a silent, empty house communing with a killer. An FBI instructor with a gift for hunting madmen, Graham knows what his murderer looks like, how he thinks, and what he did to his victims after they died. Now Graham must try to catch him. But to do it, he must feel the heat of a killer's brain, draw on the macabre advice of a dangerous mental patient, D...more
Hardcover, 368 pages
Published May 22nd 2000 by Dutton Adult (first published 1981)
more details... edit details

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg LarssonAnd Then There Were None by Agatha ChristieAngels & Demons by Dan BrownRebecca by Daphne du MaurierIn Cold Blood by Truman Capote
Best Crime & Mystery Books
20th out of 3,451 books — 7,993 voters
Forrest Gump by Winston GroomThe Devil Wears Prada by Lauren WeisbergerJurassic Park by Michael CrichtonJumanji by Chris Van AllsburgMary Poppins by P.L. Travers
I Only Watched the Movie!
114th out of 762 books — 3,520 voters


More lists with this book...

Community Reviews

(showing 1-30 of 3,000)
filter  |  sort: default (?)  |  rating details
Kemper
When it comes to Hannibal Lecter, I’m like one of those music hipster douche bags that everyone hates because I’ll snootily declare that I knew about him long before most people did and that he’s sucked ever since he got really famous.

I’d read this years before the book of The Silence of the Lambs came out and led to the excellent film adaptation that skyrocketed Hannibal to the top of pop culture villains. Hell, I’m so Hannibal-hip that I’d caught Brian Cox playing him in Michael Mann’s adapta...more
Stephanie
Now that I’ve just finished reading this book, I feel the need to scrub parts of my brain with steel wool for the purpose of removing certain scenes that Thomas Harris has so rudely embedded there. Thanks a bunch Tom!

Will Graham has the rotten luck at being really good at his job. He is a profiler for the FBI and while he was on the job catching Dr. Hannibal Lecter, Lecter caught him with a big sharp knife. Will decides that was enough for him, so he makes the wise decision to retire.

But nooo!...more
Karla (Mossy Love Grotto)
WARNING: Shameless Hannibal fangirl GIFspam.

Since I've become a fan of the TV show Hannibal, I thought it was appropo to re-read the book that inspired it. It's been years, and I'd forgotten practically everything about both the book and the Edward Norton/Ralph Fiennes movie. Even so, it wasn't like I was reading it fresh. Hannibal Lecter's become such a part of the pop culture that I had expectations, also intensified by the fact that Hannibal kicks total ass. (WATCH EEEEEET!)

Comparing the show...more
Willowfaerie
I have been avoiding Thomas Harris’ books for years because I thought they would be too gruesome. But really, this book isn’t bad at all.

Red Dragon starts out as a mystery, turns into a character study, and then ends up as kind of a thriller. I think Harris has kind of a ghoulish sense of humor which probably comes out the most in Hannibal Lector. Yet if you’re looking for Hannibal, he barely makes an appearance in this. Mostly the book about a very sympathetic serial killer (isn’t that an oxym...more
Brad
Is it heresy to say that I liked both film versions better than I liked the book? Probably, but it's true.

Thomas Harris isn't the finest writer in the world, and I think even he'd acknowledge that, but he is full of great ideas, and Red Dragon is absolutely one of his best.

I think the mark of how great his ideas are is that they almost always make a compelling transfer to the screen, and Red Dragon has made that transition twice: once as Michael Mann's Manhunter and once as the more faithful Re...more
Delmy      =^.^=
"And Behold A Great Red Dragon..."



This is my first time reading one of Thomas Harris' novels, i have watched all three movies inspired by his novels and thought i should give the novels a shot. I loved this book, great pace and characters.One thing i really liked about the book that the movie did not include was that it delves more into Francis Dolarhyde's background, his childhood and why he is what he is or more to the point, how he came to be.



The childhood that this man had was a cruel and vi...more
Zaki
Dr. Hannibal Lecter is a criminally insane brilliant psychiatrist and eats people. Another serial killer is introduced known as the Tooth Fairy who goes on random killing sprees and has a slight predilection towards a William Blake painting. In order to capture him, FBI agent Will Graham has to delve into the mind of this violent psychopath.
Benjamin Stahl
I think I recall Stephen King - or somebody - once writing that Thomas Harris could tell a great story, but that he was a terrible writer. When I began this book, I could not agree more. Things start off very slowly, and the book's thriller/suspense engine seems to be running flat. The villain (can we really call him a "villain" though?) is the only character that feels at all interesting - and I guess Hannibal is good, but I prefer the Hopkins version in the films. But after a little while, if...more
Adam
It's a very well-plotted and told story, but the characters make this book. Hannibal Lecter is only a minor character with respect to the number of pages he's on etc., but he is so compelling and finely rendered a character that his presence fills the book, and occurs, at least to me, as a crucial point of comparison with Dollarhyde and Graham. Dollarhyde is one of the eeriest literary antagonists I've come across. Harris, a crime journalist before he was a novelist, convinces of his knowledge o...more
Robotribble
Sep 13, 2007 Robotribble rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: People who like Mysteries, Detective Stories, and Hannibal Lecter.
Okay, to start off, Hannibal is in the book twice. There are only two times that you actually see him, and it upsets me greatly.

Anyway, huzzah for the dollar-rack paperback. I went to the thrift store Tuesday, came out with this and a few others, and finished it Wednesday afternoon. I read the version with a newer intro, but it doesn't have my version on Goodreads.

Why Goodreads, why have you forsaken me? :/

This book is fascinating. You actually start to feel bad for the villain, hoping that he c...more
Patrice Hoffman
It's a great way to pass time with this quick read. Would've finished it sooner but I have a ton of distractions here at work where I do 90% of my reading. I wish it was written just a little better. It seemed like I was missing huge chunks of things. But... I already knew what was coming so I don't feel too let down by the book. It's a really great concept though. I wish the author would have been a little more descriptive in how the Grandmother screwed him up as a child. Although I knew the ou...more
Susan
Glad I re-read this one. I'd forgotten how much I enjoyed it.

RED DRAGON was the first (published) installment in the series of four books surrounding Hannibal Lecter. We don't see much of the good doctor in this book, though he's obviously never far from the thoughts of Will Graham and, therefore, the reader. Like the second installment of the series, SILENCE OF THE LAMBS, Lecter is merely a secondary character, a serial killer on the loose leads us to him. It takes a killer to know one, and esp...more
Amy
Our darkest fears come to life in this riveting novel as we follow the case of the "Tooth Fairy," a serial killer on the loose who targets suburbian families as his victims. Will Graham, an FBI agent assigned to the case because of his unique ability to break inside the head of the killer, enlists the help of Hannibal Lecter, the criminally insane and exceptionally brilliant killer we met in Silence of the Lambs (incidently, this novel precedes that novel and film).

If you want to be thrilled,...more
Stephanie
A compelling novel for both horror and thriller lovers.

Though Hannibal Lecter is the most well-known character who appears in this book, Red Dragon is not about him. It follows the story of a killer who seeks transformation through the vicious murder and humiliation of young families. Will Graham, a profiler working with the FBI to bring to justice the madman calling himself The Red Dragon, is drawn back into a life of high stakes and immediate danger after he had hoped to retire following the i...more
Devon
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
Jana Irish
I'm not going to lie: I read this book mainly because people told me that it was the first time we ever get to see Hannibal Lecter. It didn't feature much of him as I would have liked, but the story, nevertheless, is good and entertaining. The characters are smartly written--one feels for the characters. Dolarhyde, when his backstory is shown, is shown to be more than your classic, though one-dimensional, villain. Will Graham is an interesting character and his past with Hannibal Lecter is intri...more
Leon

A second family has been massacred by the terrifying serial killer the press has christened ?The Tooth Fairy.? Special Agent Jack Crawford turns to the one man who can help restart a failed investigation?Will Graham. Graham is the greatest profiler the FBI ever had, but the physical and mental scars of capturing Hannibal Lecter have caused Graham to go into early retirement. Now, Graham must turn to Lecter for help.

Amazon.com Review

Lying on a cot in his cell with Alexandre Dumas's Le Grand Di

...more
Matt Lyons
I'll keep this simple; this should not be a Hannibal Lecter novel. The other characters themselves are too well personified to be revolving around a "minor" character in the book. The Dragon has not quite got the enigmatic brilliance of Dr. Lecter and Graham is himself somehow relatable (even though I've never personally been stabbed by a mass-murdering canibal but hey-ho) and yes; I'm well aware that the storyline has been milked in every single attempt at a book, even Disney have a crack at th...more
Nadia
Después de empezar a ver la serie de NBC me dieron muchas ganas de leer los libros para saber más sobre *drumroll* Will Graham!, no Hannibal ha. Su habilidad para resolver crímenes, la manera en que asocia e imagina más su sensibilidad y aparentemente frágil estado mental me llamaron mucho la atención, pero el contenido del libro se me hizo muy diferente a lo visto (y no en cuanto a la historia, ya sabia que no era igual). Me esperaba más del personaje de Graham, y de el de Lecter también. He oí...more
ChazM.SFHS
At first, Thomas Harris definitely caught my attention by the immense details of how he layed out the crimes scenes. It was very intresting how Mr. Harris showed "both sides of the coin, good and bad", throughout his story. Another great thing that should be added is that Mr. Harris really makes you feel like your there inside of the novel which definitely keeps your heart pounding, and your eyes wide open.

This story began when Jack Crawford an Fbi Agent goes to Grahams home in Sugar Loaf Key. H...more
Nanto Dwyer
I have always been a fan of psychological/crime thrillers, and Red Dragon was definitely the brightest amongst its brothers and sisters of the same genre. Okay, that sounded weird, but that was exactly how I felt reaching the last page of Red Dragon.

Everyone knows Thomas Harris, but they know him more for his other creation, Dr Hannibal Lecter, than for this tortured and broken soul, Red Dragon.

Red Dragon is, in my opinion, just full of surprises and moments that you should not have been scared...more
Spinster
Having seen the movie I thought the book might be spoiled. Regarding the plot twists, maybe, but there was so much more than the plot line in this book.

Red Dragon has to be one of the best crime books I've read so far. It's beautifully written and it really opens a gateway inside the characters's heads. Which is a little frightening, since one of them is a serial killer, but I loved the fact that I could see the human side of the monster, instead of the usual story of good vs. bad. I felt for Do...more
Tabatha
I admit it.

I only read this book to preserve the order of the novels featuring Hannibal Lecter.

With no expectations, I viewed this book as nothing more than a little speed bump I had to overcome in order to get to the real book I wanted to read, The Silence of the Lambs.

I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it. The book itself isn't remarkably written. The style is very simple and straight forward for the type of novel that it is but this just serves to make it very accessible.

Will...more
Querus Abuttu
"Funerals often make us want sex—
--it’s one in the eye for death." (Thomas Harris; Red Dragon)

***
The character of Will Graham reminded me of myself as I read this novel. "He didn't want a face aimed at him all the time." He described the morgue as a peaceful place, and it is. I've been there. It's place where the dead don't complain. Where the world might smell bad, but the science makes sense.

Thoughts:

I don't know why people continue to call the smell of blood "coppery." It's not. It smells lik...more
Arwen56
Thriller che sarebbe anche stato passabile in generale, ma decisamente esagerato nei particolari, di rozza fattura. Mediocre, nonostante i notevoli meriti della maggior parte delle singole interpretazioni degli attori, la trasposizione cinematografica, che segue, anziché precedere come avrebbe dovuto, quella assai più riuscita de “Il silenzio degli innocenti” (di cui ricalca, pedissequamente, ma senza alcun pathos, la struttura portante e con un finale che, oltre a distorcere quello del romanzo,...more
Charles
A truly chilling book, this is one of Harris’s finest works. Talk about an abundance of ideas. It’s no surprise that he later expanded the character of Hannibal Lecter because, in this book, he provides not one, but two terrific antagonists plus a brilliantly original protagonist. The whole “profiler who empathizes with serial killers” thing has become somewhat over-saturated now, but it’s important to remember that Harris was the one who started it and, I would say, still did it the best in thi...more
Phillip Dimarzo
RED DRAGON was the first in the series of four books surrounding Hannibal Lecter. We don't see much of the doctor in this book, though he's obviously never far from the thoughts of Will Graham and, therefore, the reader. Like the second installment of the series, SILENCE OF THE LAMBS, Lecter is merely a secondary character, a serial killer on the loose leads us to him. It takes a killer to know one, and especially one as intelligent as Lecter obviously is. We first meet the main character of the...more
Andrea
Aug 01, 2011 Andrea added it
I love the movie Silence of the Lambs, so it's odd that it took me this long to start reading this series. I wasn't even aware that this book existed till the lovely librarian at my local branch saw me looking at Silence of the Lambs, asked if I'd read Red Dragon and told me to read it first.



Warning - spoilers ahead!



The oddest thing happened when I read this book. I don't know when or how it happened, but I started out cheering for the Good Guys - Will Graham and Jack Crawford, the FBI agents i...more
Joshua
In as much as a growing bibliophile can, I watched the original Manhunter then the Red Dragon movies. I have to say that the book was not much better, or, rather both movies almost totally encapsulated the book. Of course both movies being some fifteen years apart there are bound to have stylistic differences as are the actors performances, but the source material is very good as well.

Harris has bound us to Will Grahm as well as Mr. D in the Red Dragon. We feel for Grahm in that his obsession to...more
Julie Hayes
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out what FBI agent Jack Crawford wants of Will Graham—especially with the headlines blaring about the two murders; one in Atlanta, the other in Birmingham. More than enough reason for Crawford to come down to Florida, to get the consultant’s take on the killer. The choice of locale is deliberate—when he shows Will the photos of the deceased families, children included, he can’t help but contrast that with his own wife and stepson. How can he refuse to...more
« previous 1 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 99 100 next »
topics  posts  views  last activity   
Bookworm Buddies: Red Dragon (Hannibal Series) Thomas Harris 103 58 May 03, 2013 09:12pm  
The Mystery, Crim...: Oct/ Nov Group Read - Red Dragon 57 287 Nov 15, 2012 11:15am  
Red Dragon (Hannibal Lecter, #1)
Red Dragon (Hannibal Lecter, #1)
Red Dragon (Hannibal Lecter, #1)
Red Dragon (Paperback)
Red Dragon (Hardcover)

12455
Thomas Harris began his writing career covering crime in the United States and Mexico, and was a reporter and editor for the Associated Press in New York City. His first novel, Black Sunday, was printed in 1975, followed by Red Dragon in 1981, The Silence of the Lambs in 1988, Hannibal in 1999, and Hannibal Rising in 2006.
More about Thomas Harris...
The Silence of the Lambs  (Hannibal Lecter, #2) Hannibal (Hannibal Lecter, #3) Hannibal Rising (Hannibal Lecter, #4) Black Sunday Red Dragon And Silence Of The Lambs

Share This Book

Your website
“It's hard to have anything isn't it? Rare to get it, hard to keep it. This is a damn slippery planet.” 41 people liked it
“It's fear, Jack. The man deals with a huge amount of fear.'
Because he got hurt?'
No, not entirely. Fear comes with imagination, it's a penalty, it's the price of imagination.”
35 people liked it
More quotes…