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Hannibal Rising (Hannibal Lecter #4)

3.33 of 5 stars 3.33 · rating details · 11,970 ratings · 609 reviews

HE IS ONE OF THE MOST HAUNTING CHARACTERS
IN ALL OF LITERATURE.

AT LAST THE EVOLUTION OF HIS EVIL
IS REVEALED.

Hannibal Lecter emerges from the nightmare of the Eastern Front, a boy in the snow, mute, with a chain around his neck.

He seems utterly alone, but he has brought his demons with him.

Hannibal’s uncle, a noted painter, finds him in a Soviet orphanage and brings him to...more

Hardcover, 336 pages

Published June 23rd 2009 by Delacorte Press (first published 2006)

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Community Reviews

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May 25, 2007 Joe rated it 1 of 5 stars

Ok, this is another book I had to read before I saw the movie. I cannot believe I wasted money on it. I even bought it in hardcover! Sometimes I can be such a dunce.
This has to be the worst pre-quel-sequel ever! There is no reason to read this book, or see the movie! But if you are a fan, like I am, don't feel guilty, do what you want.
This is my least favorite of Harris's "Hannibal Saga." His reasoning for Lecter's particular "taste" is, get this, REVENGE. How lame! It doesn't seem like any real...more

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Apr 28, 2012 Stefan rated it 4 of 5 stars

A must-read for the fans of Hannibal Lecter.

I almost felt ready to give up on this one until I was about a quarter of the way through. Harris is telling the story of Hannibal's childhood/formative years through the veil of Hannibal's actual memories. Earlier memories are fragmented and as a result, the earlier part of the book is also very fragmented. It rambles a bit here and there, but once the memories become more fleshed out, the book does as well and greatly grows in appeal.

Not that the ear...more

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Jan 06, 2008 Mike rated it 1 of 5 stars

This book is so fucking abysmal that I can’t finish it. It’s a very rare thing for me not to get through a book even if it’s a struggle. I’ll torture myself to get to the end because I get this feeling like I’m cheating myself and the author if I don’t. If someone else gets through the 323 pages of wasted paper god bless you. Every word reads like an exercise in how to bilk the public out of a couple of more dollars with a character that accidentally became famous.
Hannibal Lechter is one of the...more This book is so fucking abysmal that I can’t finish it. It’s a very rare thing for me not to get through a book even if it’s a struggle. I’ll torture myself to get to the end because I get this feeling like I’m cheating myself and the author if I don’t. If someone else gets through the 323 pages of wasted paper god bless you. Every word reads like an exercise in how to bilk the public out of a couple of more dollars with a character that accidentally became famous.
Hannibal Lechter is one of the great evil characters of modern American writing and cinema and the book “Hannibal Rising” does it’s very best to destroy all of his appeal. The whole draw of Hannibal Lechter is that he exudes menace and villainy while still showing a wholly respectable exterior. The vile behavior bubbling underneath only peeks out and seemingly has no basis for its existence. Lechter seems to be evil for no other reason then that he is. In “Hannibal Rising”, Thomas Harris gives us some reasoning for his malevolence. Hannibal goes mad because he is forced to watch some bad guys eat his little sister while trapped and starving in a cabin during the winter after the Nazis slaughter the rest of his family. So instead of being the ultimate bad guy himself, Harris makes Lechter someone to sort of sympathize with. Thus ruining one of the great evils of the last 20 years or so.
Despite the total absurdity of the story itself you would be able to forgive Harris the mistake of writing this book. After all, it is a character he created and perhaps he felt like there was more to the story that he needed to tell. Unfortunately it doesn’t read that way at all. It reads like the novel was written to be a screenplay from the minute he put pen to page (or finger to keyboard as it more likely was). The dialogue is brittle and unimpressive and the description and narrative are sorely lacking. It’s all like it was written with the intention to touch it up later. Every word that passed by my eyes made it seem more and more like there’s no other interest here then in stealing my money. I’m going to do my best to forget that both the book and the movie “Hannibal Rising” ever existed so I can go back to loving Hannibal Lechter.
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May 28, 2007 Shani rated it 1 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Nov 19, 2007 Chick_Flick rated it 1 of 5 stars

I'm glad to be done with the series. What a let down. Although better written than "Hannibal," it was still a disappointment. Too short and didn't seem to follow the canon. Where was it ever mentioned that Hannibal went to med school in all the other books? I thought he was a brilliant psychologist and that was all. Also, where did his love and understanding of Asian culture come from? It just seemed so out of the blue. Did he just lose all of that as an adult? And Lady Murasaki, could Harris ha...more

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Feb 05, 2009 Bookmarks Magazine added it

After the runaway success of Red Dragon (1981) and The Silence of the Lambs, Hannibal profoundly disappointed both literary and film critics, not to mention fans of the series. Harris returns with Hannibal Rising, to mixed acclaim. A sense of bafflement pervades the negative reviews, with critics puzzled by how a talent like Thomas Harris could turn out what they perceive to be a glorified screenplay (the film version of Hannibal Rising was released in early 2007) written purely to cannibalize t

...more

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Feb 05, 2009 Jamieson rated it 5 of 5 stars

Right off, I have to say that I love this book.

I have been waiting, along with many others, for years to find out how Hannibal Lecter became what he became. I wanted to know what caused his transformation into one of the most frightening killers in literature (and the movies) known to man.

I was thrilled beyond words to hear that Harris was writing a new book and that a new movie based on the book was in production. I knew that Harris was writing the screenplay. Aside from that, I knew nothing. I...more

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Jan 18, 2009 trishtrash rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: crime-fiction-and-mystery, horror-supernatural-paranormal

Hannibal Rising begins sketchily, but the sketches are beautiful, terrifying things. There is something both enchanting and awful in knowing that Hannibal the doting older brother to the adorable Mischa will one day – in a sense, has already – become Agent Starling’s Dr. Lector.

Then Harris begins writing the story in a more prosaic form, and his flashes of literary genius, the sleek writing that made Hannibal Lector one of the most compelling creations in psychological thrillers, are sadly wanti...more

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Jan 12, 2009 Susan rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Continuing my Hannibal Lecter craze I moved onto the prequel to the contemporary story involving Hannibal Lecter, published fourth in the series. Hannibal Rising spans the 1940s and 1950s, starting with Hannibal Lecter's childhood (age 8 in the beginning) and taking us through young adulthood.

I wasn't sure what to expect from this book to be honest. I'd heard some good things from fellow fans of the books and movies. I'd also read some truly awful reviews, equating it to little more than fan fic...more Continuing my Hannibal Lecter craze I moved onto the prequel to the contemporary story involving Hannibal Lecter, published fourth in the series. Hannibal Rising spans the 1940s and 1950s, starting with Hannibal Lecter's childhood (age 8 in the beginning) and taking us through young adulthood.

I wasn't sure what to expect from this book to be honest. I'd heard some good things from fellow fans of the books and movies. I'd also read some truly awful reviews, equating it to little more than fan fiction and his (Harris') desire to get another movie made off the popularity of the Red Dragon remake.

I'd seen the film version of Hannibal Rising before reading the book and was pleasantly surprised by it. So, the story in the book wasn't foreign to me. Perhaps not as strong as Red Dragon and Silence of the Lambs were, but still one I will keep on my shelves and read again.

Hannibal Rising details the history of Hannibal Lecter, giving us the events that helped to shape a monster. Growing up in war-torn Lithuania, his whole family lost to him, his childhood home used by the enemy, everything taken from him, having to endure living in his childhood home now being used as an orphanage as an orphan.

It's his beloved younger sister, Mischa, that serves as the platform for his evilness taking shape. For the enemy had done the unthinkable with her …

Eventually, Lecter is taken in by his father's brother and his wife, Lady Murasaki at the age of 13. When we come across him after the war, he no longer speaks and it's unclear as to what happened to Mischa. The reader surely suspects based on the undertones, but just as Lecter doesn't seem quite certain neither does the reader.

Lecter gains a clue as to the identity of the men responsible for all of his losses and begins to singularly hunt them down. The police are onto him due to an earlier incident, but just as then have nothing to pin on him. He is a model and bright student, a gifted artist, and was the victim of war crimes. So he has to outsmart both the police and the men he hunts.

An interesting relationship forms between Murasaki and Lecter. Infatuation? Love? It's hard to know for sure. He was young and she seemed to want to keep him from setting both feet onto the wrong side of the line, going completely into the darkness.

Overall, Hannibal Rising provides us a reasonable background for Hannibal Lecter. Both the man we came to know in Hannibal and the monster we initially saw him as in Red Dragon and Silence of the Lambs. I admit, I'm a sucker for this time period so it was easy to immerse myself in it. The conclusion of the story left me satisfied.

I'd stated after reading Hannibal that I didn't think the doctor's life needed to be revisited after it. While I consider Hannibal Rising a nice bookend to the Hannibal series, I admit wouldn't mind seeing a book detailing Lecter's life from the end of Rising to Red Dragon. How did the man go from killing out of revenge? A promise made to his beloved sister? To the serial killer we initially met in Red Dragon?

Continuing my re-read madness, we're onto Mario Puzo's The Godfather next… ©Susan Falk and phantomroses.com (less)

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Jan 04, 2009 Michael rated it 3 of 5 stars

Hannibal Rising is the origin story of Hannibal Lecter, a character introduced by Thomas Harris in Red Dragon (1981). I had already seen all of the major motion picture adaptations of Thomas Harris' novels and decided to start reading the novels in developmental order (Hannibal Rising, Red Dragon, Silence of the Lambs, Hannibal). As with most novels, Hannibal Rising was better than the movie, although that doesn't say much. I was actually quite turned off by this novel and from Thomas Harris and...more

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May 13, 2013 Leon rated it 2 of 5 stars

HE IS ONE OF THE MOST HAUNTING CHARACTERS
IN ALL OF LITERATURE.

AT LAST THE EVOLUTION OF HIS EVIL
IS REVEALED.

Hannibal Lecter emerges from the nightmare of the Eastern Front, a boy in the snow, mute, with a chain around his neck.

He seems utterly alone, but he has brought his demons with him.

Hannibal’s uncle, a noted painter, finds him in a Soviet orphanage and brings him to France, where Hannibal will live with his uncle and his uncle’s beautiful and exotic wife, Lady Murasaki.

Lady Murasaki

...more

HE IS ONE OF THE MOST HAUNTING CHARACTERS
IN ALL OF LITERATURE.

AT LAST THE EVOLUTION OF HIS EVIL
IS REVEALED.

Hannibal Lecter emerges from the nightmare of the Eastern Front, a boy in the snow, mute, with a chain around his neck.

He seems utterly alone, but he has brought his demons with him.

Hannibal’s uncle, a noted painter, finds him in a Soviet orphanage and brings him to France, where Hannibal will live with his uncle and his uncle’s beautiful and exotic wife, Lady Murasaki.

Lady Murasaki helps Hannibal to heal. With her help he flourishes, becoming the youngest person ever admitted to medical school in France.

But Hannibal’s demons visit him and torment him. When he is old enough, he visits them in turn.

He discovers he has gifts beyond the academic, and in that epiphany, Hannibal Lecter becomes death’s prodigy.

Amazon.com Review

Discover the origins of one of the most feared villains of all time in Thomas Harris's Hannibal Rising, a novel that promises to reveal the "evolution of Hannibal Lecter's evil." Thomas Harris first introduced readers to Hannibal Lecter in Red Dragon, a tale wrapped around FBI agent Will Graham (the man who hunted Lecter down) and his ability to "get inside the mind of the killer." Graham consults Dr. Lecter (the man who nearly killed him) on the case, and the legend of the nefarious Dr. Lecter was born. Harris's masterful and mesmerizing follow up, The Silence of the Lambs wowed fans, but it was Jonathan Demme's terrifying, Oscar-winning (Best Actor, Actress, Director, Picture and Adapted Screenplay) film, and Anthony Hopkins's extraordinary (and arguably over the top) performance that made "Hannibal the Cannibal" a household name. Hannibal, the third book in the Lecter saga made Lecter the prey and seemingly wrapped up the tale of the cannibalistic psychiatrist, but never revealed the source of the doctor's...gifts. Fans have been waiting decades to find out how the good doctor became "death's prodigy," making Hannibal Rising one of the most anticipated books of 2006 (and movies of 2007). --Daphne Durham

Hannibal Rising: An Excerpt

Prologue

The door to Dr. Hannibal Lecter's memory palace is in the darkness at the center of his mind and it has a latch that can be found by touch alone. This curious portal opens on immense and well-lit spaces, early baroque, and corridors and chambers rivaling in number those of the Topkapi Museum.

Everywhere there are exhibits, well-spaced and lighted, each keyed to memories that lead to other memories in geometric progression.

Spaces devoted to Hannibal Lecter's earliest years differ from the other archives in being incomplete. Some are static scenes, fragmentary, like painted Attic shards held together by blank plaster. Other rooms hold sound and motion, great snakes wrestling and heaving in the dark and lit in flashes. Pleas and screaming fill some places on the grounds where Hannibal himself cannot go. But the corridors do not echo screaming, and there is music if you like.

The palace is a construction begun early in Hannibal's student life. In his years of confinement he improved and enlarged his palace, and its riches sustained him for long periods while warders denied him his books.

Here in the hot darkness of his mind, let us feel together for the latch. Finding it, let us elect for music in the corridors and, looking neither left nor right, go to the Hall of the Beginning where the displays are most fragmentary.

We will add to them what we have learned elsewhere, in war records and police records, from interviews and forensics and the mute postures of the dead. Robert Lecter's letters, recently unearthed, may help us establish the vital statistics of Hannibal, who altered dates freely to confound the authorities and his chroniclers. By our efforts we may watch as the beast within turns from the teat and, working upwind, enters the world.

Chapter 6

Lothar heard it first as he drew water, the roar of an engine in low gear and cracking of branches. He left the bucket on the well and in his haste he came into the lodge without wiping his feet.

A Soviet tank, a T-34 in winter camouflage of snow and straw, crashed up the horse trail and into the clearing. Painted on the turret in Russian were AVENGE OUR SOVIET GIRLS and WIPE OUT THE FASCIST VERMIN. Two soldiers in white rode on the back over the radiators. The turret swiveled to point the tank's cannon at the house. A hatch opened and a gunner in hooded winter white stood behind a machine gun. The tank commander stood in the other hatch with a megaphone. He repeated his message in Russian and in German, barking over the diesel clatter of the tank engine.

"We want water, we will not harm you or take your food unless a shot comes from the house. If we are fired on, every one of you will die. Now come outside. Gunner, lock and load. If you do not see faces by the count of ten, fire." A loud clack as the machine gun's bolt went back.

Count Lecter stepped outside, standing straight in the sunshine, his hands visible. "Take the water. We are no harm to you."

The tank commander put his megaphone aside. "Everyone outside where I can see you."

The count and the tank commander looked at each other for a long moment. The tank commander showed his palms.

The count showed his palms. The count turned to the house. "Come."

When the commander saw the family he said, "The children can stay inside where it's warm."

And to his gunner and crew, "Cover them. Watch the upstairs windows. Start the pump. You can smoke."

The machine gunner pushed up his goggles and lit a cigarette. He was no more than a boy, the skin of his face paler around his eyes. He saw Mischa peeping around the door facing and smiled at her.

Among the fuel and water drums lashed to the tank was a small petrol-powered pump with a rope starter.

The tank driver snaked a hose with a screen filter down the well and after many pulls on the rope the pump clattered, squealed, and primed itself.

The noise covered the scream of the Stuka dive bomber until it was almost on them, the tank's gunner swiveling his muzzle around, cranking hard to elevate his gun, firing as the airplane's winking cannon stitched the ground. Rounds screamed off the tank, the gunner hit, still firing with his remaining arm.

The Stuka's windscreen starred with fractures, the pilot's goggles filled with blood and the dive bomber, still carrying one of its eggs, hit treetops, plowed into the garden and its fuel exploded, cannon under the wings still firing after the impact. Hannibal, on the floor of the lodge, Mischa partly under him, saw his mother lying in the yard, bloody and her dress on fire.

"Stay here!" to Mischa and he ran to his mother, ammunition in the airplane cooking off now, slow and then faster, casings flying backward striking the snow, flames licking around the remaining bomb beneath the wing. The pilot sat in the cockpit, dead, his face burned to a death's head in flaming scarf and helmet, his gunner dead behind him.

Lothar alone survived in the yard and he raised a bloody arm to the boy. Then Mischa ran to her mother, out into the yard and Lothar tried to reach her and pull her down as she passed, but a cannon round from the flaming plane slammed through him, blood spattering the baby and Mischa raised her arms and screamed into the sky. Hannibal heaped snow onto the fire in his mother's clothes, stood up and ran to Mischa amid the random shots and carried her into the lodge, into the cellar. The shots outside slowed and stopped as bullets melted in the breeches of the cannon. The sky darkened and snow came again, hissing on the hot metal.

Darkness, and snow again. Hannibal among the corpses, how much later he did not know, snow drifting down to dust his mother's eyelashes and her hair. She was the only corpse not blackened and crisped. Hannibal tugged at her, but her body was frozen to the ground. He pressed his face against her. Her bosom was frozen hard, her heart silent. He put a napkin over her face and piled snow on her. Dark shapes moved at the edge of the woods. His torch reflected on wolves' eyes. He shouted at them and waved a shovel. Mischa was determined to come out to her mother—he had to choose. He took Mischa back inside and left the dead to the dark.

Mr. Jakov's book was undamaged beside his blackened hand until a wolf ate the leather cover and amid the scattered pages of Huyghens' Treatise on Light licked Mr. Jakov's brains off the snow. Hannibal and Mischa heard snuffling and growling outside. Hannibal built up the fire. To cover the noise he tried to get Mischa to sing; he sang to her. She clutched his coat in her fists.

"Ein Mannlein . . ."

Snowflakes on the windows. In the corner of a pane, a dark circle appeared, made by the tip of a glove. In the dark circle a pale blue eye.

The Hannibal Lecter Books

Red Dragon

The Silence of the Lambs

Hannibal

The Hannibal Lecter DVDs

Manhunter

Red Dragon

The Silence of the Lambs

Hannibal

From Publishers Weekly

Twenty-five years after Hannibal Lecter, a cross between Professor Moriarty and Jack the Ripper, first invaded the imaginations of countless readers worldwide in Red Dragon, bestseller Harris has crafted an unmemorable prequel that's intended to explain the origins of Lecter's evil. Fans of Harris's previous Lecter novel, Hannibal (1999), already know the major trauma that transformed the young Lecter-the murder of his beloved younger sister, Mischa, during WWII-which the author describes in more grisly detail. Lecter also has an unusual love interest, his uncle's Japanese wife, Lady Murasaki, but the bulk of the narrative focuses on Lecter's quest for revenge on those he holds responsible for Mischa's death. Unfortunately, the prose and plotting lack the suspenseful power of Red Dragon or The Silence of the Lambs, and will leave many feeling that with such a masterful monster as Lecter, less is more.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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Feb 20, 2013 Kristopher Mason rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: my-bookshelf

I'm probably a bit late to the Thomas Harris bandwagon, but still, here we go...

As someone who has previously seen all the Hannibal films (albeit not for several years) this book gave even more insight to arguably fiction's most famous serial killer.

Having not seen Hannibal Rising for quite some time I had forgotten large portions of the narrative, so the book still felt very new to me. However even the details I did remember, the book made them so much more visceral and horrifying.

As I was read...more

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Oct 30, 2012 Bob Price rated it 2 of 5 stars

So....we may know his name, but we don't know why he did what he did...until now....or do we?

One of the most terrifying concepts is the unknown. When you fill in too many blanks, the boogey man in the closet looks less like a monster and more like a coat hanging on a chair...and I think that might be part of the problem in this book.

Hannibal Rising is a mess of a book. I am not sure if Thomas Harris was trying to be obtuse, or he just no longer cared about writing anymore, but his resulting wo...more So....we may know his name, but we don't know why he did what he did...until now....or do we?

One of the most terrifying concepts is the unknown. When you fill in too many blanks, the boogey man in the closet looks less like a monster and more like a coat hanging on a chair...and I think that might be part of the problem in this book.

Hannibal Rising is a mess of a book. I am not sure if Thomas Harris was trying to be obtuse, or he just no longer cared about writing anymore, but his resulting work does not impress.

For the first, we meet a very young Hannibal Lecter and are provided with insider details about his horrific experiences during the war and explanations for his later behavior.

The main problem with book is the writing. Harris attempts to jump back and forth in time in order to build suspense. But this is problematic in its execution. We already know too much about Lecter from the other books and movies to truly care about the building suspense. More than this, Harris seems to have problems describing the scene in front of us. I was frequently confused (and maybe it was just me), and found myself having to reread pages to find out what was happening.

The other main problem with the book are the characters. Popil, the French detective is either negligent in his work or an incompetent person. Hannibal's step mother isn't much better for at one point encouraging and covering up Hannibal's 'work' but then trying to 'stop' him in a half hearted attempt. Hannibal himself comes off very woodenly and frankly almost incapable of the later horrific acts.

Some commentators have mentioned that they don't buy the 'revenge' theme of the book being Hannibal's reason for descent into madness, but I'm personally alright with that. After all, it is infinitely better than finding out that the personification of evil (Darth Vader) was simply a whiny boy who's wife died. At least Hannibal had rage within him.

Fortunately, I had read Red Dragon, which is superior in every way, otherwise I would never again venture to read any more exploits of Hannibal Lecter.(less)

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Oct 20, 2011 Elliott Cross rated it 3 of 5 stars

It was interesting to see a fleshed-out version of Hannibal’s past, but I have to say that I don’t think this book was as interesting or as gripping as Harris’s previous novels, and it seemed a little rushed. The writing was easy to follow and the paragraphs were often brief and to the point, but sometimes it was as if the writing did not flow or that the structure was somehow incomplete. Harris's way of building suspense was good and his description of rooms and of Hannibal’s inner psychologica...more

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Jun 20, 2011 Lois Duncan rated it 2 of 5 stars

The first Thomas Harris novel I read was THE RED DRAGON, which I thought was one of the best written and scariest stories I'd ever read. Then I read SILENCE OF THE LAMBS, which was almost equally good. The third book in the series was a let-down. I couldn't believe the heroine would do what she does at the end of that story -- (see, this isn't a spoiler -- I'm not saying what it was she did.)

I've deliberately not read HANNIBAL RISING until now, when I was out of reading matter and there was that...more

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Dec 05, 2010 Arun Divakar rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Except for a very few well written oddities, a prequel/sequel at times serves to trample underfoot the well written work that gave birth to it. Hannibal Rising probably made a bit of mockery at Hannibal Lecter, the genius of a cannibalistic serial killer. For all the finesse displayed by Anthony Hopkins in the movie version, the novel reads like a half hearted attempt to probe into the past of this amazing character.

To state it bluntly, this reads like a screenplay disguised as a novel. There is...more

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Aug 10, 2010 Joshua Rodgers rated it 2 of 5 stars

When Dino De Laurentiis threatened to go ahead and make a Lecter prequel without Thomas Harris, Mr. Harris responded the best way he knew how. He pulled a remarkable con on Dino, and the public, by destroying Dr. Hannibal Lecter as effectively as possible.

Really, how else to explain ? By introducing a nonsensical, ham-fisted backstory, rife with deliberate continuity errors and an implausible denouement at odds with the previous Lecter tales, Harris demythologized his best-known creation and de...more

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Jul 13, 2009 Gary rated it 4 of 5 stars

“The little boy Hannibal died in 1945 out there in the snow trying to save his sister. His heart died with Mischa. What is he now? There is not a word for it yet. For lack of a better word, we’ll call him a monster.”
- Hannibal Rising, p. 243

Well, dear readers, modern “pop fiction’s” most famous killer, “Hannibal, the Cannibal,” has quietly returned. For those of you who thought that you had seen the last of Thomas Harris’ deadly (but cultured) gourmet murderer, brace yourselves. You may know ab...more “The little boy Hannibal died in 1945 out there in the snow trying to save his sister. His heart died with Mischa. What is he now? There is not a word for it yet. For lack of a better word, we’ll call him a monster.”
- Hannibal Rising, p. 243

Well, dear readers, modern “pop fiction’s” most famous killer, “Hannibal, the Cannibal,” has quietly returned. For those of you who thought that you had seen the last of Thomas Harris’ deadly (but cultured) gourmet murderer, brace yourselves. You may know about his bloody early career (Red Dragon), and his “Grand Guignol” rampage after his escape from prison (The Silence of the Lambs) … a spree, which concluded with his grisly romp from Florence, Italy to New York and into Virginia (Hannibal). However, there is one singular blank in Hannibal Lecter’s biography – Where did he come from? And more to the point, what forces (like William Blake’s tiger) made him a ruthless but detached psychopath?

Harris paints a graphic picture of the eight-year-old Hannibal as a privileged child of wealth – the direct descendant of Hannibal, the Grim (1365-1428) and the son of a Russian aristocrat. Young Hannibal is intelligent, gifted and totally devoted to his sister Mischa. The two children live in a dreamlike world of art, private tutors and pampered indulgence on the luxurious Lecter estate until the second day of Operation Barbarossa, Hitler’s invasion of Russia. The Lecters are caught between warring factions (Russian, German and Allied forces) and forced to flee deep into the Russian forest where they take refuge in a hunting lodge. It is here that Hannibal’s world explodes.

Ironically, the family’s final destruction comes – not from Russian tanks and German paratroopers – but from a lawless group of local villagers (Hiwis) led by a brutal outlaw named Grutas. Pretending to be paramedics, Grutas and his followers loot and murder at will, frequently shifting loyalties between the Germans and Russians. After pillaging Lecter Castle and the hunting lodge, Grutas kills all of the survivors, including Hannibal’s sister, Mischa. In a nightmarish sequence that the young Hannibal suppresses, his sister is cooked and eaten by Grutas and his men.

Although Hannibal survives the massacre of his family, He is unable to speak and suffers from recurring dreams of his sister’s death. Found by Russian troops, Hannibal is sent to an orphanage where his uncle, Robert Lecter, a noted artist, eventually identifies and rescues him. The mute Hannibal suddenly finds himself in his uncle’s home where a stunningly beautiful Japanese woman called Madam Murasaki, Robert Lecter’s mistress, tends him. It is here that he gradually regains the power of speech. By the age of thirteen, he is a star student with a remarkable memory. Slowly, he reconstructs his fragmented past, including the names and faces of the men who killed his sister. There are five of them.

Hannibal also grows to love Madam Murasaki, and after his uncle’s death, she becomes his lover, confidante and “moral compass.” The young Hannibal also kills his first man at thirteen – a local butcher who has the poor judgment to insult Madam Murasaki.

Hannibal Rising is a chronicle of revenge. As the young Lecter methodically tracks down each member of the “Hiwis band,” the narrative acquires a chilling and relentless quality. However, there is more going on in this novel than a record of retribution. Gradually, as Hannibal unearths his past, he discovers aspects of his own character that are more akin to evil than the prey he pursues. Certainly, there is a final self-revelation that may cause even Hannibal Lecter to hide his face in shame!

Also, this novel is rich in wonderful imagery: The black swans that claim a territorial right to the marshes around Lecter Castle possess the same defiance as young Hannibal – implacable, fearless and unreasonable; an aviary filled with ortolan birds on the Seine, near a café where a gourmet cook drowns, roasts and serves the birds for “special” customers; the smell of jasmine and green tea, the soft chimes of Japanese music and the cadence of a haiku; the last moments of a condemned murderer as he is prepared for the guillotine; the cold, precise logic of anatomy in a medical classroom devoted to cadaver dissection (where young Hannibal proves to be a gifted surgeon).

There is also a Lecter “nemesis” – Police inspector Popil, a man as relentless as Hannibal; however, Popil serves “legal” retribution. At times, he seems as obsessed with Hannibal as Les Miserables’ determined Javert, Eventually, however, it becomes evident that Popil and Hannibal have much in common since both are tormented by secrets and suppressed memories that could destroy them.

Just as I finished this review, I was amazed to discover that the film version of Hannibal Rising (tentatively entitled “The Young Hannibal: Behind the Mask”) has been completed and will be released on February 9, 2007.
Completed in England, France and Germany, this film does not have any recognizable (American) names in the cast, and except for the noted Chinese actress Gong Li (Farewell, My Concubine), as Madam Murasaki and Gaspard Ulliel (“A Very Long Engagement”) as young Hannibal, the large cast is relatively “unknown.” It would seem that Thomas Harris (who wrote the film script) chose not to pay the Hollywood casting game this time.

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Mar 02, 2010 Kirsten rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: horror, fiction

As a big fan of the previous three Hannibal Lecter books, I was very much looking forward to reading this, the "origin story" of Lecter's serial killing and cannibalism.

Unfortunately, Hannibal Rising read to me as a story churned out to satisfy a publisher who was hounding Harris for a prequel. Though Harris will be a good writer no matter what he puts his hand to and there are some haunting turns of phrase and wickedly humourous quips from Hannibal of the kind we know and love, the book felt cl...more

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Aug 03, 2011 Danielle rated it 3 of 5 stars

I liked this book, I really did. For me, it made the series more complete. This book is basically the backstory to Dr. Hannibal Lecter, who was a recurring and rather important in the first three books of the series. I've always wondered what it was that made Lecter who he was, and more importantly, what made him the monster that he was throughout the books. This book did just that, and for that, I'm glad. It was a little hard to follow, but that's just because I'm one of those people who doesn'...more

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Sep 28, 2011 Elaine rated it 4 of 5 stars

I just re-read this novel and ended up adding a star. The best way to approach this novel is as a stand-alone. Pretend you never read any of the other books or saw the movies. You never heard of Clarice Starling. Now, start all over and read this for the delicately crafted characterizations and storyline. Hannibal Lecter is no longer an overworked, over-the-top villain that fans love to hate. He's now a three-dimensional and very human young man who must find his way in post-war Europe. He survi...more

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Aug 03, 2010 Diane rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Our first glimpses of Hannibal Lecter were in Red Dragon and Silence of the Lambs. Now, Harris' latest addition to the saga is this book. What went wrong? It feels like everything.
At a very literary level I see nothing but the original stories in wolf's clothing. One person, the main character, is chasing after and finding criminals. Only the young Hannibal, a killer in child form, is not part of the Federal Bureau of Investigations or any other government run division.
Honestly, I felt like I wa...more

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Jul 25, 2009 Anna rated it 3 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Jan 14, 2013 Amanda Brinkmann rated it 5 of 5 stars

It was fascinating to read the prequel to The Red Dragon and Silence of the Lambs, so many years after having read said books and of course, having by then, seen Silence of the Lambs a great many times - Anthony Hopkins, the voice, the intonation, the muzzle mask, ' fiva beans and chianti' were by now vivid visuals in my mind.

Although this book cannot be described as Harris' best work, I enjoyed the methodical building of the circumstances, milieu all of which ultimately conspired to 'create' Ha...more

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Feb 08, 2011 John rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Not a great book by any means, but good enough to get rid of the awful aftertaste that Harris' previous novel, "Hannibal," left me with. Too bad Harris didn't learn from George Lucas's unfortunate Star Wars prequel trilogy that iconic villains are more interesting the less we know about their histories, and that they should be brought out somewhat sparingly in order to make their presence in the story more dramatic. Lecter was more interesting in the early Harris books, before he became the prin...more

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Jan 01, 2013 Richard rated it 4 of 5 stars

I didn't read anything about the book beforehand since I was in the middle of Hannibal when I found out it existed and didn't want any spoilers for that book from the book teaser. I was really disappointed to find out it was the prequel since I was looking forward to the next five hundred pages of the ongoing saga. Then I got intrigued, just how did he get to be the psychiatrist that did that to Mason Verger? I don't know if it reached that level of showing the "Rising" as promised in the title,...more

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Jul 14, 2012 Cessa von Cessa goes Beauty rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: thriller

Wie schon im Klappentext erwähnt, geht es in diesem Buch um die Vorgeschichte zu allen anderen Büchern. Es spielt also zeitlich gesehen vor "Roter Drache".
Hannibal lebt gemeinsam mit seiner kleinen Schwester Mischa und seinen Eltern auf Burg Lecter in Litauen.
Bedingt durch den Krieg erlebt Hannibal viele schreckliche und traumatische Dinge die ihn grundlegend verändern. Klar wird aber auch, dass er von klein auf ein außergewöhnliches Kind ist - in jeder Hinsicht.
Als der Krieg zu Ende geht, muss...more

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May 04, 2011 Kimberly Hicks rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-in-hard-back

I'm so sorry I can't give this book more than 5 stars. This book gets 100 from me! OMG, Thomas has done it again. He has shown us how Hannibal came to be in this book, and I'm so proud that I sort of figured that I had Hannibal pegged all along. Like I mentioned in the review of Hannibal, I never hated the character, I always respected him and what he does. Because if you think about it, Hannibal kills those that need to be killed. Whether that's right or wrong, that's not for me to decide, but...more

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Aug 29, 2012 Spryng rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012-reads

I don't even know what this was. I loved the other novels featuring Hannibal, but this just fell flat on its face. It was weak and shoddy and skipped over so much potential to try and shove everything into a neat little box. And the worst part was it didn't start out that way, but by halfway through I found myself itching to fast-forward and almost fully skipped the last ten chapters out of weariness. But, alas, I didn't have anything else lined up to listen to, so I finished it. It was just as...more

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Mar 15, 2013 Stefan rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I'm really torn between three and four stars with this novel. If this were a stand alone novel with a main character with a different name, I'd score it a four. As the back story of the infamous Hannibal Lecter however I'm afraid it's a three.

In the first two books we were presented with a sadistic, sociopathic psychopath who would happily sic a deranged killer onto innocent families and attack an innocent nurse in a heartbeat without blinking an eyelid, all for his own amusement. He was a pure...more

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About Thomas Harris

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.

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“The advantage of beating a mute is he can't tell on you.” — 20 people liked it

“… It is not healing to see your childhood home, but it helps you measure whether you are broken, and how and why, assuming you want to know.” — 10 people liked it

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