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Summary: Still Scares Me and It's Been a Week
Review: This book is so well written, that even after a week, I'm still remembering parts of it and shuddering. Late at night, I still look behind me, wondering if Dolarhyde will somehow be there. It's scary, I tell you! The book revolves around and FBI investigation of two seemingly related murders, the Jacobi family and the Leeds family. They have one month to find the killer before he strikes again. Red Dragon switches back and forth between describing the investigation and the killer's life. Really draws you in A reccomended read for all who enjoy suspense!
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Summary: Better than silence of the lambs
Review: I read Silience of the Lambs first, but this book is far superior.It holds your interest from the first page to the last.
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Summary: Great, suspenseful book
Review: I enjoyed the author's forward, and as an author myself, I understand how it seems that characters "enter" our books without us even knowing they're going to. Harris mentions that he didn't "know" Hannibal Lecter was going to be in this book or even in "The Silence of the Lambs." It makes the book more eerie; like the book wrote itself through Harris, just using him as a medium.How much more powerful Hannibal seems when the author himself is "used" by Hannibal the Cannibal! The plot was terrific; just enough gore and human frailties as well as psychological phenomenon. An A+ to Thomas Harris for Red Dragon!
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Summary: unsettling
Review: Harris first rocketed up the bestseller lists with his excellent terrorism thriller Black Sunday. His antihero Hannibal the Cannibal exploded into the public consciousness after Jonathan Demme's excellent movie version of Silence of the Lambs (1991) came out, with Anthony Hopkins brilliant creepy performance as Lecter. And, of course, fans and Hollywood have had an anxious 11 year wait for Harris to finally publish a sequel. But many people may not realize that Hannibal Lecter first appeared, albeit in a cameo role, in the novel Red Dragon and in Michael Mann's capable movie version, Manhunter (1986). If you've missed this book, I urge you to try it; in many ways it is Harris's best work. FBI Special Will Graham has retired to Sugar Loaf Key, FL with his new wife Molly and her son Willie. Retired because of his nearly fatal encounter with a linoleum knife wielding Hannibal Lecter, whose capture he was responsible for, and because of the emotional troubles that have accompanied his ability to develop an almost extrasensory empathy for such killers, such that he has trouble purging their feelings from his own psyche. His peaceful idyll is disrupted when his old boss, Jack Crawford, shows up and asks for his help in catching The Tooth Fairy, a serial killer who is notorious for the tooth marks he leaves and for dicing his victims with shards of broken mirrors. Reluctantly agreeing to join the chase, Graham decides, in order to recapture the mindset that has made him so eerily effective in prior cases, to visit Hannibal Lecter in the Chesapeake State Hospital for the Criminally Insane. There the administrator, Dr. Frederick Chilton, shares an anecdote about Hannibal that demonstrates just how horrible he is: "On the afternoon of July 8, 1976, Dr. Lecter complained of chest pain. His restraints were removed in the examining room to make it easier to give him an electrocardiogram. One of his attendants left the room to smoke, and the other turned away for a second. The nurse was very quick and strong. She managed to save one of her eyes." "You may find this curious." He took a strip of EKG tape from a drawer and unrolled it on his desk. He traced the spiky line with his forefinger. "Here, he's resting on the examining table. Pulse seventy-two. Here, he grabs the nurse's head and pulls her down to him. Here, he is subdued by the attendant. He didn't resist, by the way, though the attendant dislocated his shoulder. Do you notice the strange thing? His pulse never got over eighty-five. Even when he tore out her tongue. I don't think we're any closer to understanding him than the day he came in.'' After tabloid reporter Freddie Lowndes splashes this visit all over the pages of The Tattler, the killer too contacts Lecter who urges him to attack Graham. Thus begins a suspenseful, violent minuet as Graham develops increasing insight into the killer's methodology and psychoses, the killer plans his next kill (he's on a Lunar schedule) and Hannibal pulls strings from the dark background. Harris provides fascinating detail on police procedure, he writes savvily about how the FBI uses the media and the inventiveness of the crimes he dreams up is genuinely disturbing. But the most interesting part of the story is the delicate mental balance that Graham has to maintain in order to think like the killers but still remain sane. And as Graham penetrates further into the killer's mind, Harris reveals more and more background about the Tooth Fairy, Francis Dolarhyde, who it turns out was a horribly misshapen baby, abandoned by his mother and raised by a demented grandmother, early on manifesting the now classic signs of the serial murder--torturing animals and the like. This background and Will Graham's troubles dealing with the thought patterns he shares with Dolarhyde raise questions about what separates us from such men and whether there's a formula for creating such evil beings. Is it really simply a matter of psychosexual abuse of young boys and, presto chango, you've created a serial killer? In addition to this kind of portrayal of the psychotic as victim, our effort to deal with these creatures has resulted in a sizable batch of thrillers where the serial killer is portrayed as a nearly superhuman genius. This flows from the same impulse that makes folks so willing to believe that assassinations are conspiracies. It is extremely hard, as a society, to face the fact that nondescript shlubs like David Berkowitz and Lee Harvey Oswald and Richard Speck and James Earl Ray are really capable of causing so much social disruption. Their crimes are so monumental that we want the killers to be equal in stature to the crimes. The sad truth of the matter is that these monsters are, in fact, generally hapless losers. They are not Lecterlike geniuses. That said, Hannibal is still one of the great fictional creations of recent times, our age's version of Dracula or Frankenstein, and Harris's imaginative story makes for a great, albeit unsettling, read with more food for thought than most novels of the type. GRADE: A
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Summary: True Horror
Review: Red Dragon is by far the most graphic book written by Thomas Harris. Although the reader is introduced to Dr. Hannibal Lecter in this book, it is actually the serial killer, Francis Dolarhyde who takes center stage. Dolarhyde is so cunning that it seems like he could have taught Dr. Lecter a few "tricks." In this story, F.B.I. Agent, Will Graham seeks help from Dr. Lecter to find a killer on the loose. There are many turns in this book that, if shared, will ruin the entire plot. I feel that I cannot disclose much of the plot as any new reader would want to live the suspense and thrill as I have. If you are in for a sit-on-the-edge-of-your-seat-and-scare-you-to-pieces type book, pick this one up. Just remember to keep the lights on.
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Summary: Fantastic and Horrific
Review: One of the best thrillers I've ever read. Although some of the elements are heavy in detail, the book is nonetheless a quick read. My only complaint is that the ending seemed a bit rushed and out of sync with the rest of the story line. For those of you looking to rent or buy the Michael Man film "Manhunter" based on this novel - don't bother! The movie is a loosely and poorly adapted version of the book. But if you have seen the film and haven't read the book, do yourself a favor and buy this book. It's worth every dime.
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Summary: Unbelieveable
Review: "Silence of the Lambs" was my first intro to Mr. Harris. "Hannible", the second. "Red Dragon" the last. The first two were page turners, to be sure, but "Red Dragon" was a riviting work in good versus evil. Although Hannible Lector is a vile and very unbalanced individual with a mind to die for, he is not as vile and as crazed as the Dragon. If you miss this one, you've missed something worth your time reading.......
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Summary: The Red Dragon
Review: I've just finished Red Dragon last week and the book stays with you. Francis Dolarhyde is a memorable character and once you've been led into his mind, you can't seem to escape his thoughts. A character like Dr. Hannibal Lecter keeps you on your feet. Though he's locked up under high security, his mind still paces within his cell like a tireless, hungry tiger.
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Summary: Thomas Harris is Masterful
Review: If you buy this book because you read Silence of the Lambs and want to hear more of Dr. Lecter, then this book will be a disappointment. However, if you want a thrilling and terrifying novel whose ending will make you jump up as your reading, then this is your book. I have heard that many people do not like the ending, but I thought it was excellent. This book is not as good as Silence, but it is filled with colorful characters and you will empathize and fear the killer, Dolarhyde. Overall, this book was very well written and imaginative.
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Summary: RED DRAGON -- MORE THAN JUST A PAINTING
Review: For Hannibal Lector fans, this book is a great introduction into one of the most psychopathic minds ever written about. While Lector is already in prison for the crimes he committed in Silence of the Lambs, he serves as a partial accomplice to another serial killer, Francis Dolarhyde, who is killing entire families. This time, however, the FBI also goes to Lector for help in capturing the killer. At the center of the investigation is retired FBI agent Will Graham, who has the distinction of catching two mass murderers in his FBI career -- one of them being Lector. It is incredible to watch Graham's mind as he puts the pieces of the puzzle together working against the clock before the next family is murdered. Once again, Graham will pay a hefty price for bringing justice to the forefront. This book was written over 20 years ago yet reads as if it is taking place in the present time. It is easy to see how Harris has placed himself above most other thriller authors and most likely served as an author who inspired others to follow his lead in this genre. He delves into the mind of the psychopath and does not hold back. This is one scary book. Of course, my advice is to read this before Silence of the Lambs but even if you've read that one already, this one will stand alone quite nicely.
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