Rating: 
Summary: Harris' best novel
Review: Silence of the Lambs got so much attention that this book is badly overlooked. This book is awesome, and I think one of the author's best. My advice - read this, and Silence of the Lambs, skip Hannibal altogether.
Rating:
Summary: A masterful novel
Review: This is suspense at it's BEST. 'Red Dragon' is the first novel that introduces Hannibal Lecter to the world.
The story surrounds FBI Special Agent Will Graham: he is the one who captures Hannibal Lecter. Now he turns to Lecter to search out a serial killer.
The killer's name is Francis, (I cant spell his last name so work with me.) and what is interesting about this guy, he is just a regular Joe, but he has a physical defect: he can't pronunce 'j' too well.
Will then discovers a mark, which in Japanese means 'Red Dragon'. So as Will slowly picks up the clues, Francis befriends a blind woman who he works with. Francis also has a key clue: he bites his victims. Francis is controlled by this dragon that he has tatooed across his back. So in a way, he has a multiple personality disorder, and he see's himself changing into the dragon.
But I am not going to give the ending away, but I suggest that you read this novel in the daytime, but it is something that you are not going to put down.
Rating: 
Summary: Suspense masterpiece; Harris is a master thriller
Review: RED DRAGON, when it was first released in 1981, was a hit among critics but basically unpopular with readers. However, after 1991 this all changed with the release of the film adaption of Thomas Harris' novel THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS. The first in Harris' series of novels featuring Hannibal Lecter, this only occasionally features the monster genius in a few scenes and he is not as memorable as in the later Hannibal novels (the forementioned THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS in 1988 and then HANNIBAL in 1999). RED DRAGON follows Will Graham, a retired FBI detective who has the "gift" of seeing into the mind of serial killers. He is visited by FBI special agent Jack Crawford, who drams Graham back in to battle a mysterious and deformed serial killer nicknamed "The Tooth Fairy" and later the "Red Dragon". But before he can confront the Dragon Graham must visit Hannibal Lecter - the man he put away years before. In RED DRAGON, it is proved that Thomas Harris is a master thriller. It is a suspense masterpiece, and one of my favorite novels. You can remain sure that it shall plague your nightmares with visions of mutilated women (Hannibal) and severed lips (Red Dragon). It is a thrilling monster of a book that shall remain in your memories for a long time. Perhaps longer than you'd like.
Rating:
Summary: Creepy
Review: This is the creepiest of the so-called Hannibal trilogy. I say that because the killer's method of choosing victims, and his obscene ability to cut any human connection to his victims is scary. This one is a page-turner, and Harris's style easily places the most sane person into the mind of a serial killer. It is a good read: thrilling, exciting, and addictive.
Rating:
Summary: Just as Good - Or Maybe Even Better Than The Other Two
Review: If you liked Silence of The Lambs, you will love this one. It might even be better than Silence. I read Silence about five years ago and loved it, but I had never read this afterwards. Then last summer I read it and was blown away. Red Dragon friggen rules. You'll keep it so that you can read it again in a few years when you've forgotten the details.
Rating:
Summary: Something tasty to chew on...
Review: Its probable that you've decided to check this out following the success of the adapted movie of the same name. I'd greatly prefered this to the film, my favourite in the book series over Silence of the Lambs and Hannibal. This, the first in the series (though the third Hopkins films dramatised on celluloid) charts the battle of wits between FBI criminologist Will Graham and the self-titled Red Dragon, a brutal and elusive serial murderer. Fans of the other books in the series will be at home with Harris' style...the juxtaposition of Graham's progress with that of the killer, and the slow but lurid background of the criminal psyche. This exposition is marked by bouts of 'action'...usually involving someone giving up possession of their limbs. Despite the advertising hype neither book or film are really about Hannibal Lector. Yes, he's in it, and oooh ahhh, he's pretty sinister. Just don't complain that you thought it was going to be all about Lector giving droll one liners and slurping. Harris keeps him figuratively and literally caged in this first outing. Even without Hannibal's guide to good eating its still all rather bloody, and yes, Hercule Poirot would have been eaten long ago. But Will is still a vulnerable hero, and the tension and pace act as a constant page-turner. Despite revealing to us the identity of the killer, Harris never slackens off, and the bloody climax is expected but still shocking. My one applaud to the movie would be it's adaptation of the ending (the one in the book just wouldn't sell popcorn) but I still prefer 'knockout punch' the book delivers. Recommended to any readers who enjoy their crime novels rare and gory, with a large pinch of suspense, and perfect before enjoying a nice chianti.
Rating:
Summary: RED DRAGON - SUSPENSE AT ITS FINEST!
Review: Red Dragon is an extraordinary book by Thomas Harris about a retired investigator who goes to Lector to help him catch a crazed murderer. The book starts off at Graham's house in Florida. Graham retired from the FBI a few years back after Dr. Hannibal "The Cannibal" Lector tried to kill him when Graham was arresting him. Graham now finds out the FBI really wants him to work on a new case knowing he's the best. At first, he is resistant about leaving his now wonderful life and family at home, but in the end, he decides to go. After doing his own research at the crime scene, he goes to get help from the ingenious mind of his old friend Dr. Hannibal Lector, who is still in prison after the conflict before.
Apparently, the murderer Francis Dolarhyde is also absolutely obsessed with painting of a red dragon and strongly believes he is one. Another thing the loony is obsessed with is Lector. Since the sick fiend idols Lector, he tries to contact him in prison by a popular magazine. The murderer works at a film lab, and in the film lab, he looks at everybody's home movies, picks a family, and plots his attack. Obviously the man is terribly mentally ill, and eventually we find out that the reason is that his grandma used to beat him when he was very young. At the film lab, he eventually falls in love with a blind girl, but which will he do? Will he spare the one he loves, or let the Red Dragon inside take over?
Red Dragon is definitely a must read book if you like horror novels and being left in suspense. The immense detail Harris goes into is absolutely phenomenal.
Rating:
Summary: The best in the Hannibal series.
Review: Out of all the books in Thomas Harris's Hannibal series, this has to be the best of them all. "Silence" was great, and "Hannibal" was a great look into the mind of the greatest serial killer of all time (at least in the literary world, anyway). This book is one of my favorite books of all time. Enjoy.
Rating:
Summary: ANOTHER great book
Review: I just realized that when I reviewed Silence of the lambs, it was the VHS video, and not the book.. I think.. anyhow, they are both great.. This book AND this movie for Red Dragon are both great. If Francis Dolarhyde were a real person, I would love to meet him and just talk to him and try to figure him out myself. Same for Dr.Lecter of course. What's killer about Francis is he is a lot like Lecter. He doesn't freak out while killing. He does it in a calm manner, like he doesn't care and he knows what he is doing. GREAT BOOK! GREAT MOVIE!
Rating:
Summary: Best Lecter book
Review: This book is great! It is by far the best book of the series. Don't get me wrong the other two were good too but this one is a step above. I thought the book was more intense than it's two sequels. I loved getting into the head of the man who managed to catch Lecter and exploring the relationship between the two. Plus I think the tooth fairy was a better villian than buffalo bill. But in the words of Levar Burton, don't take my word for it, read a book.
| 
