Rating: 
Summary: Wildly overrated
Review: Just as Hannibal is severely underrated by its critics, so is Red Dragon overrated. I reread this novel in preparaton for Hannibal's release and was amazed at how it is grimly locked into its formula. It follows the traditional serial killer novel right down to the predictable ending. The villian isn't very interesting and Will Graham is an unlikable and pretty boring protagonist. It does, however, manage to hold your attention all the way through. It is well-written but nothing out of the ordinary. After the transcendant experience of reading Hannibal, this book is heading to the used bookstore.
Rating: 
Summary: This book makes you question what you decipher as reality.
Review: Once I picked up this book, I could not stop reading. Nor could I sleep. Unless of course I locked the windows, bolted the bedroom door, and tucked a knife within reach of my bed. This book has the ability to reach into your nightmares. Pretty scary stuff!
Rating: 
Summary: One of the worst, most boring books I've ever read.
Review: After reading Silence of the Lambs, I figured I'd go back & see what other stuff Harris wrote. BIG mistake! Lecter is mentioned only marginally in this book & the story dragged so bad that it took me over a month to read it - I found too many other (better) books to read in the meantime. Believe me, this book was incredibly easy to put down. I'll give Harris a chance on Hannibal, but I wouldn't recommend this book to my worst enemy.
Rating: 
Summary: Terror unleashed
Review: I feel the same way as the earlier reviewer who pointed out that if one wished to investigate the effects of psychological terror on a massive scale one should read SCHINDLER'S LIST, or the great new novel, THE TRIUMPH AND THE GLORY. Compared to the horror of genocide or fire-bombings of entire cities, the indulgent antics of one serial killer pale in comparison.
Rating:
Summary: Uninteresting
Review: After reading "Hannibal', 'Red Dragon' just couldn't compare. I suffered through 'Red Dragon' because so many of the negative comments about 'Hannibal' seemed to mention how wonderful 'Red Dragon' was in comparison.Sorry. My equation has worked out differently. 'Red Dragon' is a genre novel, locked within the given parameters; it never travels beyond. The cop is only slightly interesting. The serial killer isn't interesting at all. In 'Hannibal', genre is transcended. The reader has no idea where the journey will end, and once at its end the reader has no idea how to feel. Is the end good or bad, or simply banal? Well, I found the ending of 'Hannibal' profoundly disturbing and so much more intriguing than the ending of 'Red Dragon'. For those of you who like typical books with typical endings, this one is for you.
Rating: 
Summary: good, but flawed
Review: The story allows the reader to take a peek into the mind of a madman, Francis Dolarhyde. I find the section about Dolarhyde's childhood fascinating and one could sympathise with his miserable past. Thomas Harris allowed us to imagine the horror and butchering in the two homes and spare us too much overt description. I think the restraint that he shows in his writing makes the horrible acts even more frightening for us as we then have to imagine it ourselves. Overall, the story is very readable and suspenseful. However, the tail end of the book has the madman talking to himself, alternating between his own identity and that of the "Dragon". I find that some what unbelievable and with all due respect to the writer, a little silly. Maybe it would be better if the Dragon's voices were just hallucinatory voices in Dolarhyde's own head -- that's more disturbing and believable. There is also too much technical crime lab procedural jargon that the author could have distilled and condensed for lay readers. Too much of it makes one impatient. Having Dolarhyde go into the museum to eat up the Dragon painting and thus exposing himself was also a little unbelievable...for how can he do that and expect to escape detection and capture? I also think that it was a mistake to suggest that Dolarhyde wanted to be good, with the ending being what it was. One last point is that there seems precious little about Lecter and what demons made him become a serial killer. I am sure readers would have been interested in that. I also find that Lecter, being the genius he was supposed to be, did not give much of a useful in-depth analysis of Dolarhyde's personality that could help the investigators other than to say he might be deformed, which Graham already figured out. Still, The Red Dragon is worth a read for its brilliant parts.
Rating:
Summary: Terrifying and brilliant - a work of genius
Review: A killer is on the loose - a killer who doesn't care if he's caught, a killer that murders families to satisfy the Red Dragon, a creature from a William Blake watercolour which dominates his life. The weary FBI agent, Will Graham, must track him down - but he can only do it with the help of Hannibal Lecter, the terrible homicidal genius in this book who becomes the dark mentor of Clarice Starling in The Silence of the Lambs. The stage is set for a horrific thriller which avoids the old, tired path of wallowing in gore and opts for psychological terror. With intricate detail and a heart-thumping plot, Red Dragon deserves its place as one of the best novels in the genre.
Rating:
Summary: EXCELLENT, I couldn't put this book down.
Review: THIS BOOK WAS FANTASTIC. I AM GLAD IT WAS POINTED OUT TO ME WHEN I PURCHASED HANNIBAL. I AM ORDERING THE MOVIE "MANHUNTER". I HOPE IT IS AS GOOD AS THE BOOK IS. I STARTED READING RED DRAGON THE DAY I RECEIVED IT AND FINISHED IT THE NEXT DAY. I COULD PICTURE EVERYTHING IN THE BOOK. I MADE SURE MY WINDOWS AND DOORS WERE LOCKED AFTER I STARTED READING IT. IF YOU LIKED SILENCE OF THE LAMBS THEN YOU WILL LOVE THIS BOOK.
Rating:
Summary: Mildly Interesting
Review: While I pursued this book to have read the full trilogy that involves Hannibal Lecter, I was seriously disappointed. While a partially interesting story, it is nothing outstanding. The thing that makes me angry is that this book has been marketed in the last two months as a "must read" so that you'll meet Hannibal Lecter the first time he was introduced. Lecter is marginal to this story and takes up a miniscule portion of the book. I believe it is unfair to be less that truthful to readers in preparing the marketing campaign for Hannibal (June 1999 publication.) This 1981 first is nothing in comparison to Harris' follow-up "Silence of the Lambs" -- truly a classic. Disappointed overall!
Rating:
Summary: vastly overrated
Review: I must admit I just don't understand why so many people think this is a superior crime novel -- the central character of Francis seems incredibly hard to believe -- a meek little guy with Superman's body and the whole business with the fake teeth?? I couldn't get scared of him because I never could believe such a figure existed. He's nothing like real serial killers, who are so much more typical of people around us: that's scary. He's such an anomaly that the chances of running into him are minimal: so why should I be scared? I find the writing in this book to be embarrisingly overwrought as well. When I've shown fans some of the worst passages, they say, "well, I skip over most of that stuff." So their idea of a great book is one you skip writing in?? This book does offer thrills, no question, but it doesn't show the talent of dozens of over crime writers out there.
| 
