Rating: 
Summary: What's up with this?
Review: Having read both Red Dragon and The Silence of the Lambs, I rushed out and made a rare hardcover purchase of Hannibal. Having finished it, I feel...icky. Early on there are some great moments for Clarice and Hannibal but overall this book is a big, gross letdown. No, we really don't want to know about Lecter's childhood trauma. We don't want to see Jack Crawford forced into retirement. And what Thomas Harris has in store for Clarice-one of the greatest female literary heroines of the last 20 years-is criminal. The abrupt change in both hers and Hannibals characters in the last 100 pages is ludicrous. I hear David Mamet is writing the screenplay. I only hope he throws away the whole ending and starts over.
Rating: 
Summary: Entertaining but ending is disappointing
Review: Enjoyed the book. The characters have substance. Howver, the ending is disappointing.
Rating: 
Summary: Magnificent Obsession!
Review: Hannibal Lecter grows more and more fascinating with each book. Those with a sensitive sense of smell should be hanging out at bakeries or perfumeries, not reading great literature. You would probably have missed the whole point of Perfume, as well. Highly recommended!!
Rating: 
Summary: Don't believe the hype,this book is awful.
Review: It took me three monthes to finally finish this book.I couldn't bare to pick it up after I had passed the half way mark.It had little suspense,the characters had little or no substance and the story dragged on like a root canal.Harris spent so much time building up to what was supposed to be an epic feast that he left me hungrier than the wild pigs he spent too much time describing.I feel sorry for all the people who have waited years for this book,they were robbed.I usually don't feel so angry after reading a bad book,but all I see is rave reviews for a book that is not deserving of them.The author spends a great deal of time speaking of Lector's "memory palace",I'm going to wipe it from mine.If Jodie Foster is smart she'll avoid signing up for the film.
Rating:
Summary: A stop and go book...
Review: I started off really enjoying the book and couldn't put it down. Then around the middle of the book, the part set in Italy, I stopped for about 2 months. I felt that he was trying to impress me with his description of Italy and it's history rather than tell the story. When I finally started again, I moved through it pretty quickly, partially to finish. I found some of the characters, plot and outcome very unbeliveable. Not trying to give it away, I just found it inplausible. I must admit that I did enjoy some insight into Dr. Lector's mind and his past. This understanding, however, did not clear my confusion of certain things and event which might have resulted from unbelievability. Since Since I've heard the first two books are so good, I don't think that "Hannibal" will put me off from reading them. I'm not even sure that I'd see the movie- unless Hollywood drastically changes it.
Rating:
Summary: It stinks far worse than any pig ever did
Review: As a big fan of Silence of the Lambs and Red Dragon, I had eagerly awaited Harris' next voyage into the deliciously (pardon the pun) evil mind of Hannibal the Cannibal. Perhaps I should have realized how bitterly disappointed I would be based on how long it took me to finish the book. While I couldn't put down Silence of the Lambs and devoured it (sorry again) in a few short days, Hannibal took me three months. What a staggering waste of time: this book was so bad it was offensive. First, Harris launches into self-serving, artsy-fartsy descriptions of Italian culture that sound about as authentic as aspartame. Then, stealing a page from an X-files script, he creates villains so impossibly macabre they might as well have arrived during an alien visitation. Just when I thought it couldn't get any worse, Harris sells out Starling. She goes from being a fiercely independent, driven, talented, bright career woman to arm candy for a brain-eating serial killer. Female readers beware: there may be numerous olfactory references in this book, but the stench of sexism overpowers them all at the end.
Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: I would have rated this book two stars, except for the fact that it did keep my interest throughout. However, the ending is thoroughly implausible and far-fetched. A book like this should have ended with one gasping for breath, but this one simply trailed away. Another matter I thought disturbing was that Clarice repeatedly turned in information to the FBI, never suspecting that it was being used improperly. It seemed to me that she was too brilliant an agent for that to happen. This book doesn't quite "make it", and that is a huge disappointment. I hope that Jodie Foster doesn't agree to star in this one, and that Anthony Hopkins changes his mind about appearing in it. That is, unless the screenwriters can rewrite the ending. Not neccessarily with a happy resolution, but a more realistic one.
Rating:
Summary: Best thing I have read in a long time
Review: This book was so intense, I loved it from beginning to end. I wish I would have read the first two, before seeing the movie. I can't wait for the movie to come out for this one, cause I loved the ending
Rating:
Summary: A sequel so bad it was laughable
Review: Of all the sequels I have ever read, this one was by far the worst. Characters so one-dimensional I find my dental floss to be more substantial, a plot and writing style so untrue to the original "Silence of the Lambs" I never once felt like I was reading about the same characters or even a book by the same author, I couldn't help but wonder if Harris had just been out to make a buck on this one.Hannibal Lecter, who is a fine, fascinating support character, isn't nearly so intriguing when you get too close to him. Clarice Starling goes from being a smart, talented, admirable woman, able to compete well in what was traditionally a man's world and yet retain her femininity to a petted lap dog to a madman. The FBI goes from being a respected organization populated with a few bad eggs but mostly with dedicated people intent on their craft to a front organization for crooked politics. One good thing: "Hannibal" was so removed from the quality of "The Silence of the Lambs" that my view of the latter was not tainted. I truly felt as though I was reading a weak parody by a different author; I really did get a lot of laughs out of it, too. Sequels are often disappointing things, and I've found that a good way to tell just how bad it's going to be is by marking the time that has passed between the original and the next chapter (just look at "Star Wars"). Before I even picked up "Hannibal," I wondered why it took a writer twelve years before he had anything more to say about the characters that populated his first superb book. The answer became clear as I was reading: he really *didn't* have anything to say; he forced it. I like and admire Jodi Foster, and I think Anthony Hopkins is one of the best actors around. After his disappointing "Instinct" this past summer, the actor announced that he was going to be much more careful in accepting scripts in the future. I hope he keeps to that promise and give's "Hannibal" a thumbs-down when it finally appears on his desk.
Rating: 
Summary: A bit fartched at times but now Hannibal is my hero!
Review: I stayed up last night until 2:30am to finish the last 200 pages-that should tell you something! Although some of this book is hard to believe and at times hard to follow, Hannibal Lecter is one of the great fiends of all time. We root for him from the begining and the (predictable) love story is the only way for the trilogy to wrap up. I must say I can't wait for the movie.
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