Rating: 
Summary: The audio version I listened to ehthralled and entertained.
Review: "Hannibal" carried the torch of "Silence of the Lambs" high and bright. It was a great continuation of the saga of evil. Hannibal Lector is the metaphor for the elite percentage of the population that controls all the wealth and feeds off the rest of us like a killer whale through a school of herring. Clarice is the seduced or corrupted "average" with a gift who buys into the glitter after defeat at the hands of the mediocre. Paced just right with the off balancing twist of too many bad guys. There are no innocents in this story only various degrees of corruption. All in all paced well, told well and somewhere between Anne Rice and Patricia Cornwell in believability. I loved it and was lost in the descriptions and diversions.
Rating: 
Summary: Deeply, unremittingly, sadly homophobic & transphobic
Review: I, like many other reviewers, found myself torn between the depth of Harris' writing, which often flirts with brilliance, and the banality of his dramatic resolution. But what surprised me most was the reviews themselves -- for all the critique, not a single one mentions Harris' obvious and regrettable homophobia: his need, whenever he wants to gross out his audience, to trot out some character who is differently-gendered and/or gay in order to create an impression of great evil. The truth is, those of us who are transgender or gay are most often the victims of horrible crimes, not their purpetrators. In the last year alone, that has included 6 transgender victims, at least one so badly beaten and stabbed family members were barely able to identify the remains. By perpetuating the stereotypes of us as evil, depraved villains, Harris only makes our oppressions and our lives that much more difficult. By ignoring it, readers and reviewers encourage other authors to do the same.
Rating: 
Summary: Good screenplay
Review: It's too photographic; too screenplay. Even when we are invited by Harris to visit Dr. Lechter's mind, all you find is foyers, Giotto frescoes and Phidias bronze statues adorning a thousand rooms and miles of corridors. I guess Harris killed two birds with one shot: The book and a screenplay. The axiom here is paper can hold anything. The movie might be worthwhile. fernado
Rating: 
Summary: Good beginning, horrible ending
Review: I just finished reading Hannibal today, and I am very dissapointed. After reading and watching Silence of the Lambs, I expected that Hannibal would be a very enjoyable book. I was certainly wrong. First, the deaths of characters from the original books ruined the story in itself. It would have been a much better book if the ending had been different. If Harris write another sequel, it better start out with Clarice waking up, and saying the words "Wow, It was all a dream"
Rating:
Summary: A wasted read.
Review: The sensationalism competed to strongly with the plot. So much of it was distracting and unnecessary. The end was tatally unbelievable and I never did find out what "chocalate" had to do with anything.
Rating:
Summary: Wanted more, but got less.
Review: After reading Silence and Red Dragon I had expected a thrilling, insightful read. Unfortunately, this is not how I would describe Hannibal. I couldn't wait to be done with this book so I could read something else! The entire book feels forced--Hannibal is stripped of his mystery and nothing very interesting remains. I did enjoy the ending--but it could not make up for the other 200 pages.
Rating:
Summary: Wasted Eye-Strain
Review: I've read some bad over-hyped novels in my time, but this one really takes the cake. Harris' first 2 novels in the series, Red Dragon and Silence of the Lambs, demonstrated a singular brilliance that upstaged the rest of the genre. I anticipated a great series evolving from the Lector storyline. Unfortunately, the publication of Hannibal invalidated that prediction and placed it within same strata of accuracy reserved for the National Enquirer psychics. Was Harris on serious medication when he wrote the ending? Hey, I ingested a lot of drugs in my misspent youth, but I could never conceive of something that twisted during my most altered states of consciousness. OK, for sheer gore factor alone, this book will appeal to the more sophomoric mindset. But if you demand plot, intriguing characters, and an ending that doesn't blow chunks, avoid this book. Should you see Hannibal on display at your local bookstore, give it a wide berth. Avoid associating with anyone who liked this novel. Cancel your subscriptions to any periodicals that gave this waste if ink and paper favorable reviews. Write letters to Harris and the publisher criticizing the book's release. Ask Congress to draft a resolution condeming Hannibal as the biggest piece of excrement to hit the book market since the latest Bret Easton Ellis novel. Convince the United Nations to do the same. And if Tom Harris publishes a sequel to Hannibal, be afraid. Be very afraid.
Rating:
Summary: Why didn't he just write a screenplay?
Review: After more than 9 years waiting to find out what happened to the horrible Hannibal Lecter, I was put off and disappointed with the writing which is so obviously the basis for a screenplay (description of the entrance scenes into Hannibal's rooms is all stage direction and direction for painters and lighting folks! I have not gotten past the first 150 pages and find it hard to drive myself forward. Unfortunately having peeked at disappointing ending in others comments, I am not sure I would want to continue. He'll be lucky to get a maximum caliber actor like Anthony Hopkins to reprise the role!
Rating:
Summary: Over-hyped crap!
Review: I really can't believe I was roped in by the hype. It seems as though Hollywood was calling the shots on this movie as opposed to an accomplished writer! The beginning was slow boring. You may give him the excuse that he is building charater and atmosphere but for how long!; The middle: Well he just keeps building - you start wondering whether the story will actually get anywhere. And the ending! My god! What a pathetic cop-out! Everyone lives happily ever after! I've never subected myself to the ordeal of reading anything as bad as this in my whole life. Don't buy this book unless you're interested in insulting your own intelligence!
Rating:
Summary: I don't think his heart was in this book.
Review: I was most disappointed with this book! It reads like someone besides Thomas Harris wrote the book. Clarice seemed more like a snippy whiner than the character Harris created in "Silence". I think she had more scruples than Harris gave her in "Hannibal". Would not recomend!
| 
