Hannibal

Rating:
Summary: Very entertaining with an unpredictable ending
Review: A very good book that is not as much of a pure thriller as one would expect. It is a testament to Thomas Harris' skill that he could create a scenario where Dr. lecter is seen as distinctly sympathetic compared to a creation of malevolent evil driven by calculated revenge. A good book - not a great one though.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent sequel, but a cop-out ending!
Review: This book had me turning pages so fast, my fingers felt hot; I wondered if the pages would burst into flame. All the way until the end, when I felt betrayed! After almost two complete books covering not just Hannibal Lecter, but Clarice Starling, Thomas Harris wrote an ending which went completely counter to the person - personality, morals, ethics, and integrity - with which he built our favorite FBI agent. It just felt wrong.

Rating:
Summary: I was hooked up until the ending....
Review: Where did this come from? The ending, at least to me, was not really beleivable and made my evaluation go from 5 to 3 stars.

This book goes in stages. The 1st hundred pages fly by, then the next hundred are tough to get through, then it picks up speed until the ending, where you are left wondering how in the hell that could be the ending. UGH.

Rating:
Summary: Perhaps the worst book ever written.
Review: Superficial motives, unbelievable scenes, a prodding plot and weak grammar combine to make one of the worst reading experiences I have ever had. The appeal of Harris' earlier books, a quick peek into distorted minds, is lost here. We see to far in, and discover characters without a drop of subtelty.

Rating:
Summary: Oh my goodness - you're gonna love this book. It awesome!
Review: If you read Thomas Harris Silence of the Lambs and also watched the movie it kept you in suspense. If you read Hannibal" it will keep you in suspense and off the edge of your seat. I spent a couple of sleepless nights wanting to finsh the book. It starts out slow, but if you remember, Dr Lecter was and is a very educated man with fine manners and qualities. He has exquisite tastes and knows he art very well. Mason Verger is after him - well look what happen to him earlier. Ah fate will put Clarice Starling the FBI agent and Dr. Lector together again, but with such a surprising twist. You will enjoy reading Hannibal it will keep you wondering if Mason Verder will capture Hannibal, but the surprise towards the end of the story will shock you and I promise you will enjoy reading Hannibal. Certainly hope Thomas Harris will write a sequel to Hannibal - wow. I certainly hope that when and if they make a sequel to the movie (Hannibal) that it will star Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins and that the screenplay follows the book. Superb! Forgive me for borrowing one of Bard's words to the effects of...."Revenge is best served on a cold platter..." Enjoy reading Hannibal!

Rating:
Summary: A meaty treasure
Review: Wow. Not exactly a formulaic sequel, is it? This is a meaty -- to say nothing of ballsy -- treasure, a cap to the Hannibal Lecter trilogy that far exceeds its predecessors. (No small triumph for author Thomas Harris, considering the quality of RED DRAGON and THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS.) Dr. Lecter finally gets top billing here, and he is revealed, explained, examined in glorious detail.

This is a stunning work, really, perhaps the boldest performance ever logged by a modern author who had previously met with acclaim. Here Harris breaks from the good-guys-chase-bad-guy mold to give us something new, with two immensely complex -- and ultimately entangled -- characters to feast on.

Granted, the first one hundred pages drag some -- there is a ramping-up to HANNIBAL's beginning. But the next hundred pages tell a chilling, super-literate and almost fully self-contained sub-story, and from there the fun begins.

And the ending? Ballsy, ballsy.

I refuse to spoil any more of your fun.

Now we start to hope that Hollywood will grow the guts to tell this story as it was written.

Rating:
Summary: can one feel empathy for a person who ate a woman's face
Review: Feel let down that we must know what truly moved Lecter to his deadly deeds. Intersting tho, that it included WW2. Whatever his motivation, he did eat the face of an innocent nurse. Remember? Let that recall be a numbing moment in the read. But where else could Clarice and Hannible go but together into the night? I feel almost short-sheeted by this easy end. Hannibal is now a sex symbol, someone women should find ultimately attractive, ultimatley seductive? Pump me full of drugs before I watch my nemesis eaten. Is that the excuse for Clarice letting go of everything she felt so sure of? Was her beauty the driving force? What if Clarice was no beauty? What is she was common? Drugs or not I do not believe it and yet I do. Wonderful read. Couldn't put it down but was so regretful that I read it. That's my review.

Rating:
Summary: Not nearly as interesting as Silence Of The Lambs...
Review: What a dissapointment. It is not bad for a casual read but lacks the texture of Thomas Harris earlier books. The plot is inconsistent and the characters are sketchy at best. I hope the next Harris yarn is vastly more entertaining.

Rating:
Summary: This book was odd, but intriguing.
Review: I though that Silence...was much better, but this book was very odd, very gory, and had a very surprising ending. If you liked Silence and Red Dragon, you will enjoy this book. It was a little slow at times but by the time I was 1/2 the way through, I couldn't put it down.

Rating:
Summary: Hannibal is engrossing and at times utterly grotesque.
Review: In the years between Silence of the Lambs and Hannibal, Harris has changed his writing style. Hannibal is written in an omniscient voice which can be distracting. Harris's sabbatical in Italy greatly influenced this book. Be prepared for lots of Italian! It is a good read, but I found the ending disturbing and not believable in terms of the characters' morality. I hope the movie will take a different turn.