Rating: 
Summary: Harris reclaims his characters.
Review: In Hannibal, Thomas Harris reclaims his characters from the pop culture cocktail party that began with Silence of the Lambs. After Jody Foster and Anthony Hopkins successfully translated Harris' characters from prose to cinema, the pair seemed more suitable for endless appearances on talk-shows and magazine interviews than participants in the author's grand themes of battles between dark and light.Readers should well be warned that Hannibal is grisly. However, Harris has suitably warned us of this through his other two Lector books. The maroon-eyed serial killer is, and will always be, a dangerous being. No popular worship from afar will buy any mercy when his appetite for action is piqued. He is a predator. He cannot be tamed. But, he can be predictable. Given the chance, he will kill. Given a challenge, he will persevere. With that in mind, read Hannibal as the dark journey Harris intended. The author, much like Virgil, leads you, the reader, through a dark Inferno of intigues. Clarisse Starling has more in common with Will Graham, of Red Dragon this time around. Clarisse has new lambs that disturb her sleep. The world has turned a few clicks and she is "in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes." Isolation is a powerful crucible. Harris exploits it to the hilt. Much has been made of Lector's childhood recollections as a grand explanation for his condition. Rubbish. In Red Dragon, Will Graham says Lector has been labeled a sociopath because "...they don't know what else to call him." Lector's childhood recollections no more explain why he has his appetites than sociopath lucidly describes his character. He will always be an enigma; classically urbane and utterly lethal in the same paragraph. Harris' grand theme, the struggle between darkness and light, enjoys numerous variations as new and old characters move into Lector's dark circle and become influenced by the same dark forces. It is, however, his domain. Few can survive it. None are left unchanged.
Rating:
Summary: Great Story, Mediocre Ending
Review: This is the first one of Harris' books that I have read, having only seen "the Silence of the Lambs", and getting introduced to the good doctor that way. I thought the first 430 pages or so of the book were great, but what a strange ending. Seemed very out of character for Starling to do something like that. Think there will be a sequel to this one? I'm not sure what Harris has been doing for ten years, but I hope for his sake it was not concentrating on the ending of this book. I would probably reccommend it to others. Looking forward to reading Red Dragon, as I have been told it's the best one.
Rating: 
Summary: This book is AWFUL.
Review: In the last hundred pages, Harris betrays everything he apparently worked hard on establishing in his previous books about Hannibal Lector. To say the characters behave inconsistently does not begin to tell the story. You will feel cheated when you get to the end of this book.
Rating: 
Summary: Left me feeling conflicted
Review: A fan of Harris' earlier novels - Black Sunday, Red Dragon and 'Silence' - I had hoped for another. The characters were finely drawn as usual - I loved hating Verger - but the ending was a gyp. It felt like Harris didn't know what to do so he did what he did. Also, I'm not sure I wanted insight into why Lecter was Lecter - the whole point of the previous novels in the series being that he was undefinable. So read it to enjoy Harris - but don't expect to be satisfied by the ending.
Rating: 
Summary: slow moving, with nonsensical violence
Review: I was very disappointed in this book. It drags on and on, with a hard-to-believe ending. Violence is used as a substitute for plot, and at times is so far out, that it's like watching professional wrestling. Save your money.
Rating:
Summary: It wasn't nearly as good as Silence of the Lambs.
Review: I found it dragged in places. I thought most of the characters fascinating but sickening. I was a bit disappaointed in "Barney" and didn't like what happened to Clarice Starling at the end. I'd would like to see a prequel to all the books that deal with Hannibal that tells how he was origially caught.
Rating:
Summary: A good read, until the last chapters, when it disappoints.
Review: I waited, along with all of Harris' other fans, for his next book to be published. I was excited, as I am sure the others were, when I heard it would be a follow-up to "The Silence of the Lambs". When I finally was able to start reading this long awaited tome, I was delighted that it followed the pattern of the previous book. As I got farther along in the book it started to become disjointed. The explanation of Lecter's condition seems to be an afterthought and was not explored beyond a few paragraphs. In his previous works the disclosure of the life of Francis Dollarhyde and Jame Gumb were highlights of the books. Lecter's previous life seemed to be a throwaway.... An "oh, by the way, this is why he eats his victims". The final chapters were disappointing and seem to have been written with a movie script in mind. Most of the book was enjoyable but the ending was a BIG letdown.
Rating:
Summary: Not as good as it should be
Review: I found the bizarre violence to be an attempt by Harris to outdo his previous novels. He may have suceeded but it is not nearly as good as Red Dragon. The ending is disappointing and totally out of character for Clarice.
Rating:
Summary: A Hero for the New Millenium
Review: Like Cyrano de Bergerac, Hannibal Lecter will never lose his panache. Witty, suave, and preternaturally cool, the omnipotent Lecter evades his would-be captors at all turns and proves that a razor-sharp brain and sang froid are more than a match for weapons, ravening maws, and vengeful demons. He sees all, he remembers everything, he is stronger than an ox, his taste in truffles and wine is impeccable. (With all that going for him, whatever possessed him to go into psychiatry?) He starts to look vulnerable at times, but he upholds our faith in him and survives his tribulations dignity intact. The most important key to his survival is his capture and conversion of Clarice Starling. Having planted the seeds of love in Silence of the Lambs, he woos her delicately from afar, and contrives a conclusion that assures his safety for the rest of his life. We know that the FBI, underfunded and mismanaged by Washington boors as it is, will never manage to lay hands on him. He is far too clever to be captured by mere Italian cops. No, there are only two people in the world who could possibly run him down. One is Starling. The other, of course, is the nasty perverted billionaire Mason Verger. (Have you ever read The Jungle, by Upton Sinclair? What a foul industry meat packing is!) Mason can capture Lecter because he, too, has a mind that can manipulate a network of other people into carrying out his wishes. His money helps, but the real secret of his success is his ability, polished by therapy with Lecter, to talk people into doing his will. Lecter escapes because he has cultivated Starling. He survives by making her his own. In the process of tracking Lecter, she learns about taste, guided by his purchasing habits and inadvertently preparing herself to become his partner. When the malodorous Sardinians seize him, she dashes to his rescue; how could she not, after the lovely birthday present he had just given her? She frees him, but loses herself in the process. But who can complain about such an ending? Unlikely, yes, but isn't it what we wished could happen at the End of Silence of the Lambs? How tragic it was, that the relationship between Starling and Lecter was doomed to be a love that dare not speak its name. How satisfying that Clarice has finally found a man who can keep her in the fashion to which she clearly wanted to become accustomed, and can serve up her enemies in beurre noisette to boot. The 1990s have been the decade of the serial killer. It is only fitting that 1999 conclude with a fairy tale featuring a handsome prince in the guise of a murderer and cannibal who has more taste and dignity than anyone and, unlike Superman, does not have to relinquish his power to possess the woman he loves.
Rating:
Summary: MAJOR DISAPPOINTMENT!! I'm sorry to say.....
Review: The book started off with good intentions with the drug bust and Ms. Starling being in the picture. I got totally confused ( and still do not understand ) what the storyline in Italy had to do with the rest of the book. The ending got better when we got back to the Starling and Hannibal interactions. The ending was an interesting twist that I don't think most readers were expecting. Overall, my long wait for Hannibal, and the time it took to get throught it, was a waste of time. I'll cross my fingers that maybe the movie will be better.
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