Rating: 
Summary: Couldn't put it down!
Review: Ok, everyone, back off! It is understandable that one would expect a sequel to "Silence of the Lambs" to be appealing in the same way as it predessor. "Hannibal" is a different novel. I disagree with the notion that the novel was written only as an attempt to cash in on the wealth of "Silence of the Lambs." What Harris has produced is captivating in its own right. While an argument can be made that there is no central character, it is also pretty clear that Hannibal Lecter controls the action. He almost seems to anticipate it. This is what is so chilling about the novel. The various sociopaths merely decorate a scheme that is entirely within Lecter's control. What makes the ending unique is the fact that every reader entertained thoughts about Starling and Lecter together but dismissed them as something that would never happen....surprise! It does happen! The way I see it, Harris had our expectations pegged and his ending is tailored to a tee.
Rating:
Summary: Great Genre Piece!
Review: Forget all the mixed reviews you've read in the media and the stupid spoilers you've seen on the internet. If you like horror fiction, you'll want to read this. Its probably too gross for those simply looking for a good book to read on the beach. This has gotten me thinking about what exactly separates Horror as a genre from, say, Mystery. I havent come to any conclusions yet, exactly, but I certainly welcome your imput.
Rating: 
Summary: The Worst Book ever Written by A former great Author
Review: Thomas Harris sighted the ball, dropped it, and punted. This book is so poorly constructed it read like it was written in a week. Unlike his other books, Hannibal is totaly predicatible, totally overblown, and without any redeeming value whatsoever. This may be the low point of American publishing. Where was the editor? Where was the author. Thomas Harris had no desire to write, and this book shows how deep that antipathy went. He ought to have spent his time reviewing Italian hi-end consumer products for magazines.
Rating: 
Summary: Talk about dropping the ball.....
Review: I am sure by the time you see this review you vill be very aware that something is terrible amiss with Mr. Harris. The pressure to produce must have been enormous. This was the most unsatisfactory ending I can remember ever reading. Poor Agent Starling!!!!
Rating:
Summary: I'ts No Red Dragon!
Review: I'm confused, was I reading the latest installment in the Hannibal Lector trilogy or a script from the Food Network. Even a devout foodie like me grew weary with the endless references to food, wine and Lector's "distinctive copperplate hand" There is a reason that editor's have jobs! What's more what has happened to our dear Dr. Lector; once the embodyment of evil he now seems like just another misunderstood dandy. Needless to say I was disappointed, this novel pales in comparison to Silence of the Lambs and Red Dragon which I consider the finest of the three. Better luck with number four Mr. Harris.
Rating: 
Summary: Wonderfully and genuinely disturbing
Review: Well, what can I say? I bought it on the way home from work June 8 and finished it by eleven that night. I could do without the Florentine travelogue section, but by and large I felt replete. The prose has taken on a new looseness and sinuosity. The ending is a shocker with psychological infrastructure to legitimize it. It is genuinely, deliciously disturbing. Reading the bad reviews of this book make me aware of how we have changed since the 1970s, the decade from which I get my basic mindset -- there are a bunch of squeamish, political-correctness-shackled souls out there. This book may not be for them, but I am sent by it.
Rating:
Summary: The Science of the Scams
Review: Wow, what an awful book! I've read and re-read "Red Dragon" and "Silence of the Lambs" several times, and like many other reviewers here, I'm wondering whether the author of these two wonderful novels had anything to do with the disastrous "Hannibal."To be fair, the first hundred or so pages would've been worth publishing as a novella or serialized story in, say, the New Yorker, but the rest of the book is pure trash. Hannibal and Clarice are ill-conceived caricatures of their former selves, and the childhood trauma explanation for Hannibal's perversions is truly silly. The over-the-top pornographic sadism only adds to the tawdriness, and reads like a hack writer's attempt at oneupmanship in the gross-out dimension. Obviously, Harris was pressured or otherwise felt the need to publish a third book in the trilogy, and I guess this is is revenge on his publishers, or on us. Someone should tear out the last four hundred or so pages and force him to eat them with some fava beans and a big Amarone. For God's sake don't waste a penny on this piece of junk!
Rating:
Summary: won't keep you up at night, that's for sure
Review: Finished this book last night, and it was a real disappointment. If only one hadn't had to wait 11 years for the follow up to Silence. If Harris would have been pumping out a book every two years, one could forgive him this yawn-fest. Implausable and suspenseless. Sure, some exquisite gastro-intestinal touches. But I was hoping I'd be really doing some stomach-lurching and squirming reading this novel - as it was it was a real let down. As for Stephen King's review in the NYT Book Review (whose reviews are usually very kind to begin with): don't believe the hype. King's review is way too kind and he should know better.
Rating:
Summary: Horrible
Review: Absolutely horrible. I enjoyed Red Dragon and Silence of the Lambs, but this is just Harris bringing the whole series to an end by killing off his characters. He didn't even do it well. A major disappointment.
Rating:
Summary: Forced, overly gruesome, disappointing.
Review: I looked forward to Mr. Harris' new book, but was disappointed fairly early on. Did not contain the peculiar "empathy" I found in Silence of the Lambs and Red Dragon; also seemed to depend too heavily on SOTL for support. In addition, the gruesome details and characters, I feel, overwhelmed the psychological dexterity of his previous novels.
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