Rating: 
Summary: A great book waiting to be made into a great movie.
Review: I'm not an avid book reader, but when I saw "Hannibal", the sequel to "The Silence of the Lambs", I knew I had to get it. This is a great novel from beginning to end. I recommend this book to anyone. I just finished it and I want to read it again. Thomas Harris has done it again with a terrific masterpiece, I just hope his next book doesn't take so long to come out as "Hannibal" did!!
Rating:
Summary: MIND CANDY
Review: This was a thrilling book. I found that although the end is probably not what most readers would want or expect, I was gratified by the twists and turns of the second half. I feel Red Dragon was a better book and was my favorite, but this one will remain as one of the better horror,psychological fiction of all time. Dr. Lecter would be pleased, no doubt.
Rating: 
Summary: Ugh! The "Alien 3" of the Lecter trilogy
Review: Ending is just like getting the rug pulled out from under you. Why bother to build characters one can identify with if you are going to do what this book has done at the end? Starling is not Starling. Jack Crawford was utterly wasted -- why not just leave him out entirely? Harris spends a lot of effort trying to make Mason Verger an evil man and Lecter more or less a hero. I felt manipulated and did not buy it.
Rating:
Summary: More Depth Than Meets The Eye
Review: The publication of "A Man In Full," led to a rather puerile debate among some elites about whether or not the book was merely pulp fiction or literature. No doubt Harris' eagerly awaited publication of "Hannibal" will lead to similar discussion. The depth of this work is well hidden by the fact that it is an extraordinarily easy read, and a great thriller. Beyond the pulp is a journey into Rennaisance Italy, the theories of Stephen Hawking, the nature of good and evil, and ultimately the meaning of intimacy and love. To see this as a mere sequel to a best selling book and mivie is to miss the point entirely, although I would hardly mind Jody foster and Anthony Hopkins doing a reprise.
Rating: 
Summary: The ending is the best part!
Review: I have just finished reading "Hannibal", after having read many of the readers' reviews here. All I can say is, I must be one sick puppy, because I thought the ending was the most original and most memorable part of the book. It is simultaneously chilling and hilarious, heart-warming and horrifying - all in all, one of the most unique reading experiences I've ever had. Also, looking back, this ending was carefully foreshadowed throughout the book - not only through Lecter's ruminations and activities, but also in Starling's growing disillusionment and disgust with the banality and treachery all around her. The whole book, in fact, is a jaundiced meditation on the swinishness of human society in general (none-too-subtly represented by the Mason Verger sub-plot). I can easily understand the outrage the book has apparently aroused, because Harris commits what is probably the supreme sin in our pampered, decadent culture - he openly mocks our egalitarian illusions, and celebrates elitism. Not an elitism of wealth, but rather of taste - because in Harris' God-less vision, taste and intelligence are ultimately the only things we have to live by.
Rating:
Summary: A Very Disappointing Effort for 10 Long Years of Writing!
Review: Don't bother buying this book if you liked the other Thomas Harris books. It is not even remotely like his others. The creative juices must have dried up! It has a few moments of clarity, but was largely muddled and confused! The ending is the absolute worst I have ever read. It will need a lot of work to make it on the big screen!
Rating:
Summary: A Kinder, Gentler Hannibal Lecter?
Review: A heinous crime of unspeakable horror has occurred. A monster of unconscionable depravity is on the loose! No, it's not Hannibal Lecter. I' m talking about Thomas Harris. Harris has committed real literary homicide by turning the Grandest Guignole in recent fiction into a wimp. Readers hoping to find the deliciously menacing Hannibal Lecter of "Silence of the Lambs" will not recognize this latest incarnation who's about as threatening as the newest version of Darth Vader is in the summer's other highly anticipated "sequel." Harris' trademark well-paced, suspense-laden primers in psychological horror have given way to "Hannibal's" lugubrious pacing, annoying protagonists and killer pigs. Without giving away too much of the "plot," suffice to say that in the novel's most ludicrous scene, Lecter is terrorized on an airplane by a "bratty" kid. Scary stuff! Unlike its predecessor, "Hannibal" will not garner any awards should it be made into a movie. Surely, such distinguished actors as Anthony Hopkins and Jodie Foster will refuse to be a part of this debacle. Fortunately, that will leave the door open for the actor who would really be perfect to portray this new Lecter. However, I'm sure Leslie Nielson will be busy filming a real horror movie--"Mr. Magoo 2."
Rating: 
Summary: Hoping the movie sequel has a better ending!
Review: The book receives a 3 based on three stages: 1. The first third is well set-up. 2. The second third had me turning pages at a furious pace. 3. The final third was spine-tingling until a very surprising and complete letdown of an ending. The end is unbelievable and quite disappointing. I guess I feel I know Clarice Starling better than the author.
Rating:
Summary: Seduced By a Bloodthirsty Psychopath; Romance, Y2K Style
Review: I had very high expections for this book, and I must say that Harris did not disappoint. Bulging with gruesome baddies throughout, this is certainly his most disturbingly macabre work to date. Lecter is the sinister master of seduction. We are drawn to his intellect, aestheticism, and charm despite the horror we know awaits us. Indeed, the horror itself is part of the irresistable allure. I found myself cheering his every move; other than Starling, he's the most moral character in the book! If he is not killing in defense of himself, then the victim is so repugnant and despicable that we can't help but derive a certain satisfaction from their deserved demise. Lecter makes each killing dark poetry in motion; he has raised murder to a gruesome level of artistry that we admire in spite of ourselves. Pazzi's death after the slideshow and presentation to the Italian art scholars was astonishing. After Lecter's lecture referring to Dante's Inferno and the history of artistic depiction of hanging of the treacherous and greedy, we could certainly see where the plot was going to go, but we are still shocked and left out of breath with the techniqe, style, and grace with which he carries out his plan. As for the ending, all I can say is these characters have always belonged to Harris and as his property he has every right to take them where he wants them to go. You may not like it, but in the context of the ongoing story I found it unexpected yet deliciously satisfying. Dr. Lecter would do Nietzche proud. That he is transformed to a hero and savior is thrilling in the truest sense of the word.
Rating:
Summary: No value here -
Review: This is a sick stupid souless piece of garbage. When I finished it I threw it in the garbage can. God help the fools who find anything redeeming in this evil, meaningless, trash.
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