Rating: 
Summary: WAIT FOR THE MOVIE...
Review: First off, I did enjoy it, and hardly put it down. However, while reading HANNIBAL, I couldn't help but think that the movie version of this will no doubt be much more powerful and frightening. It was all build-up but no tension, and the action sequences are really brief. Plus, Harris' tone is just a little too stilted this time around as well...he's mimicking some baroque literary style instead of just getting on with it. The book seemed almost like the novelization of the film, rather than the other way around. Harris almost seems to be describing the stage directions and editing rather than telling the story. However, a good screenwriter, director and cast should be able to turn this into a strong sequel to the film version of "Silence" without letting the words get in the way...and I'd wager you'll enjoy the movie much more if you don't read the book first.
Rating: 
Summary: I would like my money back
Review: I bought copies of Red Dragon for numerous friends and was delighted to scare them senseless with such an emotionally gripping, well-written book. Hannibal seemed like a paperback piece of schlocky writing that you'd find for sale only in drugstores or airports. I'm extremely disappointed in Mr. Harris. If I worked in a bookstore, I would advise all customers to skip this piece of trash.
Rating:
Summary: Thought it was great until...
Review: I have to say that I was one of those people who eagerly awaited this book. I read nonstop, day & night for 2 days straight and couldn't believe what I was reading. A wonderful book, until about the last 30-40 pages. The ending managed to ruin the entire thing for me. Harris could've done better!
Rating: 
Summary: WELL WORTH THE WAIT
Review: I ORDERED THE BOOK EARLY, STARTED IT AS SOON AS IT WAS RECEIVED AND FINISHED IT IN 2 DAYS. I COULDN'T PUT IT DOWN. ALTHOUGH SOME OTHER REVIEWS SAY IT WASN'T BELIEVABLE, ISN'T THAT WHAT FICTION IS. I READ IT FOR ENTERTAINMENT, NOT THE BELIEF VALUE AND THOMAS HARRIS DID NOT DISAPPOINT. IT WAS,IN MY OPINION, AS GOOD AS, IF NOT SLIGHTLY BETTER THAN THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS AND I CAN'T WAIT FOR THE MOVIE TO BE MADE. I WILL BE ONE OF THE FIRST IN LINE AND ONE OF THE FIRST TO ORDER HIS NEXT BOOK.
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Summary: Fascinating ending of a trilogy
Review: A nonstop tale which kept me glued to the book. It had enough changes in rhythm to peak ones attention and stimulate ones mind.
Rating:
Summary: Boring
Review: If all-wise, all-powerful heroes are the dullest characters in fiction all-wise, all-powerful villains run them a close second. The parts of this book that follow Clarice Starling are interesting enough, but the parts that concentrate on Hannibal Lecter soon had me skimming forward. As a mysterious character casting a shadow of evil in The Silence of the Lambs Hannibal Lecter was quite effective, but the more he moves into the foreground in Hannibal the more two-dimensional he seems. The torture scenes were particularly unsatisfactory, as the author seemed unable to capture the horror of his previous books and ended up substituting grossness instead. This book is another good reason to own a library card.
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Summary: The contempt, I mean, joke is on us!
Review: Umm, 'Hannibal' is an attempt at satire, right? In 'Silence of the Lambs' Clarice tries to ask Lecter what was it that made him the way he was and Lecter replies," Nothing happened to me, I happened." It seems that in 'Red Dragon' and 'Silence of the Lambs' there is an aversion by Harris to define Lecter's character. However,in 'Hannibal,' Harris not only defines Lecter's character but turns it into a cliche, like some 'Dracula or mad scientist' type from a 1950's horror film. And on top of that, there is the scene at the torture exhibit, where Lecter's real facination isn't with the exhibit but with the people's faces while viewing the exhibit. The 'exhibit' scene coupled with a few comments reminiscent of the movie 'Seven', suggest that Harris is saterizing the public's facination with violence. Now, assuming that Harris knows what he is doing, he must be doing these things on purpose. Ironically, in lieu of Stephen King's review, he seems to be doing what the writer from 'Misery' was trying to do before meeting his 'Number one fan'. So, I'm not sure we are suppose to like his book? And if you do then maybe you don't get it? I'm not sure I do? Either way, Harris does write beautifully, I read the book in one sitting. And, if he did go for the satire, "Misery" angle, then he's got a lot of guts, too.
Rating: 
Summary: Hypnotic, frightening, and wonderfully engrossing
Review: I've been waiting for this book since I first saw Silence Of The Lambs, and the result is definately worth it. Obviously, from some of the other reviews posted, this is not an opinion shared by all. I can see why, though, because this book is difficult, literate, and winding. It requires thought, time, and a wonderfully developed sense of irony to "get"; things that readers looking for a carbon-copy, cinema-ready rehash of SOTL wouldn't have given it anyway. This book is a unique work of art on it's own, and needs to be appreciated as such. That dosen't mean it's perfect, and many of the complaints are valid(wandering plot, some pointless characters), but not all of them, especially those about the ending! Come on, guys! You can't honestly admit you didn't see something like that coming, in some way, from the Lecter/Starling relationship since the beginning. Yeah, it was creepy, disturbing, and a bit revolting, but isn't that the point. It definately did not "betray the characters", like many have suggested, but, at least to me, seemed like a natural progression of events. HANNIBAL is is a great follow-up to SOTL, and will make an equally great movie. I only hope the original cast(esp. Jodie Foster and Sir Anthony Hopkins)is involved, and that the screenwriters and director have the courage to film the story as written instead of pandering to "traditional Hollywood" tastes. Whatever they do, I'll be eager to see the finished product, just like I was this time around. Hopefully the results will be as amazing!
Rating:
Summary: Different view but a great ride.
Review: Hey....I thought I wanted another Francis Dolarhyde or Jame Gumb and that would have been just great, but this is a fine book. Thomas Harris gives the reader much to enjoy, see and think about through this tour of Dr. Lecter's mind and world. For the readers that did not like the ending (I did like it), it is a situtation that could change in an instant. Perhaps it already has. I know I'll be there for the next Thomas Harris offering.
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Summary: Mademoiselle Starling, c'est moi !
Review: Reading through the comments before adding my own, I'm struck by the outrage expressed at Thomas Harris'having dared to transform that nice Clarice Starling from the smart, if conventional, reassuringly sexless heroine of Silence of the Lambs into a far more complex character. You'd think another girl sleuth, titian-haired Nancy Drew, had totalled her roadster DWI. Is it worth pointing out that Clarice is not in fact the wholesome Jodie Foster; she is the terrifying Thomas Harris? Clarice/Harris - like Jame Gumb before them - seem to be in full metamorphosis. "Hannibal" must be the transition from the caterpillar state. I'm guessing it's an intermediate book and, being a gambler, I'd wager Harris has another finished manuscript in a drawer somewhere. Maybe Harris wanted with this novel to rid himself of the expectations of readers looking for the literary equivalent of a slasher flick. In so doing, he has pulled a fast one of Lecteresque proportions on Hollywood. Unless Lecter's theories on the reversal of time are correct (in which case Luis Bunuel will shortly be rising from the dead), a film adaptation seems unlikely - though I do feel like I should pay royalties to Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins for already having lent their faces and voices to "Hannibal". At the end of Amazon reviews, there is always that "if you like books by X, you'll love books by Y". James Ellroy and Ed McBain are mentioned. Ellroy and McBain ? The only suspense writer I would compare Harris to would be Patricia Highsmith with her seductive moral ambiguity. And, of course, to his and Highsmith's fellow Southerner, the thriller-loving Flannery O'Connor whose black comic imagination Harris can rival. If "Mademoiselle Starling, c'est Harris", then I would add Flaubert to that list (Harris always finds "les mots justes") and his protégé de Maupassant (Harris' soulmate in bloodcurdling irony). Perhaps it is only coincidence that "Hannibal" is evocative of "La légende de St. Julien l'Hospitalier". Like Flaubert's saint, flawed seemingly beyond redemption by a bloodlust that can never be satisfied, "Hannibal" finds its resolution in the most sensually oneiric, sexually explicit (and gruesome) happy ending since Flaubert's. Into what species will that nice Clarice Starling be incarnated - butterfly or death's-head moth ? Thomas Harris, you tell me. Please.
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