Rating: 
Summary: I stayed on the edge of my seat!
Review: I've never been one for mysteries, but I picked up this one, because I had seen Silence of the Lambs. All I can say is Wow! This is a quick read, with scenes and action on every page. Despite the sometimes gruesome parts, it keeps the reader breathless throughout. And the ending was . . . well, I really don't want to say how it ended. It just wouldn't be fair.For lovers of the unusual, this is a great book. Just beware what you order at dinner . . .
Rating:
Summary: Harris delivers a strong third helping
Review: I "devoured" this (if you pardon the pun) in two days flat. I literally could not put it down, rearranging meals to get more pages under my belt. Not my usual reading matter, but I had read "Silence of the Lambs" and "Red Dragon" and thought: "why not?" I was glad I did. This novel grabs you by the throat and compels you to read it with a sinister energy the good doctor would be proud of. In all ways, the characters of the "Silence on the Lambs" are back with a vengeance. And vengeance is very much the key to this novel, with practically everyone having a score or two to settle and not just with Lecter. Moving Lecter out of the confines of his cell where he had lived for the last two novels, was a challenge for Harris, with astonishing results. Lecter lives and breathes through every page (particularly as Dr Fell), knocking Starling back to the mere sidelines. His power and grace and cat-like movements revealed in the narration, match Harris' sparse economical language. This is not a novel languishing in detail and description. The detail is there when needed, a few words to set the scene. It is a testament to Harris' skill that atmosphere and mood can be conveyed with restraint. Clearly well researched, without preaching, the tools of Lecter's' excellent taste set out like a fine meal he would enjoy. Foreign language and settings are handled almost effortlessly. I resisted the urge to see the novel in a film sense, as I know that Hopkins is filming the role as we speak, but I could not help myself a little and I will see it when it comes out. The violence, though of course distasteful at times, this is a dark-thriller after all, was still restrained and reasonable (though very shocking at the end), considering the characters. You deserve a chill. Read it. Read it now.
Rating: 
Summary: Total Garbage
Review: Nevermind the fact that I really hate books with foreign language phrases inserted all over the place. It's like going into a room and then asking to leave and then coming back in. I too was very disappointed in the ending to this book. Totally out of character for Clarice to become a cannibal and flashing forward 3 years to find out that her and Hannibal are lovers. It took Harris 10+ years to come with this? Please give me a break.
Rating:
Summary: Sick !!
Review: I very much enjoyed this book and I'm sure the movie will not do it justice. It was however, quite disturbing to consider the possibility that human beings could behave in the manner described throughout the book.
Rating:
Summary: Yummy seconds (or thirds if that's how you see it)
Review: I really liked this book. The ending (I won't spoil it for you) I didn't exspect. It wasn't as creepy as 'Silence' but just as gory, if not more so. It was about Dr. Lecter after he escaped (6 years after). It tells the story of Manson Verger, a man he mamnied years prior to 'Silence.' Clairece is back, along with Barney and Jack Crawford. A few scenes were interestingly unpredictable but the rest of the novel follows Harris's stream of historical interest. If you enjoyed 'The Silence of the Lambs' and Lecters and Starlings twisted relationship (like me) you'll enjoy the book. Worth buying, if you do.
Rating:
Summary: Harris has resorted to shocking the reader
Review: I am not squeamish or prudish, and I loved each of Harris' other books, but at the end of Hannibal, I felt violated. The reader from La Luz, NM was correct when they wrote that the book could have used a better editor and that the characters - especially Clairce - go against type. Clarice never showed any indication that she craved the lush life, yet she ends up falling for Dr. Lecter's bourgeois trappings. What would her Daddy and Mama think? Plus, with Kendler out of the picture, her career could have been salvaged. Speaking of Krendler, I understand that this is a horror novel, but some of the more graphic details were simply unnecessary.
Rating:
Summary: The true horror came in the time I wasted reading it
Review: This book starts off strong, like a fine bottle of Dr Lecter's best Chianti. As I closed the first chapter, I felt for sure I was in for a breath-taking ride. But as the pages peeled by, and I descended further into the mind of Hannibal and Starling - and their morally bankrupt support characters - the book became a progressively bigger disappointment. The last 50 pages left me annoyed that such great characters as Hannibal and Starling could be dealt with so ludicrously by their creator. My advice? Read the first chapter over and over again, and feed the rest to the pigs.
Rating: 
Summary: 'Medium Rare'
Review: I knew from the opening line there could be trouble. Having enjoyed Red Dragon as well as Silence of the Lambs, I was expecting a knock-out punch from Hannibal, which Harris half delivers on; I was intrigued with Dr. Fell/Hannibal Lector. Questions are answered and pieces to the puzzle are revealed in regard to why he is deranged which is cool. Italian cop and Lector whistle blower Pazzi is interesting as is Mason Verger family and friends, although it was a bit much in parts. Barney, the former nurse/orderly and now Lector "Guru" is good. Paul Krendler, the big gun and corrupt nemesis from Justice is midly entertaining, a tad weak at times. I liked the open mind line. Clarice Starling's character never really took off for me, I wanted it to, and it had nothing to do with her metamorphisis. It seemed forced and wooden, too predictable (until the end?). Who to root for? Hannibal was hard for me to put down sometimes though. I found Harris' colorful description of Florence pleasing as the good Dr.'s taste in cousine, drink, music, the arts...In the end, I wasn't necessarily let down, or even surprised. Like I said in the beginning, I knew from the opening line there could be trouble...
Rating:
Summary: Hannibal "The Pussycat" Lecter
Review: Like many reviewers, I found this final edition of the Hannibal trilogy somewhat disappointing. What has always made the Lecter character so fascinating has been Harris' unique presentation of an intellectual genius gone totally off the deep end. He's evil, he's nuts, but in an all so mesmerizing way. Now comes 'Hannibal', and we're asked to accept a kinder, gentler madman. But it's actually worse than that. Lecter goes through a transformation so complete that, by the last 50 pages, he becomes a sympathetic, nurturing, father figure. Oh, the horror!! Meanwhile, Starling goes through her own transformation, from clear-eyed, FBI-Semper Fi, do or die trooper to ... Madonna (both of them). Harris does throw us a bone (so to speak) by introducing Mason Verger, a former patient of Lecter's to whom the good doctor performed a face-lift with the minor error of forgetting to re-attach the face. Verger's money and power put him in a position to get revenge on Dr. L. but, truth be told, it's his ghoulish features and the conditions under which he exists that make his character interesting. But back to the Doctor. When last seen, he was riding off in the Buenos Aires sunset with the maiden Starling on his arm. Sorry, but that's not how I want to remember him. Give me the doctor that spoke about eating someone's liver with favre beans and a nice Chianti.
Rating:
Summary: The wonderful thriller! - with good and bad surprises
Review: Sometimes I wonder what Thomas Harris has done to the classic THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS. Because, sometimes, I sequel is not needed to understand the characters. That's why I wonder if Thomas Harris should have written this book. Just in the beginning, you realize that there will be many surprises on the story. And that's the good point on the book, at least in the beginning. The problem is that Thomas Harris told everything about his most famous character, Hannibal Lecter. He probably didn't remember that good stories shouldn't be told twice. Mary Shelley didn't have to write two books to make Frankenstein a classic. Bram Stoker didn't have to do it to make Dracula a classic. But if Thomas Harris felt that way, who can blame the creator for doing what he's done to his creature? No one. And although the reader will see many surprises - many of them which they won't like - , the reading is not terrible. The book is a very enjoyable piece, and you feel compelled all the time. Then comes the ending of the story... Well, who can blame the creature? Time will say if this is a book Thomas Harris will regret for have written it or not. The readers already made their choice. Marco Aurelio.
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