Rating: 
Summary: A Great Plot, Horribly Written
Review: In "Hannibal", Thomas Harris tries to give us the seven-years-later account of all our old favorites from "Silence of The Lambs". Dr Lecter, Clarice, and of Course Jack Crawford, but time has not been kind to our heroes, and Starling Seems to have made some enemies. Additionally, a surviving Lecter victim has sworn revenge. Perhaps through it all the Lecter Case can be the solution to her problems. The plot is solid, and strong. However, writer Thomas Harris suffers from several things:1. He rambles. I mean the guy goes into all this stuff that really isn't important to the book, trying to sound more intelligent than the hack he is with all this baloney about "memory palaces", and Dante. 2. Present Tense. Past Tense. Active Voice. Descriptive Voice. Harris can't seem to decide, and as a result tends to lecture the reader too much. 3. "A book lacking complete sentences". Using short stupid phrases to describe action scenes gets old REAL fast, unless you're writing a movie script. Which perchance is the only reason this book was written, conveniently aging all the characters since the last movie. This book is a sequel. That's why it sold. Period. If Harris stuck to plot we'd all be happier. The base plot of this book is great, but he just tries to add too much, and it falls apart.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent read
Review: Harris attempts, and succeeds, at providing the reader with an in-depth glance at the psychology behind the "hunter" and "prey" in the cat and mouse game of murder investigation. Perhaps the greatest single point of the story is that we all inherit, as humans, the ability to perform destruction - self-inflicted, practiced, or otherwise. Graham is an excellent character who is tormented by the subconcious realization that he is able to perform his task by relying on the dark elements inside of him. Graham is able to engage serial killers through a great sense of imagination - and understanding. This scares Graham...literally to death. All this was forecast by Lecter. Dolarhyde begins as a vicious killer. I found his profile to be extremly interesting. He rivals Lecter in almost everyway. I also enjoyed the chapters exploring the killers past - although I was a bit turned off by the cliche' murderer's childhood characteristics. You'll find that the killer was neglected and abused as a child. He was a bedwetter. He tortured animals and later derived sexual satisfaction from the act - only after discovering himself unable to do so with humans after years of ridicule and guilt. At this point the reader can almost feel sorry for Dolorhyde. To make it short, Dolorhyde finds acceptance in the end through Reba, a blind woman (which figures). He makes a brief attempt to stop the killings, but finds himself unable to do so under the shadow of the power of the "dragon," a manifestation of the subconcious drives and scars he endured over a lifetime. The plot is incredible. It twists up until the very end...which by the way was the weak point in the story. So many promising leads. By chance the killer is discovered. Great tale indeed. I look forward to the rest of Harris' books. This comes highly recommended by me.
Rating:
Summary: The Doctor Is In
Review: At long last, Hannibal comes home again! Whether or not you agree with the concept of serial killer as human being, the text is rich in description that is enjoyed like a fine meal, sans fava beans. Thomas Harris does not disappoint with the long wait. The intricacy and detail he imports should be savored; a true delicacy for where the mind can take you.
Rating:
Summary: A Real "Page Turner"!
Review: I am not a very fast reader. And I don't read that much fiction at all. But I could not put this book down. I began reading it on a Saturday and finished by Monday. It is a very good read. Its exciting and keeps you wondering what is going to happen next. Now I will say it is not for the squeamish. If anyone saw the film of "The Silence of the Lambs" and it made you sick or really creaped you out then don't read this book. For everyone else, who saw that film, you have to read "Hannibal". It is truly thrilling.
Rating: 
Summary: well, ok, but...
Review: This book is not bad, but hardly what I expected. I expected the glorious Clarice Starling in a duell to the death with the even more glorious Hannibal Lecter. I didn't get that, am I sorry? No! I also expected an independent book, great writing like the first 2. Did I get it? No! Ok, the writing is great but it dosen't become a real book. If Harris gave this to me a year or two after the "lambs" I would have praised it for its huge potential. But there it stops, beeing a sketch for a great book. Why did it take ten years to write this? I am not really disappointed, Starlings fall from grace is convincing and Lecter was always too unique to be only the enemy. In the Red Dragon there is a moment where a blind girl is able to touch a tiger because it is sedated. Lecter is that tiger, so 'beautiful', so dangerous, so beyond others, you want to run and still you want to be close to him. With all its flaws, this is a good book, enchanting writing by a man with a truly sick imagination, and I mean that as a compliment. Too sad it never became what it could have been.
Rating: 
Summary: Hannibal & Clarice : A Love Story
Review: Just finished reading Hannibal. Where to begin? First off, the author Thomas Harris has not lost the ability to engage the reader with his page-turning stories. The book reads like a worthy companion to Silence of the Lambs, but not quite as good. That said, it's obvious from reading the book that Harris has an avid love of the research he incorporates in this story. You get the feeling he visited Florence and fell head over heels in love with it and spends an entire section of the book praising its every nuance to the point of nausea. He doesn't devote nearly this much detail to other locales depicted, even though they take up more pages and story than Florence does. Another thing that's ... irksome is you can SO picture him reading about the concepts of "memory palaces" and then deciding that's how Lecter's mind should operate (which is another thing : did we really have to know THIS much about him? I liked it better when all we got were frightening glimpses of Lecter's world, not his life story). The other characters in the book are more or less solidly written. There is a very funny moment involving Barney (from Silence) and Margot Verger (the real villian's lesbian sister) in a shower scene. Some of their fates are unbelievably horrifying, but most everyone gets what they deserve in the end. Except for Clarice Starling. I can see why the director talked with Harris and is now changing the ending of the upcoming movie (Feb 2001). Clarice, like it or not, became too much of a role model for her fate to be depicted as such on the big screen. I wouldn't have minded if Harris had gone further and more perverted than what he did write concerning her. But it's too harsh for the movie-going populace. Which brings us to Dr. Hannibal Lecter. This is a kinder, gentler sociopath. He doesn't kill or even maim everyone he comes into contact with, just knocks them out as long as they're polite and not trying to capture him. He's a lot more likeable in this book, and that bothered me a bit. This is a bit too much like glamorizing and romanticizing a serial killer. yes, he's actually more like the hero here,and that's ... weird. He's too cool, too debonnair and not nearly malevolent enough to match his old persona. All in all, this book was a good read. Not nearly as scary as Silence of the Lambs, though. The book also had the unfortunate quality of reading like it was ultimately meant for the movies. It reads like a movie (except for the surreal ending) and that may turn off some readers. Still, go buy and read it. Judge for yourself
Rating:
Summary: Oh So JUICY!
Review: Hannibal is just what it should be -- a very entertaining thriller. Yet there is such depth of character in these books, this is not your average paperback. The sick and twisted eating habits of Dr.Lecter just make the interaction between him and Agent Starling a little more interesting and complex. Dr. Lecter has some issues, but don't we all? He is a great "antihero" and I wish there was another book to read about him.
Rating: 
Summary: Hannibal
Review: I am an avid crime/mystery reader and thought that since I enjoyed the movie Silence of the Lambs that I would enjoy this new book. This book could barely hold my attention! It read like a movie script - I am sure that the author thought he could save some time in doing both a novel and a screen play at the same time! What a disappointment - I now have no desire to see the movie as the book failed to "capture" me. Such a dissappointment!
Rating:
Summary: Horrible disappointment
Review: I waited with bated breath for this book to show up. I was ready to have my nerves tingle as with _The Silence of the Lambs_. And it did, for the first 3/4 of the book. And the last part of the book ruined the whole durn thing. I can't even go back and read _Silence..._ again because of it. I applaud Jodie Foster for her integrity in not repeating her role as Clarice because of what Harris did with her in this novel. I'm sorry I paid the cover price for it, it was such a disappointment. Shame on you, Mr. Harris.
Rating:
Summary: not a gripping tale
Review: Compared to silence of the lambs, this book is awful. It reads like a movie script and unlike the last Hannibal book, I had no trouble putting it down. In fact many passages were boring. I would not sped the money. There is too much else out there worth reading
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