Rating: 
Summary: Black Sunday
Review: This was a great novel. Thomas Harris keeps you intrigued, and gives great descriptions of both characters and events. The plot and Characters were well developed and very believable (now more that ever after the recent tragedies our nation has been faced with). The only problem I had with this book was his over attention to detail. At times, I thought, the information he gave was useless, and did no more than bore me. However, I can see how someone else may see the information as valid and fascinating. Overall, this was a well-written novel, and I would suggest it to anyone who enjoys fast paced novels full of suspense.
Rating: 
Summary: Not as good as I would have hoped for.
Review: This was my first Thomas Harris novel and I didn't think it was all that great. The story concept was original and the ending was suspenseful, however the story didn't develop smoothly and the characters were very dry. In that sense I mean you couldn't tell what their motivating feelings and thoughts were, they just carried through their actions robotically. If you were to compare this to "Sum of All Fears" by Tom Clancy (simply because they're both terrorism novels) you'd see what I mean. The characters there had motivation and you could understand where their actions were coming from, and consequently I think "Sum" is a much better novel. I'll probably read Harris' other stuff. I imagine "Silence of the Lambs" must be better than "Black Sunday" since the film was so good, plus the novel came out later in his career. As a final comment, I thought about giving this novel only two stars, but the originality of the plot took it up a notch.
Rating:
Summary: Thirty Years Old But Terrifyingly Timely
Review: Thomas Harris is best known as the creator of Dr. Hannibal Lecter. But long before Lectermania, Harris tried his hand at writing what was then an improbable tale of Palestinian terrorists launching an attack upon that bedrock of American icons, the Super Bowl by putting a bomb aboard the "Aldrich" blimp. In the aftermath of 9/11, Harris' book reads uncomfortably like history that hasn't happened yet. In 1973, the story seemed absurdly far-fetched; in 2004, it seems taken from the headlines. With the Super Bowl upon us, BLACK SUNDAY is enough to give you the shivers. Harris is an obvious journeyman novelist in this book. His characters are all stock, from the deranged Vietnam vet who plans the attack to the Palestinians who help him carry it out, to the tough-as-nails Israeli agent who is hunting them. Despite the predictability of the characters, the story races along at a tremendous edge-of-your-seat clip right up until the end, when Harris doesn't redouble the staccato rhythm of the rest of the book, essentially ending the book with a sputter and not the bang the reader anticipates. Given the book's continued popularity, it's a shame Harris never rewrote his last ten pages. Nonetheless, BLACK SUNDAY is a wonderful light read, more effective now because it seems so much more realistic.
Rating: 
Summary: Magnificent thriller
Review: Thomas Harris was prescient when he wrote this realistic thriller 25 years ago, up to and including his positioning of Moammar Khadafy as the financier of the Black September terrorists who decide to off everyone at the Super Bowl. There are no wasted passages here. Harris' characters and his knowledge of world geography and politics are first-rate. To think he wrote this for a lot less than $10 million is testimony to his work ethic. If you enjoy Frederick Forsyth, leCarre or even Ludlum, this book is a must-read. As timely today as it was in 1974, when Harris wrote it.
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Summary: The novel that set the standard for the modern thriller.
Review: Tom Clancy, Fredrick Forysth, all are rank amatures compared to Mr. Harris. Black Sunday is a exciting thriller full of plot twists. The difference between this book and most other of its genre is that the characters are actually intersting and the dialouge is not wooden but belivable. Their are no carbon cut out villians in this novel who are evil just because they were born that way. Instead the reader is introduced to people damaged by events beyond their control who have chossen to become evil. The villians in this book are symphathatic and the readers will be disgusted with themselves becasue they will find themselves rooting for the bad guys despite their distate for them. At the same time the hero, Kabakov, is also likable and the reader will also root for him as well. This novel is about a diabolical plot to inflict the worst terrorist attack in history on U.S. soil. Only one man can stop it, Kabakov, an Israil intelligence agent and assassin. Palestian terrorists, specifcly a beautiful but deadly woman named Deliaha, have formed a bizzare and twisted alliance with a Goodyear blimp pilot named Michael Lander. Lander pilots the Goodyear blimp over sporting events all across America. However, he is a sick and twisted individual who was a prisoner of war in Vietnam for many years. He wishes to share his pain with the world by using his blimp to kill as many people as possible. He seeks out the PLO and asks for their assistance. They agree and send Delihia. Their plot is brillant and evil, on Superbowl Sunday they plan to dentonate a huge plastic explosive bomb filled with rifle darts over the staduim crowd. The bomb is designed to shoot the darts out at such an angle as to ensure an average of three darts for each seat in the stadium. Oh, did I mention the President of the United States of America will be in attendence and is also a target. If the terrorists plot succeds, 50,000 American citizens along with the President will be killed in one fell swoop. Kabokov has other plans however and relentlessly dogs their trail. He and his friend and fellow agent are willing to do whatever it takes to stop the terrorists but they dont know about Lander or the specifcics of the plot. All they know is that the PLO is planning something big and that a palistian woman is involved. Tension between Lander and Deliaha's fellow PLO operatives threatens to derail the plot before it can get started. This novel is all about death, death, and more death and as the novel nears its conclusion the tension continues to rise as the bodies continue to pile up. The suspense climaxes in a exciting but totally realistic shoot out between Kabokov and the terrorists. The final outcome will shock you. This novel is very realistic and the violence is not over dramatized or cartoonish in the least. A mature suspense novel for mature minds. Harris's most underated work.
Rating:
Summary: Harris' intriquing but dense first novel...
Review: Upon my perusal of this book in my local library, I found a relic-like early hardcover edition embalzoned with the warning "Don't begin this book unless you plan to finish it in one sitting..". Hardly. Granted, many parts of this book are compelling, especially the front-row seat the reader gets to villian Micheal Lander's descent into madness (in my head I kept picturing De Niro--he'd have been perfect for the '77 film version), sort of a Harris trademark. Unfortunately, the narrative gets bogged down in the impressive but stulifying minutiae of the Arab terrorist plot, as well as the unappealing Isreali agent protagonist who unravels it. Regardless, its a first-rate thriller, but far removed from his later true page-turners.
Rating:
Summary: dramatic and well paced thriller
Review: Using a Goodyear blimp loaded with explosives, terrorists plan to carry out an attack on the Super Bowl. In order to carry out this elaborate plan, someone crazy enough to fly the blimp must be hand picked. Micheal Lander, a vietnam vet who suffers from Post Tramatic Stress Disorder is just the man. So a beautiful Lebanese PLO operative (Dahlia) is selected to win him over. The plot sounds simple but gets complicated because there is the issue of smuggling the explosives into the US and also the issue of a wanted member of PLO going into the US undetected. The relationship between Micheal Lander and Dahlia is somewhat awkward. Don't expect too much in terms of sparks flying in their relationship. I liked how the author goes into the main character's head to show exactly what makes him tick. You know you're reading an effective thriller whenever you start rooting for the bad guy. Although I don't condone terrorism, I think the author did a good job at eliciting sympathy for the terrorists by having a very balanced perspective. Just one thing in the story didn't make much sense. If one wanted to poison someone by injecting them, they would search for a vein, not an artery. Other than that minor detail, everything else is solid.
Rating: 
Summary: Was this the same author?
Review: Well, like many who thought about buying this book, I watched Silence of the Lambs and read Hannibal. Great movie, great book. So, I decided to check this book out. Big mistake. There's not really anything good about this book. This book is extremely outdated, really slow, and not very fluid. It's amazing how a couple of decades could improve someone's writing style. Black Sunday, in terms or readability, is not up to par with many of the other books I have read. Normally, I wouldn't comment on this, but at some points it almost gave me a headache. Maybe I was having a bad week, but many sentances were very terse. I'm not an English professor, but let me give you an example. Harris, describing a character seeing a blimp up close for the first time: "It was big. Fasil was reminded of his first view of an aircraft carrier." Why didn't he say something like, "It's size reminded Fasil of the first aircraft carrier he saw."? Maybe I'm some type of picky freak, but when every other sentance is written with extra small words (e.g. of, his, was, an), and there are a lot of passive sentances, it kind of gets on your nerves. Adding to that is the lack of action and very little dialogue. I was reading about half as many pages per sitting as I usually do because of this. Except for the last twenty pages, the rest of the book could have been condensed into about 50 pages. Except for the details of Lander, the book is full of boring side stories about peripheral characters and annoying little details. I personally never cared about how a helicopter hoists roof parts or how a blimp works, but you'll learn it if you read this. Finally, this book is sort of outdated. You can't fault Harris for this, but it's worth noting. Though it doesn't really show up in the book (thankfully), the general plot (Middle Eastern terrorists trying to blow something up) sort of prays on the fears of the zenophobic middle American. It's a simple formula which I've seen many times, and has been done many times. So, if you're looking for another thrilling Hanibal Lector type novel, it would be best to pass on this one.
Rating:
Summary: Great book. Believable plot.
Review: When this book came out it was looked upon as being fantasy. No terrorist could come to America and blow something up. Those things just didn't happen here. Well, now we see that it can happen and the book is even better now. I have watched the movie many times and read the book twice. It is a great story.
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