Hannibal: A Novel

Ugh. Red Dragon was great, Silence of the Lambs was great. This was decidedly not great. Departures from well known and loved characters, a plot that was all over the place, and a rushed ending, I really didn't care for this installment of the series (and it's making me reconsider reading the last book).Hannibal takes place quite some years in the future after Silence of the Lambs. Hannibal has been at large, Clarice not getting anywhere in the FBI, and other characters plotting and planning. Among these are Mason, Hannibal's first victim. He very much wants his revenge, and has the money to try to seek it out. Using the FBI and his own resources, he embarks on a hunt for Hannibal, which gets Clarice caught up in the mix and a range of other dangerous characters as they pursue and hunt the one person that normally does the hunting.While there were some bright notes in this book (Mason's sister and Barney) and a few interesting plot points (Hannibal's time in Italy), ultimately it becomes a game of hide and chase and add extraneous detail. I got tired of Mason's character and his evil plans (dude deserved to have his face eaten, change my mind). The chase by characters who thought they were brighter than they were after Hannibal (really, just really?). But what was most disappointing were the deviations and completely new motivations for both Hannibal and Clarice. They were unwelcome and discordant with the characters we knew and loved from before. By the ending I was completely disgusted and upset.The pace too went from the normal intrigue and setup to being too fast paced, gory for the sake of gore, and not the "smart" and well-thought out writing I remembered from the first two books. Th is one definitely wasn't for me and I'll be putting off that last book for awhile; if I ever get to it at all.Review by M. Reynard 2020

I was very hesitant to buy this book after seeing how evenly divided people were between loving and hating it. But then I realized that some of the best books drive fans to polarize this way, so I gave it a chance.To me, this book did reach a feverish nightmare quality that felt heightened compared to its predecessors. However, for Harris to pull off the ending, that height was necessary. Yes, it was shocking, but also utterly satisfying, and it couldn't have been accomplished any other way.I didn't entirely enjoy the middle section in Italy, but perhaps it only made me that much more glad to return to Starling and her action-packed chapters. If you're someone who gets particularly thrilled by a blazing showdown at the climax of a book, I'd recommend this book.If you're more interested in Harris' craft as a murder mystery writer, this book may have veered too far into ethereal horror territory for you.But either way, I think it's worth giving it a try.

Amazon's playing a hilarious prank with us, this is actually some shipper's over the top steamy Hannibal/Clarice slash fiction. If you could put up the actual sequel to the Silence of the Lambs that'd be great!Until they do, I suppose I should list all the niches this E Rom hits: men & women in uniform, billionaires, musle men, muscle women, showers, vore (lots of vore), incest, cattle prods, bondage, androgyny, f/f, psychiatry, hypnosis, autoerotic asphyxiation, some pseudo necrophilia, daddy roleplay, pseudo bestiality, and I'm sure I'm missing some. Whoever wrote this must have done it one handed! ;)

I give the book four stars. To explain: the story seemed choppy to me. Perhaps I'm a fan of architecture in writing; avid description and character development. The psychology Harris tackles in these novels is what makes them a pleasant read, in my experience. I enjoy the descriptions of characters, their thought processes. Harris' brief allowance into the mind of Lecter, specifically, and other characters was rewarding. Note I said brief. Something seemed rushed with this novel.I wasn't upset with the ending, as so many fans seem to be. I get the strong female lead, Clarice Starling, and the reasons why, perhaps, fans wanted her character to remain ABOVE the influence of Lecter, to forever stand for some sort of invisible integrity placed upon what a "strong" female should be. Fans seemed disappointed because Clarice became human, through her untimely empathy and understanding of Lecter as, not a monster, but as another human being. The monster became human and for a moment we understood him, but we don't like to acknowledge we can understand monstrous behavior. The lamb, our strong female lead, then became lesser, almost monstrous herself, because she came to this understanding, and eventually offered herself as sort of a sacrifice to not only curb the monsters appetite, but in her own way, heal her own wounds.I found this novel to be a delightful read, along with the others. I really enjoy seeing how the writing and characters were woven together to create the "Hannibal" television series. That series was a fantastic, and visually stunning adaptation of Harris' work. To which I highly recommend!If your mind is open, and you simply enjoy reading, these novels are truly a treat.

Silence of the Lambs has easily become one of my favorite book and film. After avoiding the movie my whole life up until my 20's, I finally gave in and watched it. I didn't realize it was book until the beginning credits. When I fell in love with it, I went right for the novel, blew through it, and then right on to the third.I enjoyed the second book a lot. It did not quite have the same feel of the first. Time has passed, the characters have grown older and a lot has happened. I knew the ending was a debated one, so when I got to the end I wasn't quite as shocked. It wasn't exactly my favorite ending, but I'm not the author. I think in this book Harris was going for the blood and thrill factor. I missed a little of the mystery and investigation from the first. Still a great series, and I still would recommend the read.

Book 3, sees Sterling’s career on the rocks, Dr Lecter is doing well but now has a massive bounty on his head, but this is Dr Lecter, people may think they are hunting him, but he is not the real prey, about to be trapped. Rather he is the predator that shouldn’t have been poked.The tension that ripples through the air in the 2001 movie version of this, and grips your throat didn’t manifest potently throughout the book for me, in particular I am referring to the scene where Clarice meets Dr Lecter’s sixth victim Mason Verger. Although, I have to admit the author did well in making Verger feel really creepy within the pages of the book, and this had nothing whatsoever to do with his physical contours but rather his personality and characterization. Seriously he gave me the heebie-jeebies.Verger’s sister was an interesting character, whose interactions with him further heightened the sense of unease that developed as I read (I do wish she had been in the movie). Mason and Margot’s relationship clearly was not what one would wish for between siblings, his sinister/dark nature is further illustrated as they talk. For me some of the best parts of this book were the scenes containing Verger, seriously there was just something eerie about them, I found myself absorbed in a way that I wasn’t in any other part of the book.Paul Krendler was a toad of a human, and yes, I disliked him in the movie, but the added information the author gives us sharpened my dislike of him. The depiction of the dinner scene, with Dr Lecter, Sterling and Krendler in the book was so different to the movie, Sterling and her words/actions had me blinking a little. But that wasn’t the scene that had my eyes widening and going holy crap I can see why that didn’t occur in the movie!! And the final chapter, I still have no idea how I feel about it, damn I didn’t see this coming (not from the Sterling and Lecter I have been reading about before this book – honestly right now I’m just bewildered).This is one of the 3 books in the series, I do see myself re-reading at some point (need to let the last chapter or two to really sink in for a while first though). The second half of the book was the best and most creepily engaging part for me.It’s so weird, usually I love books so much more than their movie versions, but in this case, I have to say if I was stuck in a room and I could either watch all the movies or read all the books, I would choose the movies.99p on Amazon 5th May 2019

This a review of the book Hannibal by Thomas Harris. Some of the reviews here are for Red Dragon or Silence of the Lambs also by Thomas Harris - not sure what those are doing here!So, 'Hannibal'. One of the rare instances when I preferred the film to the book. The portrayal of Hannibal Lecter by Anthony Hopkins in the film is quite different to the version presented here. In this one the author chooses to portray him as some sort of twisted superhero, endowing him with rather superhuman characteristics and abilities, so much so that it borders on the ridiculous. On the face of it, this is a mildly entertaining tale, but it has rather a disturbing sub-plot centred around crime, responsibility and punishment. The author portrays his arch-villain as a supremely gifted, cultured and charming individual worthy of the reader's respect and understanding. A glimpse of an horrific childhood is thrown into the mix to ellicit sympathy. Hey, he may have murdered a few people in various ghastly ways and eaten their brains, but no biggie!! Deep down he's probably an OK sort of guy! The murders continue throughout this tale of course. However, they could all be construed as revenge or self-defence and the victims are so awful that you are glad that someone has taken the trouble to wipe them from the face of the earth. In fact, all of Harris's characters are so detestable and bizarre that I wished the pigs had eaten the darn lot of them! I suppose the author has fallen in love with his great creation and wishes to present him as a misguided and misunderstood individual worthy of redemption. He even devises a happy ending for Lecter, which is pure drivel! This was completely re-written for the film version, and you can see why. Basically, he mind-f**** her, she f**** him, and they all live happily ever after! People like their monsters to be monsters and prefer the maniacal, menacing Hannibal Lecter of popular culture - the one slavering behind his mask, desperate to bite your face off. This is some wishy-washy, lefty-liberal, new-age version of Lecter that nobody wants. There is enough evil going unpunished in the real world without reading about it in fiction. Disappointing.

Following on from events in Silence of the Lambs, Starling’s career has stalled somewhat and she is involved in a botched stakeout at a market in which people are killed. Her superiors, blaming her for it put her back on the case to find Hannibal Lecter who, having escaped the hell of Baltimore Asylum, is now entrenched in life in Florence, trying to find a job curating the Capponi Library. However, a detective turned mercenary tries to sell him out to one of his former victims who is hungry for revenge and has the means to finance it. Will Clarice help the doctor this time to remain free or is it the end of the line for him.Lots of details about Florence. An enjoyable story.

This version of Dr Hannibal Lecter and, more importantly, Special Agent Clarice Starling resembled a strange shadow-version of the characters as I originally read them.Hannibal, an anti-hero who really only does evil on to other evil. A product of trauma rather than the Devil's rival.Clarice, happily throwing away the structure and security of her core ethics and labor.Jack Crawford, especially, deserved more than his career, legacy, and life to be swept under the rug with a sweater, general indifference, and two low-key cardiac episodes.With that considered, Florence was obviously well researched, and the art history was impressive and easy to get lost in. The Bureau was painted vividly as broken, corrupt, and cruel. I have to admit that "witnessing" Paul compliment the smell of his own cooking brains was amusing after enduring his presence. It had some shining moments, but it did not sit well with me in the end.

I have been working my way through the Hannibal world, films, TV show, books. I saw the Hannibal film first and was instantly put off because it was pretty dire. That combined with the bad reviews I read meant I went in a little skeptical. This book is not as bad as the film, or most of the negative reviews on this site. However make no mistake it is a big step down in quality from its predecessors. And therefore you are left somewhat dissatisfied. So where does it go wrong? Several places.Firstly the characters. Clarice Starling was a courageous go getter in Silence of the Lambs, but in this book her personality seems watered down and she seems a little useless at times, not the Clarice Starling we grew to love. Also Hannibal is a weak character, which is not something I thought I'd ever say. In captivity he was thrilling, toying with characters, manipulating so forth etc. But as a free man he is forced to blend in most of the time and is just a regular Joe, obviously still remarkable clever and cultured, but still the edge has gone from his character. Ironically the one character you are supposed to hate, Mason Verger, is the only intriguing character there is.There is also a really weird side story about a steroid using lesbian bodybuilder flirting with a straight man in an attempt to convince him to steal her brothers sperm so she can impregnate her girlfriend. No seriously I'm not kidding, that is a genuine plot thread, was a tad silly I must admit.Also the ending is different to the film. I won't give the story away but it is even worse than the films ending, it is one of the worst endings I have ever read!Despite the negatives there are some positives. Although Mason Vergers character is a little over the top and unbelievable he is still intriguing and is a source of conflict for the reader. Its made clear from the beginning he is an awful man, however the book does create sympathy for him and in the end you do find yourself wanting him to succeed in his despicable and disturbingly twisted plot.Also the writing isn't all bad, there are sources of tension in the book which do keep you hooked at parts. Unfortunately the book is too long for its own good and you do force read through some dull parts.To conclude if you like the series it's worth a read, just don't expect it to match the quality of the first two.