Rating: 
Summary: good book
Review: This book deserves a lot more credit than the critics have allowed. its colourful, well thought out (well harris did have all last decade to think about it didnt he). this book is aimed at the intelligent reader as complex issues and emotions are in play. there is love and hate and revenge etc, but not in the simplistic, broard sense. harris gives more depth and meaning to these words by emphasising their variety and texture.
Hannibal himself is a wonderous character that brings the whole story together. he is a character that has freed himself of the restraints of society to such an extent that society perceives him as a vilian, in this book, more so than we saw in scilence of the lambs, we begin to see societys' real vilians.
The only bad point to this novel is that there is excessive use of physical attacks, whereas in scilence of the lambs, the attacks were more phsychological ones. though, saying that, the last 100 pages were almost pure mind games - absolutly briliant.unfortunatly the film missed that bit out but that doesnt take away from anthony hopkins excellent (as usual) performance, the film was nothing without him.
Also, if you have been as desperate as i have about finding out more about the mind of dr lecter himself, you must read this book, it reveals some of dr lecter while still keeping you in the dark enough to hope theres more to come from harris.
Rating: 
Summary: as perfect as dr lecter himself
Review: this was the book i'd been waiting for, if anybody is like me, then you wanted hannible to escape in scilence of the lambs because you absolutly love him he was so gentlemanly and polite, whether it was in the book or the film, hannibal always struck me as genius. even if you dont like the books, if harris has got one thing right you have to give him dr lecter - he's so perfect! after reading scilence of the lambs i became strongly sucpicious that he was only being psychotic for his own amusement - having a good laugh at the system along the way. hannibal was always seen in so many different ways, scarry, manipulative, psychotic, the gentlemanly vilian, of cause as in all the books, hannibal isnt in fact the vilian (except perhaps in red dragon) its clear to see that harris' own understanding of hannibal changes with each book he writes and the character gets further and further developed until he becomes almost real. if you want to see the real hannibal, if you want to understand him or think you already do, please read this book. hannibal took my breath away, he couldnt have had a better ending for himself. if you watched the film "hannibal" and thought that was good, then read the book, its better, although i have to admit no one but anthony hopkins could have played dr lecters' part so well, and only jodie foster could have played clarice better. i think the fact harris chose to name the book "hannibal" rather than "dr lecter" or "starling" gives you a clue as to how harris wants to portray hannibal. he wants us to see the real hannibal - believe me he does that well enough, my view of dr lecter was completely altered. the final chapters were briliant, nothing like the end ofthe film, it was probably a bit too complex for the average cinema goer. read this book and youll love him as much as do.
Rating:
Summary: This is the best sequel book that has ever been written
Review: Thomas Harris has done it again. He has taken readers deep into the mind of Dr. HannibL "The Cannibal" Lecter, deeper than some people want to go. Right from the start when Clarice Starling fouled a drug raid, to the the end where Lecter cuts Krendler's skull cap off and cooks parts of his brian and Starling and Lecter eats them and makes jokes at Krendler's expense, is just a all-out shockfest. This is the first Thomas Harris book I have read and I am determined to pick up the other books (Red Dragon/Man Hunter to those that only know the movie version and The Silence Of The Lambs). I first got the book only to make my mother mad since she claimed that she didn't want me to read or see the movie. But after reading the book, I went out to the local movie store and rented Hannibal and loved it. This book I would recommend to anyone who loves horror, a little drama, and a all-out good read. Keep up the good work Harris.
Rating:
Summary: Hannibal was Great, but...
Review: I loved Silence of the Lambs. And I loved Hannibal, but not in the same way. While Silence of the Lambs is a psycological thriller, Hannibal is more of a psycological chaser. Clarice Starling returns in Hannibal; crippled politically by a recent botched shootout, Clarice takes up a more office life. But when Mason Verger (Hannibal Lecter's only victim that survived) chases Lecter from hidding, Clarice begins to track Lecter too. What she doesn't know is that Lecter is also tracking her. Mason attempts to capture Lecter, in order to revenge himself, for what Lecter has done to him. What follows is a race for Lecter. I personally liked Lecter better behind bars, where he did his damage mentally, not physically. BE WARNED: Hannibal is more violent and gorey then Red Dragon or Silence. Though I enjoyed Hannibal, it didn't have the same fast paced suspense as Silence. Don't get me wrong, it was just as fast paced but... it was lacking something. Maybe it was that Hannibal let Lecter win totally, he never lost. What ever the case, Hannibal lacks something. Hannibal is good, it just isn't Silence of the Lambs good.
Rating:
Summary: an artistic expression
Review: Like any piece of art that is worth discussion, Hannibal by Thomas Harris has inspired thousands of people to put forth their opinions. I believe that the purpose of art is to evoke an emotion, any emotion, from the people that experience it. That is why I love this book. I will not go into the story of the book because that seems to have been drudged through enough times by people more capable than I. I will however say that this book is definitely worth the read. For people who say that the ending is over the top and absurd I say to you that Life its self is absurd. Besides I really don't believe it to be all that unthinkable; all of Starling's protectors and friends at Quantico have gone in one way or another, she shows an indifference to victims (notice how she corrects herself when she refers to the Bimmel girl as a "floater" and also how she laughs when she sees the dead hunter, the "old" Clarice would have never done such things), the only part left of her is her anger at anything being held captive and tortured. One can assume that Clarice is being held captive in this world where she tries to do good in the face of men whom either want her to fail or want to "have" her or both. She's stuck and has nowhere else to go until someone has to save her from her own torture and pain. The reversal of roles here is slippery and quite striking. One of the trickiest ideas that Harris tinkers with is the idea that good has to have a bit of bad to it or else it would not last. Perhaps this is survival at its dirtiest or even purest form. I could go on but I feel that too much might ruin the novel for anyone who hasn't read it yet. Whether or not you liked this book does not matter, what matters is that it will always be a very memorable experience.
Rating: 
Summary: Difficult to believe it
Review: It is difficult for me to understand the reason for success of this book and excellent reviews it has received (someone has to keep selling, so reviews are the way, too..) I just finished reading it and went out to see if there are people out there who dislike it like me. In my opinion, the book follows a very cheap and primitive violence/shock line - like the worst of American horror movies, i.e. lot of cruelty, made-up perversities and ABSOLUTELY NO PLOT, nor a main idea. Well, this world probably needs washed masses, since believing in what's presented by Mr. Harris really requires no brain whatsoever. By the way, inventing shocking actions (like eating s.o.'s brain) takes very little imagination, almost anybody can come up with something perverse like this. On the other side, to create a purpose for such a behavior, to give it a reason so that reader can believe it is much much harder. So, for me personally, it's not a matter of "having stomach", I can handle it easily. What irritates me is that there is nothing, really nothing behind the violence depicted throughout the book. And I have not even asked about technicalities, like whether this or that would be possible... It's a sad fact of this world that authors like Harris make millions by writing such trash. I hate to give him another opportunity to make even more money, but here is my suggestion for his new book: it will be about a man who can read hexidecimal(you know, computer code), speaks 48 languages including dead Loothwinian and who makes (by hypnosis) innocent kids kill people and eats them both (this is his own method of climaxing..). The good guy will be a former president of U.S. who gets angry when he is thrown out of the White House due to his custom of ... (insert what shocks you the most) in public places and tries to kill this lunatic PhD man to earn back the fame and the Oval Office. VPB
Rating:
Summary: Brillant , excellent
Review: Human behavior is often very ugly and Mr. Harris honestly exposes the dark side of humanity. I love the way he works in Lecter's appreciation of the Arts and Food. The ending was very shocking and clever.
Rating: 
Summary: entertaining, but not brilliant
Review: Is it good? Well, yes, most of the time. Is it thrilling? Occasionally. Is it horrific? No, not at all. Where 'Red Dragon' left me looking over my shoulder after dark and 'Silence of the lambs' had my skin crawling, 'Hannibal' occasionally made me smile! The monster becomes human, and that's not a good thing to be happening to monsters. Sure, the book has it's gruesome moments. Lobotomizing one of your dinnerguests and frying & consuming his frontal lobes while he is still at the table is particularly nasty. But it happens to a person you want it to happen to anyway, and that takes half the horror out of it. I haven't decided yet wether the ending is very clever or totally ridiculous. Decide for yourself, if you want to. The book is worth reading if you've got a spare weekend, but no more than that.
Rating:
Summary: Hannibal's back / It's full-time Hannibal this time
Review: The level of satisfaction you gain from this book depends on how you look at it. If you look at it as a sequel, as a follow-up to "Silence of the Lambs", you might call it poor, because it just can notget out of it's mother's shadow. Looking at the book that way it is not only poor but a shame. That would be 3 stars, I guess. But if you come around to think that this is NO follow-up, but just another book featuring Hannibal Lecter, it might be the most satisfying book of that series (Red Drago - Silence - Hannibal, because it gives you unlimited inside into Hannibal Lecter, uncut and uncensored access to his mind ... and his brutality. **** I do not think that my job as a reviewer of this book is to give you an exact summary of the plot, even if you claim you have to know something about the book's storyline to decide whether it suits your expectations or it does not. I will not even give you a rough pictue of the plot, but I give one thing: this book is worth reading. If you liked SOTL, because you were fascinated by Hannibal Lecter, read this book. Even if you liked the whole character of this unique thriller more, read Hannibal, even if - for you it is a follow-up. When Harris comes to describing Lecter's mind you will come to realize that this is one of the most awkward pieces of writing you have ever experienced. There are some pretty strange scenes in this book, so be prepared. You might even call these scenes a little bit "weird" but who are you and me to decide? After all this was a very satisfying read, once again showing that Thomas Harris is an author worth reading!
Rating:
Summary: A fine ending
Review: What can be said about HANNIBAL that hasn't been said already? Hannibal Lecter has become an instantly identifiable icon, an image of madness and insanity that the public has lapped up in droves. His third appearance in fiction has as many detractors as rabid fans, arguing intensely over whether the book is true to what has happened previously, or whether it stains the memory of Lecter and his unusual relationship with FBI Agent Clarice Starling. Jodie Foster, Starling's physical manisfestation in the movie version of THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS, stated that she wouldn't reprise the role for HANNIBAL, seeing the novel as an insult to her perceptions of how Clarice would grow as a character. Clearly, HANNIBAL is many things to many people. But let's view it for what it is: a horrific thrill-ride through the consciousness of a demon. The only crime Thomas Harris commits is in delivering a product that people didn't expect. HANNIBAL puts the infamous serial killer Hannibal 'The Cannibal' Lecter into the centre spotlight, after consigning him to a supporting role in the previous novels, RED DRAGON and LAMBS. Enjoying his new-found freedom, he is slowly but relentlessly being pursued by Mason Verger; a survivor of Lecter's assaults, and an individual even creepier and unforgivable than Lecter is. Verger uses Starling as his pawn, reeling her along with the hope that Lecter will be unable to resist the bait. The true flaw in HANNIBAL is that Harris takes for granted that the reader will know and understand the unusual relationship Lecter and Starling share. It works as a sequel, but is unable to stand up as an achievement in its own right, unlike both DRAGON and LAMBS, pinacles of the serial killer genre. This lessens the impact somewhat, as does his subplot involving the Barney the orderly, and Verger's body-building sister. They are interesting characters, but aren't given enough character arc to fit in completely. But Harris redeems himself with his presentation of Lecter's life outside the prison cell. Lecter functions in the world quite well, attaining wealth and prestige through his not-inconsiderable intellect. The web that Harris draws around Lecter, disparate elements slowly converging to encircle and capture Hannibal, is a rivetting display of skillful plotting. Some have criticized the decision to reveal parts of Lecter's past, but these glimpses only heighten the mystique that surrounds him. Harris is far more generous in his background to Verger, a malevolent creature of such despicable proportions that he could star in a novel of his own. Harris follows his now-familiar technique of comparing monsters, displaying Verger in stark contrast to Lecter in the same manner as Francis Dollarhyde and Jame Gumb were presented in DRAGON and LAMBS, respectively. Starling is also presented in a memorable light. Far from being the idealistic young trainee of LAMBS, Starling is now a disgraced agent who is haunted by her past actions, both on the job and with Lecter. She is completely at odds with her world, finding herself used and controlled both by Verger and Lecter, as well as certain elements of the FBI. Her downfall, and eventual conclusion, adds a heart-breaking note to the chase. And the ending. Without spoiling the surprise, it is both unexpected, and fair to the characters, despite the uproar it caused. I believe it is Harris's attempt to wrest control of the characters back to his domain. Considering the immense pressures that were undoubtedly heaped upon Harris after the gigantic sucess of LAMBS (both as novel and film), a lesser artist would have merely given the public what they wanted. Harris does something more: he provides the audience with an ending that would silence those who make Lecter into a heroic figure. Never losing sight of the fact that Hannibal is a monster, Harris plays off of Lecter's legend, leaving the reader unnerved. It's the author's way of screaming, "He's my character, not yours! Now, back off!" And perhaps it's a blessing that HANNIBAL ends the way it does. Harris is far too talented a writer to be constrained into writing sequels. By laying Lecter to rest (in a manner of speaking), Harris can dive into new territories, surprising us in the same way that he caught us off guard with RED DRAGON. Hannibal may be silent, but let's hope Harris refuses to remain so.
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