Rating: 
Summary: Major disappointment
Review: I can't believe Harris kept his public waiting eleven years for *this*. The plot was inane, and instead of being gripping I found myself plodding through major portions of it. Lecter and Clarice were caricatures of their fascinating old selves. I'm really sorry I paid for this book and would urge anyone thinking about buying it not to -- if you feel compelled to read it, borrow it from your local library. (I'm sure they'll have *lots* of donated copies!)
Rating: 
Summary: A great book with an mind boggoling ending
Review: For those of you who liked the other Hannibal books,you will greatfully enjoy this book. It does happen to appeal to the people who wanted to know more about Lecter. For those who feel Lecter should be left as almost a God like figure might be disappointed with this book. I feel that many people don't enjoy this book because of the truths told about Dr. Lecter because they would rather have him be an unexplainable person. The book was very good and I was always reading more and more because like the other Lecter books once you get started you get wrapped in the great web spun by Harris. All in all I recommend this book to every reader and even if you don't feel you will enjoy it.
Rating: 
Summary: No Silence
Review: Unlike its predecessor, Silence of the Lambs, Hannibal is a horror story straight through. Its intention appears to make the reader recoil in dread rather than to follow the psychological spins and games of Lecter. None of the major characters in the book appear to have a reasonable motivation for their perversities -- rather they seem to be perverse for the sake of perversity and are therefore mostly contemptible. The antihero Lecter also appears to have lost the gamemaster-like quality in Silence, transforming into some Phantomesque alien being capable of superhuman feats without qualification. Some of the descriptions of his actions bear notice, since they are given a precision and refinement simply through the execution of language; however, this in itself is not sufficient to solidify Hannibal. Neither are the lame attempts to create a psychological background from which a monster like Lecter could spring. Simply too much to be believed -- better off left to the imagination...
Rating: 
Summary: Great book, crummy ending
Review: I loved the language used by Harris, which is rich and graphic. The story, as expected, is quite disturbing, and I expressed my horror out loud several times. I wonder how Harris thinks of such evils. I particularly loved the character of Mason Verger, he is even more evil than Lechter, if that's possible. He will make a great movie character. The ending left me disappointed, however. Harris spends most of three novels establishing Lechter's personality and his MO. The air of mystery surrounding him makes him all the more fascinating. The ending of this book is a complete 180 degree turn, and sort of ruins the image for me. It left me confused and cynical. But most of the book was terrific. Prepare to be totally grossed out!
Rating:
Summary: So-So, not as edge-of-your-seat as "Silence of the Lambs"
Review: I finished this book last night, after savoring it over the last week. Unfortunately, it was somewhat predictable and seemed more a vehicle for the gore Lector intimated in Silence. It does give a little of his history to explain his cannibalism but...it's not a satisfying explanation. The end left me disappointed and dismayed. I will say this though, Hannibal is truly "Il Mostro!" I'm glad I read it but wish I had borrowed it from the library rather than having bought it. That's what I would advise other readers to do - if you really like it after reading it, then buy it to keep, but borrow it first.
Rating:
Summary: Psychological horror at its best!
Review: This book is very good. It is a treat for those of you who think with their frontal lobes, not their hindbrain. So, if you were expecting splattergore and shock value you might have been disappointed. However, if you were after something that would show you the true alien nature of Dr. Lecter's thought processes then this is the book for you. The memory palace is a nice touch and Dr. Lecter's raison d'etre helps to flesh out his psychosis whilst still retaining the sense of his alien mindset. The stunning conclusion is even more horrific than Pazzi's demise, or the face slicing scene, for example, in that it shows how easy it is for the beast inside us to come to the fore in our conscious minds with a little ... persuasion. Yes even you could be a psychopath! Now that really makes me shiver! The book follows on well from the first two and retains the aura of mystery and otherworldliness that Harris can evoke so well. However, this time this aura spreads to his other characters. A fitting end to the trilogy.
Rating: 
Summary: Too many vampires
Review: Thomas Harris seems to have been reading Anne Rice. Hannibal Lecter has been transformed into Armand, with his small size, small, even teeth, enormous strength, air of attentive stillness and unnaturally acute senses. Even his age. He acts like--and seems to be depicted as--a young man, but he was born in 1938 and this makes him just a little long in the tooth for this sort of stuff. Harris confirms this impression when he states that cannibals are nomadic but vampires are territorial. Hannibal Lecter is territorial. The book, therefore, is in part a fantasy, and presumably this was the author's intent. While entertaining, it doesn't really work. In a fantasy, magic prevails and anything can happen. Most of the other reviewers do not like the ending. I share their opinion. Clarice is (magically) mesmerized by the vampire and comes to share his world. I don't buy it. In addition, the FBI segments are ridiculous. It has become a convention that government bureaucracies are inherently stupid but these people are too stupid for belief. Everybody who is pure in soul (and some who aren't) knows that Paul Krendler is vicious, venal and stupid. It seems more than unlikely that he would have risen as high as he has in any organization resembling a meritocracy. In addition, the way that the organization was willing to throw Starling to the dogs, for reasons that make little sense, was a convenient plot device but a total cop-out. That being said, it's still one of the more entertaining books that I've recently read. Too bad it wasn't better.
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely wretched waste of time and class
Review: Having begun with Red Dragon when it was new in paperback and following upon the brilliance of Silence of the Lambs, the latest book by Thomas Harris struck me as an utter waste of time and completely alien to the strengths exhibited in his earlier works. Yes, the draw in this latest chapter is in knowing more about Dr. Lecter, but it did not have to be done at the expense of the previous chapters in the mythology. You see, one of the largest draws of this character is the fact that he was purely, unregenerately evil. His appeal is muted with the discovery of the past that molded him, and his "redemption" at the end of the novel not only lacks any sort of continuity, but also weakens the impact of his personality. To compound matters, in this book, we are treated to a variety of small-time con artists who think they are in his league...absolutely wretched, and did we really *NEED* a character who makes martinis from children's tears? Clarice Starling, who had been a full-fledged character in her previous incarnation, emerges from this book as a pathetic psychotic of her own accord. All her strength, dignity, and honor get sacrificed at the altar of the bumbling crooks who are above her in the pecking order at the FBI, leaving her ripe to Hannibal's machinations......though not even in an entertaining way. My final complaint with this book is that in addition to its ludicrous plotting and lack of consistency with the previous books in this trilogy is that it is simply poorly written. Harris shifts tense and perspective within the same paragraph, but not in a manner that seems artistically consistent. This novel struck me as having been written purely for the money, and is truthfully on a par with some of the more poorly-written fan fiction.....a shame, coming from the man who wrote one of THE classic suspense novels of the twentieth centry.
Rating:
Summary: A marvellous read - and re-read!
Review: A marvellous read, and re-read. The work that has gone into the book is evident on every page. Some gruesome imagery, especially of the Doctor's first (still living) victim, but otherwise the descriptions and general atmosphere conjured up by the writing give a real feeling of place and pace. The descriptions of Florence are bound to cause a boom in tourism there; and who could but sympathise with the Doctor's suffering on the flight back to the U.S.? Some of the similes are superb - for example, the description of the smell from the cheese shop in Florence is many layered and gets better the more one thinks about it. As the book progresses, one becomes aware of a strange sympathy for, almost an empathy with, the Doctor - especially when his well chosen gift for Clarice rolls under her car. What can one say about the ending except that let's all hope that there will be another Dr Lecter book. Thank you, Mr Harris.
Rating:
Summary: Such a gifted writer; what a shame.
Review: What I can't fathom is how a man capable of such captivating writing could produce this book, which only occasionally shows glimpses of what Harris can do. Needless vulgarity. Comma splices without end. An ending that's clearly only meant to shock. And shocking sadism that belies the author's gentle demeanor. Good grief. It's depressing.
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