Rating: 
Summary: Bon apetit, but only at your own risk...
Review: At the risk of inciting even more feeding frenzy over this too well digested topic, I am submitting this 2,563rd review for the delectation of whoever is bored or obsessed enough to read their way through this much hyperbole. Well, that or the number of reviews will eventually qualify "Hannibal" for The Guinness Book of World Records as "Most Customer Reviews for a Single Novel on a Website."Snide lead-ins aside, I must congratulate Thomas Harris for being the only author besides Stephen King to succeed in making me peek out from between my fingers long enough to hold a horror novel much less read it. As I rule, I avoid this genre as adeptly as Hannibal's Barney escapes being bumped off while those around him kill or are being killed. I particularly enjoyed the one scene in this book that puts a wickedly punnish, Oliver Twist spin on how best to avenge oneself on anyone who has been 'eating' at one's nerves for years on end. Definitely worth toasting with a glass of Veuve Clicquot in various re-readings, as I imagined an ex-husband and several former boyfriends substituting for the actual victim in the novel. And I made do with Veuve Clicquot only because I can't afford any of the preferred appellations Hannibal imbibes. I also speculated about the inspiration for Mason Verger though Harris provided all the usual disclaimers about this being a work of fiction. If you think of the first letter of Mason's name as being the first letter of the real-life person's first name and the additional four letters as being being the last four letters of the last name...Well, there was that and the fixation on kids, the wealth, bizzare appearance, breathy voice, the one hand, peculiar pets and so on. My favorite parts of this book took place in Italy. Hannibal's a monster, but he's an exquisitely tasteful beast in every sense of that. Only one thing bothered me about this. I always thought of Clarice as being Hannibal's salvation. So, unless Harris plays the cheap trick of having Clarice jolt up in bed at the beginning of the next novel, shuddering in recollection of the nightmare she just had, I see no way for him to salvage her for a third round. But given Harris's talent for compelling even squeamish me to venture into a monster's mind palace and linger, I have no doubt he'll come up with something else too delicious for this comely bird to fall prey to.
Rating: 
Summary: Nothing but a setup for another sequel!
Review: I really wanted to like "Hannibal." I had read many negative customer reviews before reading the book, but then I seem to be in the minority who likes "Red Dragon" more than "Silence of the Lambs." Different strokes, and all that. This time, the naysayers are right. True, "Hannibal" starts fast, features an intriguing, if over-the-top new villain, and gets us up to speed on Starling quickly. Her character still rings true, and she's very well written. Starling's battles with Paul Krendler move well, too, and this was a pleasant surprise to me. Too bad the ending's not only unbelievable, but just plain silly. I can only guess at what kind of Hannibal-and-Clarice redux will appear, and wonder how we'll keep a straight face (sic) while reading it. Will Ardelia Mapp track Clarice down? See her face in the background photo on a travel brochure, and take up the quest? And how about Barney? It must be easy to get cheap steroids in Rio, etc. I understand that life doesn't offer many tidy endings, and I don't appreciate simplistic writing. But I'm afraid that Thomas Harris really let me down this time. That's a shame, because the guy shows he's still got it in many parts of "Hannibal." But the payoff just doesn't make it. Seriously, if anyone would like to discuss this with me, I'd like to consider your differing points of view. I'd like to be wrong, and I really want to like "Hannibal."
Rating: 
Summary: You may never eat bacon again
Review: Thomas Harris has reached a climax with this breathtaking sequel to"Silence of the Lambs". If you thought it couldn't get any better than Dr Lecter and "Clariiissse" when you first met them....THINK AGAIN!! Robert Harris presents Dr Lecter as a learned and scholarly figure with an afficianados taste for the arts, culture and cuisine. The shocking contrast with his true nature is the counterpoint of the maze through which Starling must tiptoe. This one is a must and coincidentally provides yet another reason why you should read the book and flick the movie!!
Rating:
Summary: Great Book! Read it
Review: It was much better than Harris' first books, which was a relief. Read the book instead of seeing the movie, the book was so much better!
Rating: 
Summary: Yuk!
Review: I saw the movie and then read the book - usually the wrong way to go about things - in the hope that the book would be better than the movie. Unfortunately, overall, it wasn't. In some aspects, admittedly I found the book to be better than the movie: a greater number of characters interact to move the plot along. But in the ending especially, the movie is an improvement on the book. I think that the problem with "Hannibal" for most of those, like me, who disliked it, may stem from the loss of the menace that was portrayed in "Red Dragon" and "The Silence of the Lambs". In the earlier books, the fear came from the very fact that Lecter was caged, and therefore had to act through other people, using their (and our) own weaknesses, failures and personal terrors. Letting Lecter loose means that this device is lost, and what the reader is left with is a mere parody: Lecter becomes so unbelievable I was actually laughing at sections of the novel - and this only increased as the story wore on and became more ludicrous. In fact, the bedridden Mason Verger carries more menace and invokes more revulsion in "Hannibal" than Hannibal himself, but this was not sufficient to sustain my interest. Overall, I do not think that any of the books in the Lecter trilogy are good horror or crime novels. This is because they rely too much on the caged Lecter, and that device has a pretty short shelf life: another novel along the lines of the first two would have given the reader too much deja vu, yet moving from that format exposes how thin it actually was as a plot device. What one is left with in "Hannibal" is a roll in the dirt - Harris spares us little in the number and types of cruelty and perversity he describes - his use of similie and metaphor are, like the plot, almost wholly dependent on these (for example, he describes tourists "orbiting" Michelangelo's David's testicles - really Thomas!!). If you really like to indulge in this kind of stuff (and if you do, you probably count "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" among your favorite movies) then this is the book for you. My copy is to be donated to the local charity shop in the hope that something good will come out of it.
Rating:
Summary: The Ending Ruin the Book for Me
Review: I only read this book because I was intrigued about all the gossip surrounding the movie and how the movie was changed. I wanted to read the book to see how it actually ended. It was a total disappointment. The Clarice Starling in Silence of the Lambs and the Clarice Starling written in Hannibal are two total different characteracters. Now I see why Jodie Foster didn't do the movie. One thing that I did enjoy about the book is that I found the movie was very close to the book, except the ending.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent book - Lousy ending
Review: The entire book is good and keeps the reader on the edge. Some how towards the end the story looses its grip. I feel that another sequel is expected.
Rating:
Summary: Raises some interesting questions.
Review: I think people in general are accustomed to thinking of morality in "purely good versus purely evil" terms. Whether he intended to or not, Harris totally skewers this worldview. Dr. Lecter is a monster, yes, but he's a monster for a reason. And in Hannibal you'll find out what that reason is. "Anger presents as lust, lupus presents as hives," said Dr. Lecter in Silence, and grief and horror present as murderous behavior. And can it be, at the end of Hannibal, that such a simple cure is possible for such a longtime affliction? Some of you might not think so. Perhaps even Harris was amazed at himself for writing such a thing. But as he said, sometimes you just have to let your characters go and do what they will, according to their own natures. Moral absolutists, people lacking imagination, and those of simple mind will not "get" or enjoy Hannibal. As for the rest of you, if you haven't already, I'd skip the movie and get the book.
Rating:
Summary: So twisted
Review: I like twisted love stories. This book was that and much more. I loved the first movie and didn't like the book, so I was kind of wondering about reading Hannibal. When I did I was glad. It took me about 3 hours to read it in. The ending was great....The movie, however, has a different ending.... The producers didn't buy the rights to the book, they just used the namses of the characters. I would say if you liked the book, don't go to the movie, but you will have to see it for yourself.
Rating:
Summary: Hannibal the Cannibal
Review: Set in Virginia, Thomas Harris's novel Hannibal is the story of a couple young detectives searching frantically for a cannibal that has been missing for eight years. One of the main characters, Dr. Lecter Hannibal, is a man who prefers to have people for a meal rather than to invite them over for dinner. He spent several years in a jail because of his crimes. He loved to draw and read. One of the other main characters, Clarice Starling, who is a detective, met Lecter in the jail where she went to question him on another murder. He felt somewhat connected to her. After several months, Dr. Lecter escaped. Dr. Lecter flees to Florence, I taly which saved him a lot of trouble. He changed his name and his identity. He had multiple surgeries to cover up his deformities. No one has spoke or seen him in eight years until he was finally discovered. It takes the men several weeks to locate and capture him. It doesn't take him long to escape again. In one scene, only one guy has revealed Dr. Lecter's identity. The man was working for the men who wanted to fed him to the pigs. Later Dr. Lecter killed him by hanging him out of a church window. I would recommend this book to mature readers because of the adult content. Otherwise to anyone who likes investigation and somewhat scary books.
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