Rating: 
Summary: Don't waste your time or money
Review: I actually threw the book away when I was finished
Rating: 
Summary: Unparalleled!
Review: I've read, reviewed and ranked 42 novels this year. Hannibal ranks #1 at this point, just ahead of Winslow's California Fire and Life; Lehane's Prayers for Rain, and Hodge's Wild Horses. Not having seen the movie version of The Silence of the Lambs, I only had expectations based on reading Harris' previous works. Though I found Lambs superior in its tone's chilling effect upon me, I also found the artistry of Harris' writing in Hannibal to be superior to that found in TSOL. His voice and shifting point of view are magnificently unique in this novel. When I finished Hannibal, I sat still in my easy chair, staring off into the distance, as stunned as I ever remember being at a novel's ending. My beloved asked me if there would be a sequel. I couldn't answer the question then and I can't answer it now. This was a good read!
Rating: 
Summary: Who really wrote this book!?!
Review: Incredibly dissapointed. I loved the book Silence of the Lambs. Remember when they hired another writer to do a sequel for Gone With the Wind - this had the same feel - that someone else was tinkering with my favorite charachters. Clarice is a totally different person in this book, and the back story on Hannibal was not only LAME but it ruined him for me. Why give away the goods - Hannibal is much better as an enigma. Wouldn't reccomend it to anyone - especially Jodi Foster!
Rating:
Summary: Um - what the hell was THAT?
Review: It's actually kinda funny. If I'm anywhere NEAR the end of a book, I usually finish it - so it was odd to me that the book sat on my shelf, unfinished, for over two days with only around 30 pages to go, and I had no real desire to finish it. I SHOULD HAVE JUST LEFT IT ALONE! That a book with the potential that this one had - before even being written! - ended the way it did is beyond pathetic. I tend to feel guilty for not liking a book - I try to like everything. But not Hannibal. I'm just not sure what Mr. Harris was thinking. Some have said it was "bravery" and "guts" that he dsiplyed by ending this book the way he did. I'll call it laziness.
Rating:
Summary: I ate it up...
Review: I thought the book was wonderful. I finished it in two days. I couldn't put it down, although I suggest anyone wanting to read it have a strong stomach. The descriptions used by Mr. Harris were vivid yet restrained. I never knew where Mr. Harris would take me next. The probing into the mind of Dr. Lecter was unique and gave us a glimpse into the mind of one of the most frightening and unpredictable literary monsters of the decade. I wouldn't wait for the movie. In order to make a movie of this book, much would have to be edited.
Rating: 
Summary: Terrific suspense, but disappointing finish.
Review: Thomas Harris continues to showcase the smarts and exhaustive research he used to such good effect in the previous 2 books on Hannibal Lector. Dr. Lector, for all his unusual "tastes", has always been frightening because he is so utterly believable. But the new villain Harris has created is so grotesque as to be unbelievable, a sinister, predictably gross cartoon character not worthy of Harris's talents or time. Clarice Starling's efficient intelligence shines through as it did in "Silence of the Lambs", but her character's transformation by the end of this novel was both disappointing and disturbing. The reader is left feeling vaguely cheated, and more than a little mystified. This is not the Clarice Starling we once rooted for- this woman is someone we don't know. Once the action moves to Italy, be prepared to stay up to the wee hours- till it's over.
Rating: 
Summary: What was Harris thinking?
Review: After reading all three of Harris' novels containing Lecter I must say this was the most disappointing. In Silence of the Lambs he created a strong female role for Starling and completely ruined her in Hannibal. I agree with many of the other reviewers that it was an interesting book and the ending was a complete surprise, but I don't think that it was consistant with the characters Harris originally created. Both Hannibal and Starling lost something, and Crawford was another disappointment. I would only recommend this book to those who haven't read the two prior novels (Red Dragon and Silence...). It stands alone on its own merits just fine. For those expecting to revisit favorite characters, re-read one of Harris' previous two novels.
Rating:
Summary: A Riveting, Disturbing, Absolutely Marvelous Read
Review: I just finished Hannibal last evening. A very good read. If you think about the ending, and then think about Clarice and Hannibal, I'm not sure if it could have ended any other way than the way in which it did. The subplot to SOTL is the budding "relationship" between the two, why not take it one step farther, which Harris does. Harris shows true guts here, to go against the "typical" ending which would have Clarice and the FBI capturing, or most likely killing, Hannibal. Here was something much better to read, and much better to contemplate "Can evil be worthy of love?" I look forward to seeing the movie, stupid scene on the plane, and all. A very, very, good read.
Rating:
Summary: Startling! Brilliant! What we have all been waiting for!!!
Review: This is what we have all been waiting for! It's what we secretly wanted all along. We all knew it was there. In Silence of the Lambs, it was obvious that there was a certain tension between Clarice and the good doctor. Secretly, we all wanted to delve more closely into that subject. "Hannibal" also gets deep into the recesses of Dr. Lecter's mind. We get a chance to see how he thinks; how he reasons; how he feels, if it can be called that. We get to see Dr. Lecter not in a prison setting but as a distinguished, tasteful man of the world, in his own personal niche. We get to see how Dr. Lecter, unconstrained, unbound, truly LIVES.
Rating:
Summary: The worst of Stephen King and not scary.
Review: This came from the same guy who wrote "Red Dragon?" It seems like Mr. Harris took writing lessons from the Stephen King School of character development, because they were ridiculous. All of the antagonists (Krendlar, Verger) were just soooo nasty, and we had to be reminded of it constantly with an awkward example that seemed to be jammed into the chapter. I mean it isn't enough that Verger is disturbed and deformed, but he finds it important to let us know that he likes to torment children. E gads! Now that's nasty! And Krendlar uses the "C" word. Now that's really nasty! The other problem is that all of Lecter's victims are "bad guys." So Lecter is now a hero. Either a hunter who's bagging underweight game out of season (how politically un PC) or kidnappers on his trail. What a selective serial killer. Especially when he leaves hospital employees only knocked out. Give me a break. I didn't mind the end, though. I think I'll read Red Dragon again and remember how scary a book can be.
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