Rating: 
Summary: A Thoughtful Romp Through A Grand Guignol Funhouse
Review: HANNIBAL by Thomas Harris is a daring and provocative novel, one that dares to shatter expectations without apologies. Harris manages to question the conventions of his chosen genre by examining different manifestations of what could be considered evil. Readers may find Harris' depictions of bureaucratic and political psychopathology more disturbing than the more straightforward acts of violence depicted. Better yet, HANNIBAL examines the relationship between Starling and Lector in an audacious, unflinching way. Harris, who refused to view the film version of SILENCE OF THE LAMB, offers a ghoulish finale which will defy the mainstream even as it provokes thought in readers who enjoy something new and thoughtful.
Rating:
Summary: Great extension of horrific story; right until the end!
Review: This book has managed to carry on the horrific and sometimes sickening story of Hannibal "The Cannibal" Lector. The detail and description of each and every scene, sound, and environment is a credit to Harris' brilliant writing style. The only potential part of the story that seems to flow out of bounds is the ending. It simply seems to implausible to "suspend disbelief"; even for the most passionate Hannibal supporter.
Rating: 
Summary: NO STARS HERE, OR A MOVIE
Review: Don't waste eye movement on this book. If there were no stars possible, that it what this should receive. Inconceivably disappointing, incredibly weird and illogical, too many holes in the plot to plug with an octopus. Ridiculous premises and implausible actions. Limp effort at horrifying the reader presumably to mask the absence of a plot leading to a laughable ending.
Rating:
Summary: Astoundingly magnificent!
Review: This book certainly does not deserve all of the so so reviews it is getting. This book is slighly different and perhaps dissapointing to some, but that could be because we are all not used to change.
Rating: 
Summary: Great story, bad ending. In my opinion.
Review: This book was a very good story. Some points seemed to drag forever, such as the settings in Italy. Others seemed to go by too quick. This book is not as good as Black Sunday, Red Dragon, or The Silence of the Lambs. The characters were very well fleshed out, so you got to know them pretty well, some too well. The fate Mason Verger has for Lecter just seems too much like a Hollywood movie. It is very complicated and seems almost impossible to accomplish in the real world. I know this is a fantasy story, but the good thing about the other Thomas Harris books was that they were based in reality. The biggest thing that bothers me is the ending. I won't give it away, but the characters do not seem like the ones we have come to know in the other books.
Rating:
Summary: POSTMODERN GOTHIC with MILTONIAN OVERTONES
Review: Author Harris out Rice's Rice in this preposterous yet irresistible sequel to the book-turned-movie that made fava beans a household name worldwide. Sacrificed by her colleagues to the political ambitions of an FBI "boys club" elite, Starling's eventual embrace of Lecter the fallen angel seems not only plausible, but inevitable. A darkly sensuous romance in the best tradition of Hawthorne and Melville guaranteed to leave many enthralled and others disgruntled.
Rating:
Summary: A perfect example of an author attempting to outdo himself.
Review: Thomas Harris has saved his time-consuming research and imagination for his worst performance to date. In order to follow up his best work in "Silence..." he needed to shock us, to surprise us. He failed. "Hannibal" is a perfect example of an author attempting to outdo himself. As sequels often go, this one belongs in your trash.
Rating: 
Summary: An Unconventional Universe
Review: Finished the book this weekend. Absolutely enjoyed the 'Florence' section; here Harris returns to the descriptive prose that made parts of 'Silence of the Lambs' so enjoyable. The last two sections did a fair job of mixing psychological horror with action. Olfactory fixations ran throughout most characterizations. Obvious twist: all the 'humans' become monsters and Dr. Lecter (the Anti-Romish Monster) becomes the most civilized of the lot. Yawn. But this is where the story begins. Harris abandons the two conventional dimensions of female characterization in this novel (that is; 'damsel in distress' and 'independent Super Woman'), opting for twisted renderings of these forms. Margot Verger, who becomes obsessed with her brother a warped Isis to Mason's even more bizarre Osiris. Harris' Margot and Mason remind the reader to travel their own minds searching for the historical and mythical references to these timely characters, suggesting the universality of horror. The only omnipotence which actually exists and the only truth . Then there is Clarice Starling, a disintegrating woman who becomes the object of erotic fantasy for most charters. Combined with her killer nstinct/action, she becomes the realized Black Widow of Death, finding her Poe-ish role as sensual seductress through the drug and mind venom of the distinguished doctorre, consummating their union at a perverted dinner party where Clarice's nemesis becomes a 'special guest.' But this scene, where Harris combines the elements of the Last Supper with the delicious nuances of 'Babbet's Feast' suggests the total death of Ms. Starling and the resurrection of dear Mischa. The death of a female character never hurt so much, or will be denied by so many. Those poor souls who await the return of the "Bride of Lector-stein' in Book Four have truly missed the point. "Hannibal" recounts the slow, painful death of the faux-heroine, whose bitter demise began seven years on her first meeting of the good doctor. Admittedly, many fans of 'Silence of the Lambs' probably hate the ending. But to find the conclusion of this tale ridiculous is to miss the deep horror of the moment: all of us can succumb to the living death of Clarice. We simply utilize cheap, conventional belief systems in higher powers, political forces or moral platitudes to keep the death within us at bay. And when these conventions fail, some readers will resort to the want of a predicable, happy ending. But there is no deus-en-machina to save us from the dark abyss of madness and death. No pretty ending. Just the fall. And no thump. We are left in free fall, waging a war within the darkness of our own souls. Four stars only for the poor editing.
Rating:
Summary: Not just a rehash of previous volumes
Review: Thanks to the popularity garnered by the Silence of the Lambs film, Hannibal became the literary equivalent of The Phantom Menace: an eagerly-anticipated sequel, a long time in coming, that has to not only satisfy as a novel in its own right, but also live up to ten years of nostalgia and anticipation. What Harris delivers is an exciting, suspenseful novel that is as bizarre and baroque compared to Silence of the Lambs as Silence was to Red Dragon. It starts off a little slow compared to the previous two books, but that's because, unlike the other two, it doesn't begin with a hunt for a serial killer in progress. That's one of it's strengths, that it doesn't duplicate past successes, but that's what will disappoint readers looking for more of the same. By the time you reach the climax, the book becomes un-put-downable. The finale is unpredictable and unsettling, but probably the only satisfying ending the story could possibly have had. To paraphrase James Ellroy, this book is hours of fun for the whole family, if your family name is Manson.
Rating:
Summary: Good book, terrific ending
Review: The entirety of "Hannibal" is not as exciting or fascinating as the entirety of his first two Lecter books. However, the ending more than makes up for it. The last fifty pages of the book are a conceptual roller-coaster: if you savored the gut-wrenching joy of having your morality turned upside down that the ending of "Seven" inspired, you'll love this. Lecter is not a monster, he's Neitzsche's Superman, and he uses his transcendence to coax an ordinary mortal into the ranks of Supermortality. Awesome.
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