Rating: 
Summary: Wasn't worth the decade long wait!
Review: I was very disappointed. The writing, plot development, and especially the charater development, is inferior to Harris's other work. I am glad that I got it at 50% off.
Rating: 
Summary: Good, but not as good as "Silence of the Lambs"
Review: Harris did as good a job as anyone could do in following up "Silence of the Lambs". But I wish he had done what I did in preparation for this book. I reread "Silence of the Lambs", just to update myself on Dr. Lector and to be able to move smoothly into the sequel. Harris apparently failed to take another look at his previous novel. There are several discrepancies in details which detract from the sequel's credibility.
Rating: 
Summary: Gruesome elegance
Review: It's hard to imagine a more artistic and refined treatment of thoroughly gruesome events than the one Harris gives them here. Despite what some may say, the primary effect is not to glamorize Hannibal Lecter, but to stun and chill the reader with his utter inhumanity. The elegant prose has the second very welcome effect of keeping the book from becoming brutal and revolting, always maintaining a cool distance from its gore. The astonishing climactic setpiece, which centers on a formal dinner party unique in the history of prose (trust me! this is Dr. Lecter we're talking about!) would have been stomach-turning, if not set up with such fine concern for detail and performed with such exquisite finesse. One is left not repulsed, but awestruck at this aristocratic monster and at Harris' skill in creating and presenting him. Not a pretty read by any means, but a tour-de-force performance all around.
Rating:
Summary: Beautifully Written, But What a Disappointment
Review: The two stars for this book are for the opening scenario of the story and for Harris' writing abilities. The quality of the rest of the book degenerates and would deserve a negative rating. I was very pleased with the opening sequence of the book and found the current state of Starling's career to be in a believable condition. However, the pace of the story lags for a point; Harris seems too enamored of his ability to turn elegantly grotesque phrases and situations to develop a plot that moves along. His ability to describe details is beautiful. There are, however, far too many monsters in this story. In Silence of the Lambs, the central theme was Starling and how she used a monster to catch a monster. In Hannibal, however, there are far too many monsters inhabiting the pages and the tension that drove Silence of the Lambs is woefully absent. The corruption of Starling is the worst part of the entire mess, and I feel that the ending is a betrayal of the character who is at the core a good and decent woman. It isn't believable, and is an insult to the reader. If Harris' intent was to show that anyone can be corrupted, that anyone has these seeds within, he didn't make his point very well. More of the time between his books should have been spent strengthening the central theme and less time enhancing the elaboration of his images. I really hope that when a movie of the novel is made that they change the ending.
Rating: 
Summary: I don't want this book in my house anymore
Review: It is my habit to read the end of a book as soon as I'm interested enough in the story to see how it turns out. Having read "Silence of the Lambs" (and having seen the movie), I didn't even have to read the beginning of "Hannibal" to be very curious about the end. I had to go back 6 chapters to get the gist of it ... and it is AWFUL. Just horrendously violent!Will Graham, Harris' "Red Dragon" FBI agent, once said that he didn't want Lecter's thoughts in his head because they are the worst thoughts in the world. (I'm paraphrasing.) I don't want "Hannibal" in my head and I don't want this book in my house. I only wish there was an option for zero stars.
Rating:
Summary: Thomas Harris meets Anne Rice... results farcical at best
Review: Don't be bothered. This 'book' is horrible. The story has all the charisma of an extended descriptive paragraph of Italy coupled with the warmth of a French gourmet-cooking guide. Stay away. (Or you get the hose.) You've been warned
Rating:
Summary: Not another Silence of the Lambs
Review: Like many of the other readers, I've waited almost a decade to read this book. I am not sure it was worth the wait. The brilliant deviousness of the characters that impressed us so much in "The Silence of the Lambs" is only present here in flashes. The plot is straightforward and dare I say it, somewhat predictable. Those rumored brilliant plot twists must have completely passed me over. But this is not a suspense novel. Anyone who bills it or raves over it as such hasn't read it or didn't understand it. It is a character study. So are the characters up to snuff? The main villian, Mason, has potential, but when the character gets going, he gets no more development. His planned fate for Lecter is not novel but it still would have been both an ironic and symbolic fate for a cannibal. Clarice is Clarice, and except for the ending, Harris handles her well. She's still sharp as a tack. Of the other characters from "Silence", only Barney avoids short shrift. I was really dissatisfied with the gloss-over of Jack Crawford. Fredrick Chilton? Who's he? I wanted to know more about what happened to him than that! Hannibal does not top his previous outing. His "longing" if you can call it that, for his great loss seems out of character. I only enjoyed one aspect of that character revelation. His character background was welcome, and the comment by Barney about Lecter's belief system was great. We get a servicable rehash of the events of "Silence" in a conference involving a psychiatrist with no love lost for Lecter; which is also worth reading because it does offer an important alternative view of Lecter's interest in Clarice. This book comes up a little short on the rich symbolism in the first book, Hannibal as Apollo was a really neat metaphor in "Silence" which I didn't find matched in richness or depth in this book. Overall, I would read the book, but do not expect to be amazed. I can respect the opinion that this book is not a pleasing sequel. The worst thing about this book is the last few chapters, I have to admit the complaints about the ending being hard to swallow are not frivolous.
Rating:
Summary: Still the Best! I LOVE this book.
Review: Thomas Harris is absolutely, without doubt The Greatest Living Writer alive today. I have waited for over 10 years for him to finish this book. I read it in one sitting, staying up all night -- and I was never disappointed. He's a wonderful writer and Hannibal is a joy to read. It does differ from his other books and explores interesting new territory. I recommend this book to anyone. You may find the subject matter at times grotesque, however, his writing is superlative and his creativity so great -- you will find yourself enamoured. Plus he obviously loves food! What more can you ask for?
Rating:
Summary: bloody good....
Review: A page and stomach turner...full of dark humour where the author at laughs you: we complain about the ending? Yet how many of us pay good money to read such books and watch similar movies...it's about the morbidity in all our minds. The ending could not have been any other way.
Rating:
Summary: IT TOOK 10+ YEARS TO WRITE THIS?!?!?!?!
Review: Wow. Wow. Wow. I just finished reading HANNIBAL and I'm stunned. Stunned that the same writer of RED DRAGON and SILENCE OF THE LAMBS wrote this book. I can't stress how disappointed I am and how awful this book is. If it was any other writer and any other book, I wouldn't even have bothered to finish it. This book is so bad, it feels like something that was rushed to print to capitalize on the success of SILENCE, not something that took 10+ years to write! All I can say is, I wish Amazon let you give "0" stars as a rating option because that's what this "book" deserves.
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