Rating: 
Summary: Juggernaut of All Books
Review: Thomas Harris' Hannibal is one of the best books I have read lately. I also am amazed by the horribly negative reviews this book has gotten. I read Hannibal first, and then its predecessors, Red Dragon, and Silence of the Lambs. I found that Hannibal held itself on a much higher plane than the first two books. The first book contained parts that seemed to be included simply for their shock factor. While the second book had less random macabre, it still held no comparison to the Olympus of all books, Hannibal. Albeit, I am not very fond of the way Thomas Harris ended his masterpiece. In the way Thomas Harris ends the book, he doesn't allow a fourth sequel to be written. I mean its possible, anything is possible, but the ending leaves a very awkward entrance into any form of a fourth book. In conclusion, Hannibal is a wonderfully brutal book, leading up to, in my opinion, the end of the Hannibal Lecter series. -" Garden variety manic depressive. Tedious...Very tedious. "
Rating: 
Summary: Good to almost the last chapter!
Review: This book kept me on the edge . However the last chapter was a let down for the whole book. I put my copy in the trash.
Rating: 
Summary: Another spellbinding tale from Harris
Review: I was totally captivated by this book. Dr. Hannibal Lecter is my all time favorite fictional character; so evil, so brilliant, so sophisticated and educated, so cultured, and so incredibly dangerous! What an amazing and fascinating combination of traits and qualities in a man, and yet for all his horror, Harris is able to make the reader feel some amount of sympathy for Lecter. Starling is her ususal competant and intrepid self, and even though she fears Lecter, the way she admires and even in a sense likes him, is the mark of great writing. The complexities to Lecter and Starling continually unfold and keep the reader glued to the pages. I also was greatly impressed with the Italian Pazzi, and his sluething and cunning. Mason Verger was a worthy adversary for Lecter, although I would have liked to see more of a showdown between the two. The ending was entrancing, I could see it unfolding cinematically, with a classical soundtrack, and all I can say now is that I hope there will be another book to continue the adventures of Hannibal!
Rating:
Summary: Quite possibly the best Harris book ever
Review: Despite some other people says, I think Hannibal is twice as scarier than Red Dragon and The Silence of the Lambs. This book is full of detail that you are in part of Hannibal and Clarice Starling. In my own opinion a well detail book gets in a way of being scare to go on. In Red Dragon and The Silence of the Lambs, it's the book that goes on but sometimes you felt like you want to stop.
Rating: 
Summary: This Time, Harris Loses his Balance
Review: Of all Harris's novels, this is probably the most gripping read. I enjoyed both RED DRAGON and THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS. Neither of those books are as absorbed with the Hannibal Lecter character as this one. They both dealt with the idea of a serial killer trying to transform himself. (Incidentally, there's a really fascinating analysis of these characters in a book about American horror fiction called A DARK NIGHT'S DREAMING for anyone interested in this kind of thing.) This latest novel focuses on Hannibal Lecter's relationship with Clarice Starling. Lecter is typical of great horror villains in that the reader identifies with him as a sensitive (and even romantic) genius as much as he/she is repelled by Lecter's violence and his sociopathic behavior. In some ways, Lecter is not unlike certain depictions of Dracula. This balance is fascinating, both for the readers and for Starling, but while Harris managed to walk the line in earlier novels where Lecter is in the background, he can't pull it off here where Lecter IS the story. A big issue of debate in the readers' reviews here is whether the ending works. I won't give anything away, except to say that I don't think it does. In the end, Lecter has to go one way or the other--we either end up having to sympathize and identify with him or deplore him. As I said, I won't tell you which way Harris goes, but it doesn't really matter. Neither way can work, and the second half (or at least the last third) of the book is a disappointment. It is a good read, though.
Rating:
Summary: What went wrong?
Review: It's as if something happened to throw Harris from his game approximately 3/4 of the way through the book. The first half was wonderful -- drew you in, kept you wondering, made you read one more page... and another... and another... until you realized you were way overdue for whatever it is that called you. The ending is laughable, it's so contrived and rushed. With "chapters" containing only 4-5 paragraphs near the end, and such a lack of detail (not restraint, but HOLES), I have to say I wish I'd simply never read it, because the magic that Harris has been able to conjure before now seems utterly ruined.
Rating: 
Summary: Yikes
Review: Don't waste your time. If you are looking for suspence, character integrity, and entertainment, you shouldn't look to Hannibal. The narratives are long winded, the characters are flat, and the plot unbelievable. I loved Harris' previous books, Hannibal left me feeling cheated, and well, just plain dirty.
Rating:
Summary: For once--I was completely surprised...
Review: ...by the resolution of a thriller. The ending was the last thing I would ever have guessed. What Harris gets at is the complete "giving up" of a person who has exhausted all of her inner resources. Psychologically fascinating, and a seldom-used literary device. As with Red Dragon, Harris had me rooting for -- and even identifying with -- the horrifically twisted villian/hero. By doing so, he makes us examine the fragile roots of our own loyalties. Granted, this book is miles over the top, and his characters are sometimes cartoonish, but I think the macabre psychology underlying the story is a delight.
Rating:
Summary: Surpisingly Complete and Ultimately Satisfying
Review: I approached this novel with some degree of trepidation, because I had heard mixed word-of-mouth reviews, and was wondering how Harris could possibly match (let alone top) his previous Lecter novels. I must say though that as I read Hannibal, skepticism faded into surprise and surprise was eventually replaced by a sense of delight and satisfaction. What this novel made me realize is that--his ability to portray psychological horror aside--Harris is a first-class writer, with a sure and certain touch in creating sustained dialogue, and a highly evocative, almost poetic gift for creating setting and scene. The only gripe I have is with some of his characters. Unlike the previous two novels, Red Dragon and Silence of the Lambs, some of Hannibal's characters are overdrawn and extreme, and Harris labors too hard to illustrate how they came to be the way they are. The bureaucrat Krendler, who despises Clarice Starling and has done everything possible to ruin her career, is a case in point. It is enough to know that he's a petty, small-minded cretin, and Harris didn't need to trace all Krendler's problems to the fact he couldn't get it up on his first try back in high school. That's just overly-simplistic, and Harris sells himself short in trying to bring it off. This need to over-explain carries over into Lecter himself, because in Hannibal we are finally exposed to the traumatic "event" that supposedly triggered the doctor's pathological behavior. It works reasonably well, but why not just leave Lecter as a symbol of "motiveless malignancy," of the inexplicable presence of evil in the world? That said, everything else is perfect. Harris's evocation of Florence is magnificent, and the Florence section as a whole is incredibly successful. It's amazing how, throughout the novel, Harris's love for and knowledge of art, music and cuisine holds so much of the description and action together. A lot of people have criticized the ending, but I think it's the most brilliant, and apt, aspect of the novel. Instead of reducing the novel to what we all expect--a final showdown between Lecter and Starling, from which only one can emerge alive--Harris presents us with a scenario that is surprising in the extreme but psychologically true to the character of both Lecter and Starling. The fact that Harris avoided the kind of ending everyone wanted/expected shows that as a writer, he is a cut above the horde of psychological horror writers out there. As with Red Dragon and The Silence of the Lambs, you won't be able to do much else with your time but read voraciously once you're started. It's an incredible ride, and you'll want to read it again once you're finished, just to see if Harris telegraphed the incredible ending somewhere earlier in the novel. I just hope we don't have to wait another ten years to hear from Harris again.
Rating:
Summary: Listen eagerly,but dare not to close your eyes!
Review: Thomas Harris could so easily have returned us to Clarice Starling, seven years later, to find her the successful FBI agent riding shotgun to a sage-like Jack Crawford,catching Hannibal Lecter after a crisis of conscience along the way and riding off into the sunset waving a righteous law enforcement flag,If that is what you want- read something by John Grisham. I enjoyed Hannibal without reservation,thankfully unpredictable, well read by Daniel Gerroll(I have'nt heard the abridged version read by the Author to compare-I did'nt want to miss a single word!)Enjoy this story by candlelight and a nice chianti, but don't expect to sleep......
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