Rating: 
Summary: The Doctor Is In
Review: At long last, Hannibal comes home again! Whether or not you agree with the concept of serial killer as human being, the text is rich in description that is enjoyed like a fine meal, sans fava beans. Thomas Harris does not disappoint with the long wait. The intricacy and detail he imports should be savored; a true delicacy for where the mind can take you.
Rating: 
Summary: well, ok, but...
Review: This book is not bad, but hardly what I expected. I expected the glorious Clarice Starling in a duell to the death with the even more glorious Hannibal Lecter. I didn't get that, am I sorry? No! I also expected an independent book, great writing like the first 2. Did I get it? No! Ok, the writing is great but it dosen't become a real book. If Harris gave this to me a year or two after the "lambs" I would have praised it for its huge potential. But there it stops, beeing a sketch for a great book. Why did it take ten years to write this? I am not really disappointed, Starlings fall from grace is convincing and Lecter was always too unique to be only the enemy. In the Red Dragon there is a moment where a blind girl is able to touch a tiger because it is sedated. Lecter is that tiger, so 'beautiful', so dangerous, so beyond others, you want to run and still you want to be close to him. With all its flaws, this is a good book, enchanting writing by a man with a truly sick imagination, and I mean that as a compliment. Too sad it never became what it could have been.
Rating: 
Summary: Hannibal & Clarice : A Love Story
Review: Just finished reading Hannibal. Where to begin? First off, the author Thomas Harris has not lost the ability to engage the reader with his page-turning stories. The book reads like a worthy companion to Silence of the Lambs, but not quite as good. That said, it's obvious from reading the book that Harris has an avid love of the research he incorporates in this story. You get the feeling he visited Florence and fell head over heels in love with it and spends an entire section of the book praising its every nuance to the point of nausea. He doesn't devote nearly this much detail to other locales depicted, even though they take up more pages and story than Florence does. Another thing that's ... irksome is you can SO picture him reading about the concepts of "memory palaces" and then deciding that's how Lecter's mind should operate (which is another thing : did we really have to know THIS much about him? I liked it better when all we got were frightening glimpses of Lecter's world, not his life story). The other characters in the book are more or less solidly written. There is a very funny moment involving Barney (from Silence) and Margot Verger (the real villian's lesbian sister) in a shower scene. Some of their fates are unbelievably horrifying, but most everyone gets what they deserve in the end. Except for Clarice Starling. I can see why the director talked with Harris and is now changing the ending of the upcoming movie (Feb 2001). Clarice, like it or not, became too much of a role model for her fate to be depicted as such on the big screen. I wouldn't have minded if Harris had gone further and more perverted than what he did write concerning her. But it's too harsh for the movie-going populace. Which brings us to Dr. Hannibal Lecter. This is a kinder, gentler sociopath. He doesn't kill or even maim everyone he comes into contact with, just knocks them out as long as they're polite and not trying to capture him. He's a lot more likeable in this book, and that bothered me a bit. This is a bit too much like glamorizing and romanticizing a serial killer. yes, he's actually more like the hero here,and that's ... weird. He's too cool, too debonnair and not nearly malevolent enough to match his old persona. All in all, this book was a good read. Not nearly as scary as Silence of the Lambs, though. The book also had the unfortunate quality of reading like it was ultimately meant for the movies. It reads like a movie (except for the surreal ending) and that may turn off some readers. Still, go buy and read it. Judge for yourself
Rating:
Summary: Oh So JUICY!
Review: Hannibal is just what it should be -- a very entertaining thriller. Yet there is such depth of character in these books, this is not your average paperback. The sick and twisted eating habits of Dr.Lecter just make the interaction between him and Agent Starling a little more interesting and complex. Dr. Lecter has some issues, but don't we all? He is a great "antihero" and I wish there was another book to read about him.
Rating: 
Summary: Hannibal
Review: I am an avid crime/mystery reader and thought that since I enjoyed the movie Silence of the Lambs that I would enjoy this new book. This book could barely hold my attention! It read like a movie script - I am sure that the author thought he could save some time in doing both a novel and a screen play at the same time! What a disappointment - I now have no desire to see the movie as the book failed to "capture" me. Such a dissappointment!
Rating:
Summary: Horrible disappointment
Review: I waited with bated breath for this book to show up. I was ready to have my nerves tingle as with _The Silence of the Lambs_. And it did, for the first 3/4 of the book. And the last part of the book ruined the whole durn thing. I can't even go back and read _Silence..._ again because of it.I applaud Jodie Foster for her integrity in not repeating her role as Clarice because of what Harris did with her in this novel. I'm sorry I paid the cover price for it, it was such a disappointment. Shame on you, Mr. Harris.
Rating: 
Summary: not a gripping tale
Review: Compared to silence of the lambs, this book is awful. It reads like a movie script and unlike the last Hannibal book, I had no trouble putting it down. In fact many passages were boring. I would not sped the money. There is too much else out there worth reading
Rating:
Summary: A bit of a disappointment
Review: After more than a decade's wait, and after surviving the inevitable hype surrounding it, HANNIBAL, the sequel to the excellent SILENCE OF THE LAMBS, proves to be somewhat of a let down. Although it's undeniably well written and a page turner as well, HANNIBAL is flat, and unsatisfying. After SILENCE, the motivations behind the actions of Special Agent Starling and Dr. Lecter don't seem to be true to the previous book and left me scratching my head. While I'm not saying don't read this book, don't go into it believing all the hype either.
Rating:
Summary: Hmmm...
Review: Well, my review pretty much follows the general consensus. I liked it a lot up until the last hundred or so pages, and then it just became so weird and unbelieveable that I didn't know what to think. Mr. Harris certainly isn't a bad writer, but I'm not sure what his point is with the ending. I thought there were too many extraneous sub-plots, I thought the ark with Barney and Verger's sister was wholly un-necessary. Although I thought the Italy scene was awesome, especially the part when Lecter kills Pazzi. For any of you that have seen "The Silence of the Lambs", the Pazzi death scene will be akin to the scene when Lecter suspends the guard from his cage with his guts hanging out, that scene will definitely stay peoples minds. The revenge plot was a little over-elaborate, although I can see how a bitter victim could have imagined such a "fitting" end to his enemy. I still don't think Starling would have ended up the way she did. Anyway, I'm hoping the movie will be a little better.
Rating:
Summary: Who are the morons writing reviews for this book?
Review: In reading reviews of this wonderful book with a wonderful, poignant ending, I realized that I must write a second review of it. This book is a mirror of modern day humanity: Frustration with the social injustice going on, society's willingness to ignore injustice against anyone but straight, white, middle to upper class men! This frustration in Clarice's case leads to horrific, "dangerously sane" insanity! Clarice's Hannibal character is COMPLETELY true to her to her character in the BOOK Silence of the Lambs! Maybe her Hannibal character is not true to her MOVIE Silence of the Lambs character. I invite my fellow reviewers to read the actual book Silence of the Lambs, they'll see that Clarice's character from book to movie is completely different: Different motivations, different personalities, different experiences. The Clarice in the book was naive, idealistic, tough as nails, angry, and multi-faceted, unlike Jodie Foster's movie rendering as a one dimensional, savvy, down to earth woman who's going to make it to the top and never lose faith! Come on, my fellow reviewers! Life is NOT a bowl of cherries and Hannibal delivers that fact horrifically and poignantly. Life is not black and white, Dr. Lecter=Bad/Clarice=Good. Come on! If you want Bad v. Good go watch a cartoon! If you want a heart-warming, one dimensional lie that will leave you feeling superior go someplace else! If you want a deep three dimensional world of characters who, no matter how bad they are, you feel compassion for, because they are HUMAN, go get Hannibal now. I understand that this will make some people uncomfortable, but that's what makes Thomas Harris a master storyteller and humanist. For my fellow Hannibal reviewers: Please actually READ the book before you review it! Don't just listen to Girl Scout Jodie Foster or one of your friends who've heard of the ending and then decide to write a negative review because the ending doesn't make you feel superior enough, different enough, from these very human characters who do horrific things. Everyone who has actually read the book can tell that you haven't read it! Also, please READ The Silence of the Lambs, as opposed to watching the movie, before you say that Clarice's Hannibal character is "not true" to her Silence of the Lambs character, that's ignorant! Clarice's Hannibal character is not only true to her Silence of the Lambs character, but her actions in Hannibal are actually predictible, if you READ The Silence of the Lambs! For those who want a generic, horror, dime novel, for those who want to feel superior, for those who have no culture, for those who have no compassion, and for those who want inhuman, one-dimensional characters whose "badness" we can take because they're inhuman, plastic, and so different from "us," like, it seems, most of the reviewers of this book, don't read this book.
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