Rating: 
Summary: Better than expected.
Review: This novel has reached the state of being one of those "classics" -- but in the serial killer field. I finally got a chance to read it, after thinking nothing could surpass David Wiltse's John Becker series, or the Prey series by John Sandford, nor Just Killing Time by VanArnam, or Marcel Montecino's Crosskiller. Well, now I know why this novel is spoken of so highly. I am haunted by the scene at the tree, by the blind would-be victim, by the inner tourmoil of the main character who is parallel but a bit different from John Becker.
My favorite serial killer novel is still the cross-over novel Skin Game by Max Allan Collins, but I will recommend this Harris book from now on.
Rating:
Summary: MY FIRST INTRODUCTION TO THOMAS HARRIS.
Review: I found and read this book many years ago and haven't left a window in the house uncovered since! Loved it so much that I've bought many copies through the years to give away to others who ask, "Read any good books lately?"
Rating:
Summary: Good book
Review: Good book, kept my attention very well. It's about a retired FBI manhunter named Will Graham. Who is brought back to the FBI to track down a new, psychotic killer on the loose. A madman who's been slaughtering families one by one in violent ways. Will Graham has a special gift that he must use to catch the killer, he must think like the killer. He used this methods years before to track down serial killer Dr. Hannibal the Cannibal Lecter. A man who once was simply Dr. Hannibal, a psychiatrist who went mad and murdered his patients one by one. Now he's in prison thanks to Graham, and Graham is going to ask for his help in catching this madman on the loose. While reporter Freddy Lounds is kidnaped by the killer, who calls himself the Red Dragon. Pretty good book, id recommend it to almost anybody.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent Work, Despite the Foreseen Ending
Review: In the first installment of Thomas Harris's glimpse into the world of Hannibal Lecter, Red Dragon emerges as a gripping crime/horror novel that far exceeds the film version. Will Graham, a retired FBI agent who was nearly killed by Dr. Lecter, is called upon in his Florida home to investigate the all too similar murders of two families. Needing insight into the mind of a methodical psychopath, Graham decides to visit the "Cannibal", who deftly manipulates both Graham and the killer, Francis Dolarhyde.
Harris's penetration into the mind of a deranged killer is exquisite, utilizing flashbacks to Dolarhyde's past where the reader learns of Francis's birth as a deformed child to an unloving mother. As the novel unravels, the reader is able to amass the twisted physical and emotional abuse that ultimately fuels Dolarhyde's alter ego as the Great Red Dragon. Harris masterfully glimpses into the minds of Graham and Dolarhyde, revealing the scarred psyche of an ingenious detective, wrestling with his emotions, and the haunted mind of a child who has grown into a serial killer.
Though Harris creates a fantastic thriller with excellent character development, the ending to the novel is highly predictable. When the reader reaches the last few pages of the book, it is rather simple to discern what events will unfold. Despite this fact, the novel itself is brimming with eerie details that will follow readers throughout the length of the piece that triumph over the almost obvious ending.
Rating:
Summary: A Superior Serial Killer Novel
Review: Red Dragon is an exciting and grisly crime novel which is brilliantly written in a taught and deceptively simple prose style. We are introduced to Dr. Hannibal Lecter in this book and it is a great introduction, setting up the action which continues in The Silence of the Lambs (a book I also gave a five stared review).In this book the villain is Francis Dolarhyde, a man with an exceptionally shocking past. I especially liked the inclusion of several chapters about his childhood because they accomplish the seemingly impossible, to make you feel real sympathy for him because the cruelty he suffered as a boy was horrific. The sections of the book where Dolarhyde is alone with Reba McClane really got my pulse racing because Reba's blindness made her extremely vulnerable to him. The plot was excellent and very twisted, involving several shocking and uncomfortable developments which had me biting my nails rather a lot! Will Graham, the FBI investigator, was also a well developed character and I was willing him to succeed throughout. Overall I would recommend Red Dragon to those who like to read tense and beautifully written crime novels - and can put up with the gruesome and scary parts which are quite disturbing. Like The Silence of the Lambs, Red Dragon is a superior serial killer novel and a must read for crime fiction fans JoAnne
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