Red Dragon

This was a great book, although I was a little disappointed by the ending. It just seemed to come out of nowhere.

4.5*

I don't know why I felt the need to read this one. Perhaps because I read The Silence of the Lambs... but I didn't even really like it that much. I'm just not one for this genre of books.

It's a bit slow for me, also at times I didn't care very much about some of the backstory. It's pretty gory at times, which isn't my favorite thing. Also the storyline of the Dragon guy suddenly not wanting to kill anymore because of some random woman was a bit rushed imo. Also would have preferred if Dragon had just died in the fire, the last few chapters just felt awkward and unnecessary. That would have at least rounded him trying to stop for his almost-girlfriend up a lot better, now it just feels even more random. I did enjoy (?) reading this, but I'm 98% sure I'm not rereading that ever again. But I will continue the series just because i want some more Hannibal the Cannibal.

El argumento está bien y durante el libro mantiene enganchado. Me ha parecido que el final es un poco atropellado, que pasan muchas cosas en muy pocas líneas y se le podría haber dedicado un poco más de cariño :)
El motivo de las tres estrellas es porque, a pesar de que el argumento es interesante, la traducción que he leído me parece malísima y el formato del libro muy difícil de seguir.

Entiendo que la traducción consistía en muchas ocasiones en traducir de forma literal el libro original. Esto en muchas ocasiones es un desastre porque la traducción literal no tiene sentido en español.

Además se suma que en esta versión digital que he leído los diálogos no están formateados de forma que sepas cuándo termina de hablar una persona y empieza a hablar la siguiente. Se termina sabiendo por contexto, pero ha hecho la lectura muy molesta.

Voy a seguir con el segundo de la serie, pero ya me he asegurado de leer una edición en la que la traducción esté hecha por otra persona.

Finally!

I've meant to read this forever and it ties many things together from the movies and the show. I could hardly put it down

I knew the plot of Red Dragon from seeing the 2002 film several times, but this is my first time reading the novel. I highly enjoyed Harris' writing style and attention to detail. I can see how the forensic descriptions could be tiresome to some, but I found it added to the lives of these federal officers. They need to know the ins and outs of forensics in these crimes and all crimes they investigate. It pulled me in. While it took me a while to finish the book, that's on me. I just didn't pick it up often until this past month when I was excited to read it and find out what happened. I do feel the ending was a bit rushed, but other than that, I loved the whole thing.

A tough book to stomach, but also hard to put down

I wouldn't have read this in all honesty had it not been popular fiction. I really loved the Hannibal Series and I thought I would have gotten more from this book, but what I got was just the idea of Hannibal Lecter, and clearly the series did a good job. Props to Thomas Harris for giving birth to this iconic character. Hannibal was not just a villain here, he is someone you would like, would be friends and would want to acquaint with.

The writing might be a little slow and dense but you could see beyond the small nitpick that this is overall a good book.

Having seen the movie adaptation of “The Silence of the Lambs” several times, it seemed at times that I could see the action on the pages of the book rather than just reading them. I cannot help but see Jodie Foster as Clarice Starling and it is the voice of Anthony Hopkins I hear when Hannibal Lecter speaks. While this may limit how I view the characters, this does not detract at all from the book and I feel that in many ways, the novel is superior and is still gripping despite my familiarity with the story.
Clarice Starling is in training at the FBI Academy. She is a star student in the Behavioral Sciences Division when the Department Chief, Jack Crawford, calls her into his office and gives her a job. She is to interview one Dr Hannibal “The Cannibal” Lecter in order to help get into the mind of a serial killer. There is an open case with a serial killer who has been nicknamed “Buffalo Bill”, and Dr. Lecter may be the only chance to solve the case without there being many more murders. Starling is only a trainee, and this may be why Lecter is actually willing to speak to Starling about Buffalo Bill, though he is always holding something back.
Lecter is a villain of extreme intellect and this comes through in his dialogue. Like “Red Dragon”, Dr. Lecter is not the central villain and the story does not revolve specifically around him (though he has a larger role this time around). Lecter does play a pivotal role because without him, the story cannot move forward. We never truly get into the psyche of Jame Gumb (not as much as we did with Frances Dolorhyde in “Red Dragon”), and it seems as if most of his actions happen off camera.
While Lecter is a very interesting character, it is Clarice Starling that we get to see grow as a character and become more confident and insistent in her work with Lecter and to catch “Buffalo Bill” even though she is only a trainee. She was put on this case and she intends to see it through.
As creepy as the movie could be, I loved this book. It had a very fast pace and stayed interesting throughout the story and it didn't matter that I had seen the movie multiple times. I was interested in the story Thomas Harris was telling. While Harris goes into detail about crimes, it doesn't feel very gory or unnecessary. It seems that this novel was a best seller in the late 80's and it is easy to see why. “The Silence of the Lambs” is a well told thriller and any fans of James Patterson and that genre should definitely give this one a look.

This wasn't too bad a read, it could have been a bit shorter as there was some sections where he went on a bit too long, or where characters had pointless conversations, but all in all an easy quick read.

3.5 stars.

So, yeah. Probably the best thriller I've read. Harris writes well, and his insane villain is pretty awesome. Honestly, every other thriller wants to be this, but the ones I've read fail epically. The writer's don't have the chops to make a potentially over-the-top villain realistic, human, actually interesting like Dolarhyde. So, yeah, I enjoyed this book, much to my surprise. I would consider reading more of his stuff.

Read more at Great Minds Read Alike.

When in the winter of 1979, I entered the Baltimore State Hospital for the Criminally Insane, and the great metal door crashed closed behind me, little did I know what waited at the end of the corridor, how seldom we recognize the sound when the bolt of our fate slides home.

This is how the foreword ends... pretty chilling. I had high hopes for the story after this. It seems like Thomas Harris becomes his characters. Therefore, it's gonna be gruesome and thrilling/horrific, right? Especially being a huge fan girl of the new Hannibal T.V. series, I was excited to get creeped out.

NOT RIGHT... Red Dragon turned out to be more of a character study, to me. It was not nearly as gruesome and detailed as the synopsis leads you to believe. There were a couple parts where things got exciting, but that's about it. Will Graham is not even a very developed character in the book and Hannibal Lecter doesn't make much of an appearance.

The focus of the story is after Will has caught Dr. Lecter and is now trying to catch a guy who calls himself the “Red Dragon”. The Red Dragon's mind is a crazy place the couple of times you get to see into it, I would have liked for the book to concentrate more on that aspect. Other than that it was just this happened then this happened then this happened. The plot is well developed but there was not much character development in any area. That's what bugged me.

Overall, this is a good story. But slightly annoying to read because most situations just don't get fleshed out as much as you would like. I would chalk it up to Thomas Harris being an author who has great story ideas but is not as great a writer as you might think.

I think I'll just keep watching the T.V. show with all their dapper suits.

Ahhh well I only read this because I started watching the show Hannibal, but prior to that I had't read any of the books or seen any of the movies. So it was kind of fun reading this and recognizing characters from the show, even though I know that's backwards.

It was definitely a page-turner–I read this all in 1 weekend eek.

I don't read a lot of thriller/mystery/whatever type books because I'm not crazy about blood and grossness, and also I kind of assume they'll be at least sort of misogynist? Which this like, kind of was. Ugh, gross, why do I know so much about the Red Dragon's penis now :(

Also the show Hannibal turned a bunch of dude characters into lady characters. GOOD FOR YOU, HANNIBAL.

STILL, as a new fan of Will Graham I enjoyed seeing his origins. (So to speak, even though the Hannibal show takes place chronologically first.) Anyway, definitely a page turner. And I definitely got Silence of the Lambs from the library. And I MIGHT watch the movies. And I'll definitely keep watching the show. Damn your face, Will Graham.