- Paperback: 576 pages
- Publisher: Arrow Books Ltd; New edition edition (1 Feb 2001)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0099297701
- ISBN-13: 978-0099297703
- ASIN: 0099416832
- Product Dimensions: 17.2 x 11 x 4 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (154 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,046,319 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Hannibal. Dr Hannibal Lecter. "A brief silence follows the name, always, in any civilized gathering," wrote Thomas Harris at the beginning of his stunning The Silence of the Lambs in 1988. You don't want him in your head, you don't want you in his head. Now, a decade later, Lecter is back--ready to take up his place as one of the cult figures of contemporary fiction. Almost a modern myth, in fact, if the scale, and thrill, of the publication of Hannibal is anything to go by. Harris's book is "news": not only "book news" but "real" news, one of the biggest publishing events of the decade in terms of print run (one million copies worldwide), film rights (Hollywood has paid six million dollars for the book: Anthony Hopkins and Julianne Moore will star) and cultural cachet.
The serial killer--like his counterpart, the psychologist-profiler--is a figure for our times; "In the contemporary mind," as one psychoanalyst, Christopher Bollas, has put it, "the serial killer is the statement of evil". Psychiatrist and killer, Lecter gives a peculiar twist to that evil (and Harris has always been interested in the precarious division between killer and cure). In Red Dragon, published in 1981, Will Graham was one of the first of the fictional profilers thinking and feeling his way into the minds of the killers he pursued. Behind bars, Lecter was a charged, but compelling, presence--an enigma who promised to be a key to psychopathic crime if only someone were genius enough to understand him. Jack Crawford tried, and then Clarice Starling. Now, as if in response to those who wanted to know more, comes Hannibal, a novel which constantly threatens to bring Lecter to life through its (sometimes grisly) pages. "Dr. Hannibal Lecter's fingerprint card is a curiosity and something of a cult object": Harris is the one who knows, who has "been there", and takes his readers into Lecter's world of curious courtesy and exquisite taste, sickening cruelty and loving murder. Both Red Dragon and The Silence of the Lambs were masterpieces of plot and suspense; though complex and plotted, this is rather more "Hannibal's book": no-one who wants to know, and suffer with, Lecter--his past victims, his past life, his strange feelings for Starling--can miss this brilliant piece of mythmaking. --Vicky Lebeau --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
–Francis Fyfield, Express
'If there’s a better book this year, with truth, fantasy and a touch of erudition combined in prose which really does leap off the page, I’ll eat my hat’
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A sick love story,
By Mr. Warren M. Fisher (East Grinstead, West Sussex United Kingdom) - See all my reviews (VINE VOICE) (REAL NAME)
This review is from: Hannibal (Paperback)
HANNIBAL is a contentious book with an even more contentious ending. The debate amongst readers and critics continues to this day. Yes this isn't as good as RED DRAGON, but about on a par with THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS. The prose here is more reflective than the propulsive preceding books, the chase replaced by mediation. Starling remains a slightly tedious character (why not bring back Will Graham, Mr Harris) although she is more interestingly flawed than she was in SILENCE, and Hannibal himself suffers when granted the centre stage (he was more interesting in small doses). Humanising him is an interesting move by Harris, but it is ultimately self-defeating. Mason Verger though is a deliciously monstrous creation. Harris does continue his exploration of evil, but this is chiefly a love story, albeit a slightly sick love story. Which brings us to the ending. To dismiss (or rewrite as in the poor movie version of the novel) the ending is to misunderstand the whole book.400 odd pages build to this one ending, to dismiss it is to render the whole work redundant. HANNIBAL is beautifully written, and Harris continues to conjure with some heady ideas, and only suffers in comparison to Harris's earlier work. A flawed, but fascinating addition to the thriller genre.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Two out of three ain't bad - but full marks to Mr. Harris!,
By A Customer
This review is from: Hannibal (Paperback)
Ok, ‘Hannibal’ has been hailed the worst of the Hannibal Lecter trilogy, but I am here to disagree. It is just a slightly different genre, and may not appeal to all you pyscho lovers out there! It is nowhere near as thrilling as the first two books (‘Red Dragon’ and ‘The Silence Of The Lambs’ for all you Hannibal virgins out there!) however; I think it is the most essential. After reading the first instalments, I wanted to find out more about Dr. Lecter himself, and not just focus on another hero/heroine that saves the American public from an evil serial killer. Don’t get me wrong, ‘Red Dragon’ and ‘Silence’ are quite possibly the best novels of the century, and subsequently great films, but they do not capture my imagination as thoroughly as the third of the series. If you have seen the movie version of ‘Hannibal’, do not be discouraged. Surprisingly I found the film terrible as it did not incorporate the most important aspects of the plot (and changed the ending, which was vital to the storyline).I absolutely loved how Thomas Harris delved into the character of Hannibal, and gave us a taster of his history. I also love how this scarily intelligent and eloquent doctor actually has the views of a 5-year old (see Mischa and Clarice). After ‘Silence’ I was eager to find out what Hannibal actually felt about Clarice, and it is all answered in this book (I LOVE the ending!). It emphasises the characters more than a murderous plot, as seen in the previous two, which I felt gave more depth to the novel and made it so much more interesting. However, the best part of this book is how Harris encourages and builds a relationship between the reader and Dr. Lecter, and by the end I found myself actually liking the vile serial killer! Then I started thinking, what is so bad about eating people anyway?! (Disclaimer – I am a vegetarian!!!)
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Deeply disappointing & unnecessarily ghoulish,
By A Customer
This review is from: Hannibal (Paperback)
If you enjoyed 'Silence of the Lambs' or 'Red Dragon' I urge you not to read this latest Thomas Harris novel. It betrays all the hallmarks of having been written to fulfill the public demand for More of Hannibal - and that demand has boxed Harris into a dramatic corner. To fill a novel with Hannibal Lecter's doings the reader must be brought to sympathy with the man - but in his previous appearances Lecter was a monster & not a character to either like or sympathise with. Clarice Starling, a strong, sympathetic character, is diminished, the action is improbable beyond belief & the dinner scene at the climax of the novel is utterly repulsive. I was profoundly disappointed with this book, and |I sincerely hope Thomas Harris resists the financial lure to write any more about Hannibal Lecter & his unorthodox appetites.
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