Hannibal (Unabridged) [Audio Download]

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.

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!!!)

What in the world was T. Harris thinking when he ended the book like THIS? The book past the half way point was moving at a break neck speed until the end. The ending is just stupid and gross. I have read King, Koontz , Patterson and many other writers that can give you chills, but nothing like this. What he did to Starling, was ridiculious.