Book Review: Red Dragon by Thomas Harris
Jan. 29th, 2015 11:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
juushikaTitle: Red Dragon (Hannibal Lecter Book 1)
Author: Thomas Harris
Published: New York: Berkley, 2008 (1980)
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 434
Total Page Count: 153,000
Text Number: 447
Read Because: continuing the series, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: After a second family is killed, Will Graham reluctantly joins the FBI on the hunt for a serial murderer. Red Dragon fails to be as good as the books that follow it simply because there's not enough Hannibal in this Hannibal: it may where be where Harris discovered the character, but there's not much of him present. The murderer-o'-the-novel, the Tooth Fairy, may be less problematic than Buffalo Bill but he's not as interesting as Harris wants him to be and he's certainly not as interesting as Hannibal.
In many ways, Red Dragon is just a competent thriller: rushed at the end, but intelligently constructed and thoroughly readable. But the parts of which that shine—Will's perceptive abilities, Hannibal's introduction, the psychology that shadows the entire book, a few lovely lines and inspired moments (of violence, in particular)—are what sell it. It's by no means great, and since Silence stands alone that's arguably the better starting place, but I'm glad to've read it.
Author: Thomas Harris
Published: New York: Berkley, 2008 (1980)
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 434
Total Page Count: 153,000
Text Number: 447
Read Because: continuing the series, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: After a second family is killed, Will Graham reluctantly joins the FBI on the hunt for a serial murderer. Red Dragon fails to be as good as the books that follow it simply because there's not enough Hannibal in this Hannibal: it may where be where Harris discovered the character, but there's not much of him present. The murderer-o'-the-novel, the Tooth Fairy, may be less problematic than Buffalo Bill but he's not as interesting as Harris wants him to be and he's certainly not as interesting as Hannibal.
In many ways, Red Dragon is just a competent thriller: rushed at the end, but intelligently constructed and thoroughly readable. But the parts of which that shine—Will's perceptive abilities, Hannibal's introduction, the psychology that shadows the entire book, a few lovely lines and inspired moments (of violence, in particular)—are what sell it. It's by no means great, and since Silence stands alone that's arguably the better starting place, but I'm glad to've read it.
