6 reviews for Red Dragon
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Red Dragon
by Thomas Harris
Description:
Sexual hunger, demonic violence; sinister logic; the lethal components of a deadly formula driving a psychopath in the grip of an unimaginable delusion; a boastful killer who sends the police tormenting notes; a tortured, torturing monster who finds ultimately in viciously murdering happy families, and calls himself The Red Dragon.
About The Author
Thomas Harris (born April 11, 1940) is an American writer, best known for a series of suspense novels about his most famous character, Hannibal Lecter. All of his works have been made into films, the most notable being the multi-Oscar-winning The Silence of the Lambs, which became only the third film in Academy Award history to sweep the Oscars in major categories.
Skryf Review
“Amazing Reading”
Krushali
Retired FBI agent, Will Graham has been called back in to help profile the murderer of a family. He didn’t just kill them, he tortured them and wanted an audience. In order for him to catch this new killer before he kills again, he seeks the help of Hannibal Lector. This proves helpful and dangerous to both Will and his family. Amazingly, Lector makes a connection with the family murderer and causes even more problems for the FBI. The killer beleives he is “becoming” and revels in his new being. As time ticks by, he grows increasingly agitated and begins to make mistakes that help lead the FBI to him. But will it be in time to save future murder victims and protect Will and his family from certain danger?
Kaushal
When it comes to Hannibal Lecter, I’m like one of those music hipster douche bags that everyone hates because I’ll snootily declare that I knew about him long before most people did and that he’s sucked ever since he got really famous. I think one of the things I love best is just how much time is spent on how Will thinks. As a man with extremely high levels of empathy and a vivid imagination, Will’s ability to put himself in someone else’s shoes is a gift and a curse. Thinking like deranged killers has left him questioning if he might not be one of them, and it spills over all his emotions like a toxic oil spill.By understanding their madness, Will can find the logic in their thinking, and it’s following that internal logic that allows Will to find the evidence they need. The breakthrough Will eventually makes is one of my all-time favorite examples of pure detection in the genre. It was in front of the reader the entire time, but it’s such an elegant solution that fits together so perfectly that Harris doesn’t have to engage in obscuring it with red herrings.As a thriller that led to countless rip-offs and even the eventual collapse of the franchise due to it’s own success, it’s been often imitated but rarely equaled.
Jasmine
I doubt that anyone would argue the fact that this is the best of Harris’s books, though RED DRAGON and BLACK SUNDAY are excellent, too. Any would-be author should read any of these as textbook examples displaying how “brevity of description” –as opposed to long drawn-out descriptions of a person or place in a scene–can be so powerful. For instance, Clarice Starling is simply described in her own thougths as someone who “knew she could look allright without primping” and that left you with the image of a great-looking female protagonist. Harris, and lesser known but equally as talented fellow Mississippi author Charles Wilson are two of the best I’ve ever read at being able to pull this “brevity” off. In fact, the above mentioned books of Harris, along with Wilson’s GAME PLAN, DONOR, and NIGHTWATCHER, are among the most visual books I’ve ever read, without boring you with “too-much” description to get that effect. By the way, for those who loved SILENCE in particular, and haven’t read Wilson, they should try NIGHTWATCHER for a read very similar to SILENCE in its story line and fear factor, with possibly better laid-out character development in NIGHTWATCHER–but hey, all of them top notch reads.
Ira
I have seen both Silence and Hannibal, but I have read neither. I believe in reading series boks in order, so I picked up Red Dragon two days ago. Wow!If you only liked Silence because you loved Dr. Hannibal “The Cannibal” Lecter, you may be a little dissapointed. He is not really a main character, even though he is now being played up to be because of his notoriety after its predecessors.The killer is also tormented by his past. He has a cleft palate and sound funny when speaking, causing him to slash his victims with broken mirrors from the house. He also hears the voice of his dead nasty grandmother, who had total control of the killer as a youth.This book is not the conventional horror story. It is more a psychological thriller than a blood and gore fest. If you are looking for a good way to have nightmares for months, this book is highly recommended. Enjoy!
Kahaan
The F.B.I call in a consultant, William Graham, to aid in the capture of a deranged murderer. Graham is a troubled man with a rough past who manages to finally find peace in his early forties, taking his wife and her child to live a story-book life in the Florida Keys. But he knows of the murders, and he knows that he is the only one who can catch the killer before more people die. Throughout the story, it becomes clear that Graham’s methods are unlike any the F.B.I could supply– he identifies first with the victims, then with the killer. Graham consults Hannibal Lecter, a sociopathic genuis whom he put away– almost at the cost of his own life. It becomes a race against time as Graham is pushed to his own breaking point in order to find a madman before he kills again.