Advantages: Get up close and personal with a serial killer Disadvantages: Getting up close and personal with a serial killer
PREAMBLE
To say that Red Dragon was the first of Thomas Harris' Hannibal Lecter books would be grossly misleading. Though the good doctor figures in the story he is not a prominent player. I'm afraid that the movies and Hollywood are responsible for more recent distortions and exaggerations of Harris' original novel. In the more recent film version of Red Dragon there was a blatant attempt to capitalize on the selling power of Anthony Hopkin's charismatic ... ...in his book. In reality Red Dragon is not the prequel or sequel to Silence of the Lambs, it is a novel that stands alone. A novel that needs to be appraised for what it is, without the erroneous and misleading screenplay effects of two movies.
Normally I would avoid direct comparisons between movie and book versions of the same story, but in this instance a line needs to be drawn between novel and screenplay. Though many plot elements are similar, ...
britum2000 19.01.2007 (21.01.2007)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: exceptional Review of Red Dragon - Thomas Harris
Advantages: Thriller of epic proportions, excellent storylines and characters Disadvantages: cancel all appointments once you start reading!
...real Dolarhyde was actually the Red Dragon. He had seen a painting of a Red Dragon and had it's image tatooed up the length of the back of his body. As Francis Dolarhyde he feels worthless, but as the Red Dragon he knows he has the power of life and death in his hands. He is becoming restless, scanning the film that he processes for his next victims, and at the same time becoming furious at his enforced nick-name in the press of 'The Tooth Fairy'. ... ...trashy newpaper, it inspires the Red Dragon to contact Lecter. Hearing of this, the FBI try to use the personal columns that the two have arranged to converse through to their own ends. This results in Lecter sending a coded message to the Dragon telling him Will Graham's address and instructing him to kill his whole family.
A hair-raising race against time ensues, with Graham trying to get into the mind of a killer before he has time to strike ...
Anna-Marie 11.09.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Red Dragon - Thomas Harris
Advantages: An hard, strong, story. Disadvantages: A look in the abyss.
...painting of 1805, “The Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed with the Sun”, conserved at the Brooklyn Museum.
(you can found a reproduction on this page: http://sunsite.dk/cgfa/blake/p-blake4.htm; on this page there is an other painting with the same subject: http://www.artmagick.com/paintings/blake/blake1.jpg)
Who had the fortune to see it alive said that the two figures, and in particular the limpid and decided colors that Blake ... ...the Evil (represented from the Red Dragon) that takes possession of the Beauty (represented from the Dressed Sun Woman).
The painting appears, unfortunately for a little moment, also in the film that Michael Mann has drawn in 1986 from the Harris novel.
The Evil and the Beauty are tightened in embrace that we feel to be deadly for both: from this draws vigor and cue Dolarhyde, the murderous paranoid protagonist of the novel. Dolarhyde (name that ...
logan7 24.07.2002
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Red Dragon - Thomas Harris
Advantages: Really is Non-stop enjoyment Disadvantages: You run out of book
...the book in question is Red Dragon and it is the prequel to Silence of The Lambs and Hannibal. Unlike the next two books it takes a lot of the focuses on a different character other than Lecter. Just as a quick word as to how good this book actually is I probably read it the faster than I have any other 400 + page book in just under 28 days. The main character of the book is Will Graham a retired FBI agent who was seriously injured some years earlier ... ...production supervisor, is becoming the Red Dragon and hates the name the police have come up with for him so after seeing a picture of Will Graham leaving the hospital where Lectar is being held, as he has asked Lecter for help. Dolarhyde writes to Lecter to express how much of a fan of the Dr's work he is.
Obviously I don't want to give too much of the game away but this book really is one you won't want to put down. The book really doesn't put ...
Andy.mack 06.03.2003
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Red Dragon - Thomas Harris
...down thereafter, and as for Red Dragon, I found that in ASDA quite cheap too (God don’t I sound like a student the way I am going on about cheap), and again could not put the book down until I finished it the other night at approx 2:30 am, and one of my first thoughts was to tell the world, and how better to do so than Ciao ;)!
I first started reading this book because of how Thomas Harris had gripped me with his novel Hannibal. I started reading ... ...I still have not seen Red Dragon, but I do intend to in the future, preferably sooner rather than later.
Anyways, a little about the characters:
Hannibal Lecter, a man who is renowned as being the world’s favourite psychopath, yet he is not brought even half way to life until Silence Of The Lambs, in Red Dragon he sets up the detective who is out to find the serial killer known as the “Red Dragon” and also the “Tooth Fairy”, but other than that ...
mr_blonde 15.11.2002
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Red Dragon - Thomas Harris
Advantages: A unique insight into the mind of a serial killer and the introduction of Hannibal 'the Cannibal' Lecter. Disadvantages: None
This has got to be one of the best books I have ever read. This is the most thrilling and spine-tingling book ever, excluding Hannibal. That's right, only Thomas Harris himself could surpass the excellence this book possesses with the last book of the Hannibal's legacy, which this one began.
Hannibal doesn't come up much in the book, but he is their to provide the main character, Will Graham, and the others around him, Jack Crawford and Graham's ... ...It is the serial killer that Graham and Crawford are chasing that provide the thrills and the introduction of Hannibal Lecter. This is because his mind is extremely hard for Graham to get into (this is what he does best and is how Graham caught Hannibal), and so the serial killer leads Graham to ask help from the Cianti man. Before this, we are told how Hannibal was caught and after his meeting with Graham, Hannibal continues to write notes to him ...
Wrooty 17.02.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Red Dragon - Thomas Harris
Advantages: top notch writing, classy thrills, will leave you strangly satisfied. Disadvantages: you may neglect your partner/house/work/cat until you've turned the final page!
i received this book for christmas and found it made the holidays at my in laws considerably less dull. having fallen into a slight reading slump (what with the recent purchase of sky digital) 'red dragon' was just what i needed. i think it dragged me out of my reading slump by my hair! having recently seen (and loved) the new movie i was pleasantly suprised that the book managed to keep my attention (i was glued to it!). harris tells an uncomfortably ... ...of two entire families, and offers an incite into the complexeties of a disturbed mind that the film cannot. the characters are believable and each one evoked a range of emotions in me as a reader. the most remarkable thing about this book, i feel, is that through all the horrendous acts and deluded ideas, harris presents the killer to us in a way which, along with the horror and disgust, makes us feel pity and even - dare i say it- warmth towards ...
kittykitty 04.01.2003
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Red Dragon - Thomas Harris
Advantages: A thrilling, exciting story Disadvantages: Not for the weak-hearted
...known to himself as the Red Dragon. The workings of his mind are detailed in this book and they are fascinating to read, seeing how his childhood of rejection and as an outcast has shaped his psychological make-up. The novel keeps you entranced throughout, never letting up for a second. It focuses you and makes you read it all at once, horrifying yet captivating. I think that it is only rivaled by Hannibal. Thomas Harris is a genius and this is the ...
Aeronq 20.01.2001 (07.02.2001)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Red Dragon - Thomas Harris
Advantages: great story, engrossing Disadvantages: can't put it down!!
...together. You find yourself reading for hours on end, just so that you can pick up on the next piece of the puzzle. The Red Dragon has certainly whet my appetite for the remaining two books in the trilogy, and, without a doubt, it will capture any reader's interest easily. ...
sarky_queen 02.08.2000
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Red Dragon - Thomas Harris
Advantages: The film version, "Manhunter" is hard to find, so you get to read it first - always a good thing. Disadvantages: Not for the faint hearted
...most people want to read Red Dragon is to meet Dr. Hannibal Lecter MD for the first time. If you are expecting a lot about Dr Lecter, you will be disappointed. Only a few chapters contain dialogue with Lecter. However, Thomas Harris's talent for conjuring up images of the perverse and bizarre really excells in Red Dragon. Francis Dolarhyde, the serial killer called the Red Dragon/ Tooth Fairy is a fascinating character in many ways. part of Harris's ... ...an appetite for nastiness, then Red Dragon will probably leave you feeling quite satisfied. If you are interested in the psychological/forensic side of it, there's plenty of that too. In general, it's at about the same level as Hannibal, and Silence of the Lambs, but it has been paid less attention.
Brilliant twist at the end, by the way. ...
comradeward 31.07.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Red Dragon - Thomas Harris
...at the mercy of the Red Dragon, symbolic his higher self and what he will be at one with in his Becoming.
The novel introduces Hannibal Lecter, the serial killer confined to a mental institute for the murder of nine people. An acclaimed physiologist, Lecter plays with the mind of Will Graham, the man who caught him and now responsible for catching the Red Dragon. Harris shows how Lecter's influence is as lethal now, as it was when he was out in ...
attupattu1521 18.02.2001 (22.02.2001)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: somewhat helpful Review of Red Dragon - Thomas Harris
Advantages: Nail-biting. Disadvantages: A bit similar to Silence Of The Lambs
Red Dragon is probably the least known of the Hannibal trilogy. This was the one which introduced Dr. Hannibal Lecter to the reading public.
Surprisingly, by the start of this book, Lecter is already in jail - so for those of you who have seen or read Silence Of The Lambs, you know pretty much what to expect. Serial killer on the loose, police are clueless, so they ask Hannibal to help them. Unwillingly and or unwittingly, he does.
But let's not ...
mikegray 08.07.2000
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: somewhat helpful Review of Red Dragon - Thomas Harris
Advantages: Very readable with all its turns and twists Disadvantages: Dr.Lecter doesn't really get into action here
Why do I think this is a good book? First of all, I'm not much of a book reader to begin with, it can take me two months to finish a book but this book took me just 3 days! A page turner from the start, and what a start indeed, the first two chapters are very effective in getting you hooked and it really sets the scene for the rest of the book. Don't expect a lot from Dr.Lecter in this one as his role in this book is small (yet significant as ever). ...
Rendy 25.10.2002
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: somewhat helpful Review of Red Dragon - Thomas Harris
Advantages: It's brilliant!!!! Disadvantages: You need a lot of time because it's unputdownable!!!!!
The Red Dragon by Thomas Harris is the prequel to the book and smashhit film, The Silence of the Lambs, and it's just as good, if not better. It certainly helps you understand the Silence of the Lambs better. Most of the characters from the film are in it and it makes for spellbinding, realistic reading. Far and away the best charcter is Clarice Starling, that awsome F.B.I employee. It's very good because you think you know who thered dragon is and ...
Beth 07.06.2000
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: somewhat helpful Review of Red Dragon - Thomas Harris
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