Book info

• Title Hannibal
• Author Thomas Harris
• Year 1999
• Genre Horror

HANNIBAL LECTER HAS BEEN ON THE RUN FOR SEVEN YEARS. And seven years after he helped FBI Special Agent Clarice Starling bring down Buffalo Bill, her career is collapsing after a disastrous drug bust. Meanwhile, seven years after violently escaping from custody, Hannibal Lecter is hunted by Mason Verger, a psychopathic former client obsessed with feeding him to wild boars. With the one-time partners at a low ebb, Hannibal is the one to reach out to Clarice, who has been plagued by dreams of his rasping voice. It has been seven years since they both came to realise they shared more than they expected. Seven years since their last meeting. Seven years to lay plans for the next one...

Thoughts

After reading Silence of the Lambs and thoroughly enjoying it, I took on board the recommendations for this sequel. The style is very similar to the original, as you would expect, and there’s plenty of action to keep you turning the pages.

As with the previous book, what struck me more than anything was the ability of Harris to turn Hannibal into a sympathetic character. The man kills and eats people, for goodness sake. Yet, most of the way through, you were rooting for him not to be caught. By the way, the plan they had for him? Totally gross.

I say “most of the way” because I did not like the end. It’s hard to describe why because I’m satisfied with the book, I wasn’t disappointed with the ending the way I am with some books, it’s just I didn’t like it. I don’t want to spoil it, but suffice to say I don’t like the ending for her, even if it wasn’t all her will, and I don’t like that he chose that path either. The sister thing confused me, but then we are dealing with a very disturbed man anyway, so I guess it didn’t need to make sense.

Either way, the book got me thinking and I really enjoyed reading all of it, even if I would rather it went a different way at the end.

Rating: 4 / 5