Hannibal Rising (Perfect Paperback)

~ (Author)
Key Phrases: second monitor, half track truck, memory palace, Lady Murasaki, Inspector Popil, Count Lecter (more...)

Product Details

• Perfect Paperback: 323 pages
• Publisher: Random House Inc. (January 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0440296676
• ISBN-13: 978-0440296676
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 4.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.7 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (372 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #3,754,396 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A bit different than his previous work, but good nonetheless, December 6, 2006

By	C.J. Vincent - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hannibal Rising (Hardcover)

First of all, if you are expecting yet another Red Dragon, Silence or Hannibal, this isn't quite it, nor was it intended to be. It's mostly the story of an 8-18 year old boy in Lithuania/France during the brutal Eastern Front and its aftermath in WWII. There are plenty of linkages as the character that is Hannibal is connected to the one we know from reading the previous three works (obviously, he turns into that guy), but he surely doesn't start out that way. I feel the need to defend this against the other reviews on this site, because it appears people had the wrong expectations regarding what this work was going to be. Don't let it stop you from buying and enjoying Harris' mind, because there are definitely flashes of Dragon/Silence here, but only that. This book is more about the semi-plotted revenge of a bright artistic teenager and his final revelation. The death of one and the beginning of another. One more thing, if you thought Hannibal wasn't a good book, then stop reading Harris altogether and don't bother reading this one. Keep my review in perspective, because I thought Hannibal was 5 stars and one of the most entertaining books I have ever read and the ending was brilliant, not stupid, because it is the last thing you would have expected. Harris isn't for the "happy ever after" crowd by any means. The ending of Hannibal is even better after you read this book. This one is for true Harris lovers, others need not apply, nor should you listen to them.

230 of 295 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Hannibal Sinking, December 5, 2006

By	Tom S. "filmfan3" (New York City) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Hannibal Rising (Hardcover)

As an avid fan who counts RED DRAGON and THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS among the greatest suspense novels of all time, I was eager to read 1999's HANNIBAL and this new book. As it turned out, I didn't much care for HANNIBAL, but even that was better than this one. I'm very disappointed.

This new novel is supposed to fill in details of the childhood and origins of Hannibal Lecter, but it is a far cry from the earlier books in style and quality. It is a series of short, sketchy chapters that reads like what it probably is, a swiftly produced novelization of a screenplay (the movie is already made and will be released soon). What we get is a lot of half-baked psychology and endless scenes of nauseating violence designed for no other purpose than to shock and revolt us. The central character himself barely makes an impression; he's almost--perish the thought--boring. And the rest of the cast is even less interesting. The writing throughout the book is surprisingly bad, and I'm having a hard time believing it is actually the work of Thomas Harris.

I guess teenagers may love this nonsense, and they'll all rush out and see the movie, too. The rest of us will have to cherish our memories of Harris's earlier novels and pretend this one never happened. But it did happen, and it will be a huge bestseller, and Thomas Harris will laugh all the way to the bank. How sad.

24 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Read it for what it is - a preface to the other books, December 7, 2006

By	Ronald Heinrich "Middle-aged Rocker" (New York, NY) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Hannibal Rising (Hardcover)

I bought the book and read it before I saw all the negative postings here on Amazon. After reading these reviews, I have to ask: did these readers expect War and Peace? This book is a very fast and engaging read. Yes, the type is rather large and I finished it in a matter of hours, but does that make it a bad book? I found the whole set up very entertaining and believable as to how Hannibal became the monster he is in the other books. No one is truly evil from the second they are born - things happen to them, their environment shapes them, and society dictates how and why they become cold blooded killers. This is a novel about how a child's innocence is ripped from him and how he deals with those ramifications of the horror he endured as a small child. Now I want to know more... more about the transformation into the total nightmare he is in the other books!