When I say "Hannibal series" I mean
Hannibal Rising, Red Dragon, Silence of the Lambs, and
Hannibal. Each deal with the the famous literary serial killer Hannibal "the Cannibal" Lecter, who was a respected psychologist and doctor before he was discovered to be killing and eating people.
Hannibal Rising describes his childhood and how he developed into a killer;
Red Dragon describes after he was captured and focuses on a case he consults the FBI on;
Silence of the Lambs is where Lecter meets young FBI Clarice Starling, who is trying to capture another serial killer, Buffalo Bill; finally,
Hannibal revolves around Clarice and Lecter, and how they interact post-Buffalo Bill. Undoubtedly
Hannibal is my favorite because Clarice is out of her awkward newbie stage and it is the first Lecter novel which is all about him as an adult. Readers learn more about his manipulation methods and perspective.
Hannibal's an anti-hero, meaning that readers shouldn't sympathize with him, but he's so charming and intelligent that a part of us wants him to be free; it also helps that he mainly eats rude douchebags who, some think, deserve to die. One example is Mason Verger, who was a client of Hannibal's because he was caught molesting children. Serial killers are fascinating to me to begin with, and Harris does a good job of not making it just about Hannibal's doings, but also some cases; it propels the plot at a good rate, and keeps readers preoccupied while Hannibal does things behind the scenes that we are distracted from.
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| Just a snack... |
I don't completely follow Dr. Lecter's fascination with Clarice Starling because she isn't someone that pairs well with sophisticated Hannibal- I don't believe he likes her more than he likes toying with a supposedly incorruptible FBI agent.
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| Starling would totally think these would be acceptable to wear. |
A warning: These are some of the more crude novels I've ever read. Harris doesn't shy away from making his evil characters as evil as possible, and nothing is off limits, including children, graphic gore scenes, sex references from anywhere on the spectrum, so be careful. Past that, Harris certainly does his research on criminology, gives deeply puzzling characters, and flips your sense of morality on its head.
A word on the movies: Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter was the best casting decision ever made. Mads Mikkelsen does well in the TV series, but he can't fill Hopkins' shoes quite the same way. I enjoyed Julianne Moore (
Hannibal) as Clarice Starling more than Jodie Foster (
Silence of the Lambs) because Foster just comes across as dumb and cheap, though she has an excellent panicked voice. Ralph Fiennes was a scary serial killer in
Red Dragon, and Edward Norton was just plain adorable. In conclusion, I would recommend you see all the movies and the TV episodes, and read all the books; Harris definitely deserves the royalties.
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| READ THEM. |
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