Review: "Red Dragon" by Thomas Harris

Quick Summary

Type: Novel, part of series

Genre: Crime, horror, thriller

Back Cover: "Will Graham was a brilliant profiler of criminals for the FBI - until he suffered terrible injuries in the process of capturing Dr Hannibal 'the Cannibal' Lecter.

Years later, a serial killer nicknamed 'the Tooth Fairy' is massacring entire families each full moon. With the FBI desperate for progress, Will reluctantly agrees to consult. But he soon realises that he alone can't crack the case; he needs the help of the only mind even better than his own at understanding the mentalities of psychopaths.

The mind of Hannibal Lecter.

But Hannibal is playing his own twisted game from the asylum for the criminally insane. Will isn't alone in getting advice from the cannibal. So is the Tooth Fairy - the man haunted by visions of the murderous Red Dragon..."

Read Time: 4 days

Rating: 2.5 stars

Review

As the first in the series that introduced the world to Hannibal Lecter, I was really excited to read this book. I've never watched "Silence of the Lambs", but I did watch a couple seasons of Hannibal (mostly because of Mads Mikkelsen) and enjoyed that greatly. So much, in fact, that I decided I would try reading the novels that inspired the movie and show.

But of course, before getting to the famous one, I had to start with this one. And honestly, I was kind of disappointed. I'm sure part of my disappointment is because I set high expectations for the novel because of my experience with the show. That's my mistake. But still, there were some uncomfortable moments that gave me some pause.

Of course, I understand that part of writing a novel means getting into even the most depraved character's skin and describing their experience, even going so far as humanizing them (although I wouldn't say the Tooth Fairy was humanized all that well). But with this novel I noticed something that made me uncomfortable with some of the episodes and even seasons of Criminal Minds - with Criminal Minds, there are times when the violence against women comes off as uncomfortably gratuitous. And in this novel too, there were times when the Tooth Fairy's fantasizing of violence against women felt more gratuitous than it did a necessary element of his characterization.

In addition to the violence against women issue, the story had moments when it moved so slowly it grinded to a halt. I have no issue with a slow burn story, but in this case, I think the story could have benefitted from just a little more movement.

All that being said, I'm still going to eventually give the second book of the series - Silence of the Lambs - a shot, and depending how that one goes, I might even be tempted to go even further in the series. However, I think given my struggles with this first installment, I'll try listening to the audiobook this time.