I've been dying to read the Hannibal Lecter books for a while and I am more than pleased to say that I was not disappointed! Not exactly what I was expecting, but nevertheless... if we always got what we expected then the world would be a very disappointing and boring place indeed.
If I'm truly honest with you, I was expecting it to be a lot more graphic than it was, unless I've just read too many crime/thriller books and I've become used to the grime and the gore?? Maybe.... it wouldn't surprise me if that was the case.
I like the idea of the main protagonist being a retired agent rather than a working one. This want you get a sense that Graeme really wanted to catch the killer, he didn't have to come out of retirement, but he felt a need and an urge to do something that big and important. I thought that this helped you understand Will's character more because he wasn't bound by FBI rules and regulations and he wasn't having to follow professional police conduct, you could see a lot deeper into his character and begin to really understand him. A lot of other crime writers fail to do this because their protagonist is forced to behave and speak in a professional manner, so yes we know that they wanted the killer dead and/or arrested, and that they hate them to pieces, but beyond that, you don't really ever get to understand the relationship between captor and criminal.
I think my favourite character in the book was Dolarhyde, even though he's the killer and the murderer, his back story was so well written and so well put together that I felt closest to him out of all the other characters. I usually get a bit wary of authors who decide to develop a characters back story by deviating completely from the story and spending a whole chunk of chapters telling a completely different story to the main narrative, however when Harris did this, it flowed so well that you didn't mind and personally, I barley notice as he moved between the two.
Despite his infrequent appearances, Lecter's character intrigues me and is defiantly one of the driving forces, pushing me towards the next book in the series; The Silence of the Lambs. This I have also heard little negative comment about and I can't wait to get my hands on it and start it.
Harris's writing is so fluid that the hardest part about reading this is putting it down at the end.
This is most defiantly a book for more mature readers but that really goes without saying. What with the graphic violence, murder and nudity and all. However if you're alright with all that then I would defiantly recommend picking Red Dragon up and starting reading!
Red Dragon is a must read for all crime and thriller fans.
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