Red Dragon is the first novel of Thomas Harris' to feature the famous sociopath Hannibal Lector, so technically the first Hannibal Lector book in the series.

I was really impressed with this, I'd seen the film adaptation of the Silence of the Lambs before, quite a few times actually before I was even into reading, about two years ago my Mom gave me Red Dragon and the Silence of the Lambs books which she'd had for a couple of years. I had no reading material, those were the only two books I had that I hadn't read so I picked up Red Dragon and didn't put it down. It was unlike anything I had read before, my first psychological thriller actually, before this I had read horrors and fantasy's. But this book had introduced me to a whole other genre of reading. An arguably amateur reader whilst reading this I was suprised to find myself at the end of the book in less than two days, that's how much I liked this book.
The content of this book was perhaps a bit too mature for me at the age I was reading this book, but maybe it helped me find other books then Harry Potter and such.

The characters Thomas Harris created in this novel felt astonishingly realistic, as though the characters themselves actually existed, that's another aspect that held me to this book, I sat in my room two days straight reading Red Dragon, no other books has managed to make me do that other than the Harry Potter books and Lemony Snicket and The Wardstone Chronicles, but they're all young-adult and children's books. This, an adult book, is obviously a good book to have that effect on me. Definitely recommended. ( )

A good introduction to Hannibal Lector. A great lead-in to the whole collection, except for the last book, Hannibal Rising. ( )

This book is marginally better than Harris' Silence of the Lambs, but only just. This is an author who writes prose like he's formulating a screenplay--which just doesn't work out in a medium like the novel. I couldn't become attached to any of his characters, and it was a struggle towards the end, forcing myself to slog through chapters just so I could cross the book off my list.

Skip Harris' novels. The movies are great, but he's just not cut out to write prose. ( )

** spoiler alert **

I've loved the movie version for years, so I finally decided to read the book.

The book is somewhat different from the movie. I think that Dolarhyde is more sympathetic in the book at times, but at times he's less sympathetic too. There's a lot more detail about his past, and I find myself pitying him more than I did in the movie. However, his interactions with Reba were rather creepy in the book. She knows exactly who he is when he's about to kill her, which is different from the movie. She also tries to escape in the book (good for her), but is quickly tracked down by Dolarhyde.

The biggest change for me was Will. I still enjoy his character, but I feel a lot sorrier for him in the book. The downfall of his marriage is particularly sad, but ultimately more realistic than the rather "feel good" ending of the movie. It makes sense that he and his wife would drift apart because of his work and her return to Oregon. Dolarhyde's disfiguring of Will's face also seems more realistic to me. Will's psychology moves in the movie just didn't seem like they'd work.

Overall, I think that I like the movie slightly more, just because I'm shallow and love the actors playing the roles. ( )

I was looking forward to a more suspenseful, nerve-wracking novel that would grip me and keep at the edge of my seat; maybe I read those kinds of novels before and this one didn't achieve that effect. The disturbing part is the subtlety and the mind games. It has an interesting plot, very good storytelling, and I was kind of in the dark at first because the author kept changing the names from first to last to first name again in naming the characters, so I didn't know who was who. Generally it's the book that would make you want to read the sequel. ( )