Red Dragon by Thomas Harris: Terribly Undervalued
Posted: 18 Mar 2015, 23:00
We all know Dr. Hannibal Lecter, don't we? If not all, at least most of us, and from that "most" come the "many" who love him on top of everything. I can count myself in this list, since Dr. Lecter is my favorite character from what I have read in Red Dragon, The Silence of the Lambs and Hannibal (I'm still to check out Hannibal Rising). However, many people seem to downright ignore his actual first appearance, and what's more, in his first appearance he was just a secondary character. Instead, the story spun around Will Graham, the tormented man who put Dr. Lecter behind a cell, and "The Tooth Fairy," as the murder in the story came to be known.
This is the basic premise of the story:
Jack Crawford wants Will Graham, a retired FBI agent, to return to the FBI to help capture The Tooth Fairy, a murderer who has already killed two families and seems to be going on a moon cycle, so they have an estimate of how much time they will have to capture this fierce killer. To capture him, Will Graham will ask for Dr. Hannibal Lecter's help, for he is an excellent psychiatrist with incredible insight of the human psyche. Will Graham isn't all that stable himself, for he is able to empathize even with the worst devil known to man. This quality, while very useful to capturing criminals, torments him and makes him feel like he's less than a step away from the edge.
Opinion (may have a hint to a spoiler, not a spoiler in itself, just a hint):
This book caught me with my guard down. I wasn't expecting it to be good when I first got it considering what a phenomenon The Silence of the Lambs was, and this being a practically unknown prequel my reasoning was "it's usually sequels that are bad, so probably it's the prequel which is bad in this case since it's always the first chapter of a story what people tend to like the best." Great mistake. I would put Red Dragon right up there along with The Silence of the Lambs, though for different motives. Red Dragon stands on its own as a magnificent masterpiece that makes us question our judgment, that even a murderer who dares to take the life of entire families mercilessly may just not be pure evil. I actually found myself toward the end partially (and guiltily) vouching for the murderer. I will not give away anything, but I can guarantee nothing is what it seems.
Thomas Harris doesn't have a long, descriptive and poetic prose. In fact, at times it even comes across as overly superficial and technical. This great writer's strengths come mostly from his ability to be so insightful and deep about his characters, the development of the story and the stimulation of the imagination through solid and "right to the point" descriptions. Thomas Harris doesn't write simple detective novels, but he writes psychological thrillers full of surprises, plot twists and a merciless tendency to put his characters in really strong predicaments. Red Dragon is an impressive story from beginning to end and I strongly recommend it to people with the stomach to take it and to those interested in psychology. Being a psychology student myself, this book was pure delight.
This is the basic premise of the story:
Jack Crawford wants Will Graham, a retired FBI agent, to return to the FBI to help capture The Tooth Fairy, a murderer who has already killed two families and seems to be going on a moon cycle, so they have an estimate of how much time they will have to capture this fierce killer. To capture him, Will Graham will ask for Dr. Hannibal Lecter's help, for he is an excellent psychiatrist with incredible insight of the human psyche. Will Graham isn't all that stable himself, for he is able to empathize even with the worst devil known to man. This quality, while very useful to capturing criminals, torments him and makes him feel like he's less than a step away from the edge.
Opinion (may have a hint to a spoiler, not a spoiler in itself, just a hint):
This book caught me with my guard down. I wasn't expecting it to be good when I first got it considering what a phenomenon The Silence of the Lambs was, and this being a practically unknown prequel my reasoning was "it's usually sequels that are bad, so probably it's the prequel which is bad in this case since it's always the first chapter of a story what people tend to like the best." Great mistake. I would put Red Dragon right up there along with The Silence of the Lambs, though for different motives. Red Dragon stands on its own as a magnificent masterpiece that makes us question our judgment, that even a murderer who dares to take the life of entire families mercilessly may just not be pure evil. I actually found myself toward the end partially (and guiltily) vouching for the murderer. I will not give away anything, but I can guarantee nothing is what it seems.
Thomas Harris doesn't have a long, descriptive and poetic prose. In fact, at times it even comes across as overly superficial and technical. This great writer's strengths come mostly from his ability to be so insightful and deep about his characters, the development of the story and the stimulation of the imagination through solid and "right to the point" descriptions. Thomas Harris doesn't write simple detective novels, but he writes psychological thrillers full of surprises, plot twists and a merciless tendency to put his characters in really strong predicaments. Red Dragon is an impressive story from beginning to end and I strongly recommend it to people with the stomach to take it and to those interested in psychology. Being a psychology student myself, this book was pure delight.