Hannibal Rising

Amazon.com Review:
Discover the origins of one of the most feared villains of all time in Thomas Harris's Hannibal Rising, a novel that promises to reveal the "evolution of Hannibal Lecter's evil." Thomas Harris first introduced readers to Hannibal Lecter in Red Dragon, a tale wrapped around FBI agent Will Graham (the man who hunted Lecter down) and his ability to "get inside the mind of the killer." Graham consults Dr. Lecter (the man who nearly killed him) on the case, and the legend of the nefarious Dr. Lecter was born. Harris's masterful and mesmerizing follow up, The Silence of the Lambs wowed fans, but it was Jonathan Demme's terrifying, Oscar-winning (Best Actor, Actress, Director, Picture and Adapted Screenplay) film, and Anthony Hopkins's extraordinary (and arguably over the top) performance that made "Hannibal the Cannibal" a household name. Hannibal, the third book in the Lecter saga made Lecter the prey and seemingly wrapped up the tale of the cannibalistic psychiatrist, but never revealed the source of the doctor's...gifts. Fans have been waiting decades to find out how the good doctor became "death's prodigy," making Hannibal Rising one of the most anticipated books of 2006 (and movies of 2007). --Daphne Durham Hannibal Rising: An Excerpt Prologue The door to Dr. Hannibal Lecter's memory palace is in the darkness at the center of his mind and it has a latch that can be found by touch alone. This curious portal opens on immense and well-lit spaces, early baroque, and corridors and chambers rivaling in number those of the Topkapi Museum. Everywhere there are exhibits, well-spaced and lighted, each keyed to memories that lead to other memories in geometric progression. Spaces devoted to Hannibal Lecter's earliest years differ from the other archives in being incomplete. Some are static scenes, fragmentary, like painted Attic shards held together by blank plaster. Other rooms hold sound and motion, great snakes wrestling and heaving in the dark and lit in flashes. Pleas and screaming fill some places on the grounds where Hannibal himself cannot go. But the corridors do not echo screaming, and there is music if you like. The palace is a construction begun early in Hannibal's student life. In his years of confinement he improved and enlarged his palace, and its riches sustained him for long periods while warders denied him his books. Here in the hot darkness of his mind, let us feel together for the latch. Finding it, let us elect for music in the corridors and, looking neither left nor right, go to the Hall of the Beginning where the displays are most fragmentary. We will add to them what we have learned elsewhere, in war records and police records, from interviews and forensics and the mute postures of the dead. Robert Lecter's letters, recently unearthed, may help us establish the vital statistics of Hannibal, who altered dates freely to confound the authorities and his chroniclers. By our efforts we may watch as the beast within turns from the teat and, working upwind, enters the world. Chapter 6 Lothar heard it first as he drew water, the roar of an engine in low gear and cracking of branches. He left the bucket on the well and in his haste he came into the lodge without wiping his feet. A Soviet tank, a T-34 in winter camouflage of snow and straw, crashed up the horse trail and into the clearing. Painted on the turret in Russian were AVENGE OUR SOVIET GIRLS and WIPE OUT THE FASCIST VERMIN. Two soldiers in white rode on the back over the radiators. The turret swiveled to point the tank's cannon at the house. A hatch opened and a gunner in hooded winter white stood behind a machine gun. The tank commander stood in the other hatch with a megaphone. He repeated his message in Russian and in German, barking over the diesel clatter of the tank engine. "We want water, we will not harm you or take your food unless a shot comes from the house. If we are fired on, every one of you will die. Now come outside. Gunner, lock and load. If you do not see faces by the count of ten, fire." A loud clack as the machine gun's bolt went back. Count Lecter stepped outside, standing straight in the sunshine, his hands visible. "Take the water. We are no harm to you." The tank commander put his megaphone aside. "Everyone outside where I can see you." The count and the tank commander looked at each other for a long moment. The tank commander showed his palms. The count showed his palms. The count turned to the house. "Come." When the commander saw the family he said, "The children can stay inside where it's warm." And to his gunner and crew, "Cover them. Watch the upstairs windows. Start the pump. You can smoke." The machine gunner pushed up his goggles and lit a cigarette. He was no more than a boy, the skin of his face paler around his eyes. He saw Mischa peeping around the door facing and smiled at her. Among the fuel and water drums lashed to the tank was a small petrol-powered pump with a rope starter. The tank driver snaked a hose with a screen filter down the well and after many pulls on the rope the pump clattered, squealed, and primed itself. The noise covered the scream of the Stuka dive bomber until it was almost on them, the tank's gunner swiveling his muzzle around, cranking hard to elevate his gun, firing as the airplane's winking cannon stitched the ground. Rounds screamed off the tank, the gunner hit, still firing with his remaining arm. The Stuka's windscreen starred with fractures, the pilot's goggles filled with blood and the dive bomber, still carrying one of its eggs, hit treetops, plowed into the garden and its fuel exploded, cannon under the wings still firing after the impact. Hannibal, on the floor of the lodge, Mischa partly under him, saw his mother lying in the yard, bloody and her dress on fire. "Stay here!" to Mischa and he ran to his mother, ammunition in the airplane cooking off now, slow and then faster, casings flying backward striking the snow, flames licking around the remaining bomb beneath the wing. The pilot sat in the cockpit, dead, his face burned to a death's head in flaming scarf and helmet, his gunner dead behind him. Lothar alone survived in the yard and he raised a bloody arm to the boy. Then Mischa ran to her mother, out into the yard and Lothar tried to reach her and pull her down as she passed, but a cannon round from the flaming plane slammed through him, blood spattering the baby and Mischa raised her arms and screamed into the sky. Hannibal heaped snow onto the fire in his mother's clothes, stood up and ran to Mischa amid the random shots and carried her into the lodge, into the cellar. The shots outside slowed and stopped as bullets melted in the breeches of the cannon. The sky darkened and snow came again, hissing on the hot metal. Darkness, and snow again. Hannibal among the corpses, how much later he did not know, snow drifting down to dust his mother's eyelashes and her hair. She was the only corpse not blackened and crisped. Hannibal tugged at her, but her body was frozen to the ground. He pressed his face against her. Her bosom was frozen hard, her heart silent. He put a napkin over her face and piled snow on her. Dark shapes moved at the edge of the woods. His torch reflected on wolves' eyes. He shouted at them and waved a shovel. Mischa was determined to come out to her mother—he had to choose. He took Mischa back inside and left the dead to the dark. Mr. Jakov's book was undamaged beside his blackened hand until a wolf ate the leather cover and amid the scattered pages of Huyghens' Treatise on Light licked Mr. Jakov's brains off the snow. Hannibal and Mischa heard snuffling and growling outside. Hannibal built up the fire. To cover the noise he tried to get Mischa to sing; he sang to her. She clutched his coat in her fists. "Ein Mannlein . . ." Snowflakes on the windows. In the corner of a pane, a dark circle appeared, made by the tip of a glove. In the dark circle a pale blue eye. Excerpted from HANNIBAL RISING by Thomas Harris Copyright © 2006 byThomas Harris. The Hannibal Lecter Books Red Dragon The Silence of the Lambs Hannibal The Hannibal Lecter DVDs Manhunter Red Dragon The Silence of the Lambs Hannibal

Hannibal Rising - What War Has Wrought:
This book is everything I hoped it would be: a penetrating look into the making of the character Hannibal Lecter. As other reviewers have stated, one is not born evil; experiences conspire to make one evil. Imagine yourself in Hannibal's shoes as that 10-year-old boy, and tell me you would not be eaten up by the lust for revenge. Although this is a novel, I'm sure such things actually did happen during that horrible Eastern Front aftermath of World War II. I found myself feeling sorry for Lecter, the boy (and, I confess, cheering when he "got them all"); not sorry for, but yet understanding of Lecter, the adult. Nonetheless, there comes a point when one reaches a point of realization and wisdom and there one's evil actions should stop. But Hannibal never reached that point. Altogether, this was a fascinating novel, well-crafted and a wonderful read.

This one's for the money and nothing else:
I don't know. This book really feels like Thomas Harris wrote it entirely for monetary reasons. It's an insanely quick read and has some good moments but at the end of it, I had an intense desire to hand the book to any anonymous stranger in the street just to get it out of my possession. The story deals with Hannibal and what makes him the monster he becomes. This is all hinted about in "Hannibal" but here it is detailed a bit more. It then devolves into a revenge story with some really unbelievable lapses in logic and overall goofiness. The ending was anticlimactic after the buildup and something about Harris's writing style makes it a bit difficult to read. It's the kind of book where if you speed read, you are pretty much doomed to miss so-called "important" details that will leave you scratching your head afterward. The series started going downhill at "Hannibal" and with this book, Harris may have buried it altogether. It's not that it was an excruciating read, it just felt like a waste of time at the end of the day. I would still be interested in reading of the events leading up to Lecter's capture by Will Graham, the FBI profiler from Red Dragon but time will tell if that tale will ever see the light of day.

Hannibal the Cash Cow:
Wow. This was just awful. I am a huge Lecter fan, loved the suspense and descriptive prose of both 'Red Dragon' and 'Silence of the Lambs'. Even 'Hannibal' was passable. This book, prequel or not, is scattered and disjointed, and seems to have been thrown together at the last minute. You get the feeling that it was written by somebody else who was tasked with coming up with a background for Lecter, but didn't really understand the character. Hannibal Lecter uses a handgun? Something tells me he'd think that sort of weapon was uncivilized. Poor Lecter here ends up appearing superficial, flat and unlikeable. Read this book, and you'll completely destroy any joy you got out of Harris' earlier books. And don't even think of watching the film! Shame on you, Harris, for cashing in like this!

Eh.:
Hannibal Rising contains a lot of good background information for fans of the series, but the writing doesn't hold up to the rest of the books. You can watch the movie and be sure that you didn't miss much.

Disappointing:
Harris here fails to deliver on the dense plotting and narrative thrust of his previous books. Even "Hannibal," while a bit farfetched, still demonstrated his craft. This one feels like it was written by his intern. And let's be honest: As an origin story, it's wholly inadequate. Lecter's mental pathology cannot be explained by trauma early in life. The character established in "Red Dragon" and "Silence" is a mostly evil psychopath, not a sympathetic avenging angel.