Book Review
Title: Red Dragon
Author: Thomas Harris
Genre: Crime/Psychological/Thriller
Rating: ****
Review: The opening to Red Dragon was, after watching the movies religiously for years and obsessively reading Clannibal fanfiction I finally decided to bite the bullet and read the books. I am reading this series combined with the audiobooks so I couldn’t wait to jump into this, a definitely predicted 5* series. So, we are introduced to Will Graham a retired FBI agent who was the man responsible for the capture of Doctor Hannibal Lecter, when he is approached by Jack Crawford about helping out with a new case. Will is hesitant at first because of his last encounter with a serial killer, Dr. Lecter nearly killed him and despite Jack’s assurances I already have a bad feeling about this. It soon becomes very clear why Jack chooses Will, after spending a couple of hours at the house and pondering on the evidence he finds something that no has noticed before and Jack has to rush to collect the evidence before the funeral the following afternoon. Seeing the smart man find connections no one else had seen makes me think of what happened between him and Dr. Lecter, a battle of the minds maybe.
As we approach the ¼ mark in the novel, Will begins digging unconsciously into the psychology of the killer and he knows that the so-called ‘Tooth Fairy’ won’t stop until they get smart or get lucky. However, Will seems to exhibit some unusual signs such as nightmares that could be related to PTSD from his previous experiences especially those with Dr. Lecter. It turns out the investigation is going nowhere, and Will knows that there is an opinion he needs; Lecter’s, so Will meets Lecter again under the same circumstances as Clarice. However, the way Will caught Lecter was a little lacklustre for me, I find it hard to believe that the genius Lecter is who be caught through luck and coincidence. It is here we are introduced to Dr. Lecter for the first time and his mindset in the company of Will Graham.
As we cross the ¼ mark in the novel, a month has passed since the first family was murdered and Will does what he does best and manages to find where the Tooth Fairy waited for the family to sleep before breaking into their house and killing them. He also finds a wealth of other evidence that might bring them closer to finding him, but everything is moving slowly, and I have a feeling that he will be making another trip to visit Dr. Lecter soon. Compared to the movies, the Dr. Lecter in the books is far more sadistic and cunning than he is portrayed in the movies which is why it surprises me that he was caught so easily by Graham and why he did kill Graham when he had the chance. As we sink further and further into the psyche of several serial killers it becomes almost too easy to sympathize with them and their situations. I believe Harris wants us to sympathize with them to increase the fear we will feel when we learn of the true depth of their depravity. As we learn the significance of the Red Dragon in the title, the mystery around the killer is heating up for characters but not for us as we already know who the killer is. Seeing Hannibal Lecter make a true appearance in the story with a purpose was excited and I know it’s wrong but I’m rooting for him (because he is the ultimate husband ok.)
As we approach the halfway mark in the novel, the pieces of the mystery are coming together, we know that the murder of the two families has killed more people and is probably gearing up to murder again but there are many external factors at work making the police work extremely difficult especially the Tattler. With less than a fortnight until they believe the next murders will occur Jack plans to use Will as bait to draw the tooth fairy into the open, but this could backfire horribly. I also have the feeling that Will might make another visit to Dr. Lecter before the next murder or it could be after if the plan doesn’t work. As the plan is set in motion Will fears for his family but tries to hide it the best he can but there is no fooling Molly. However, the reporter Freddy Loundes is kidnapped by the killer for the article that he co-wrote with Will Graham in the paper, it is unclear as of yet as to whether he killed Freddy or not, but it is clear that he pulls a Hannibal style biting before he “releases” Freddy.
As we cross into the second half of the novel, we see the murder in action which was horrendous but necessary while I didn’t like Freddy Loundes as a character he certainly didn’t deserve the ending he got but it does highlight that the killer is always one step ahead of the police. As ask the police are trying to close in on the Tooth Fairy its Will who comes up with the idea that Loundes was either taken to a nursing home or to the killer’s home. As we learn more about the killer and his background and upbringing it is very hard not to pity him as he has had a very hard life and while we haven’t seen anything that would drive him to kill, we can see that Dr. Lecter was right about the killer hating his appearance. Learning about the killer’s upbringing and childhood were hard to read but it proves how right Dr. Lecter was in the short space of time he had to read about the killer. The Killer has also picked out his next set of victims and I was hoping that Will would catch him in time, but it rarely works out that way in these kinds of novels. As we get deeper and deeper into the killer’s psychology you can’t help but sympathize with him after all that he has gone through and what he goes through every day because of something he has absolutely no control over and Reba seems to understand this better than anyone.
As we approach the ¾ mark in the novel, I really enjoyed seeing the killer evolve in new ways that remind us that he is still human and subject to human emotions like lust and jealousy which was a surprising angle as many novels try to keep the antagonist as the bad guys. However, Red Dragon tells us he is the bad guys but constantly reminds us that he is a human being and can feel and act like anyone else, he is just a little different from everyone else. As Will begins to put more pieces of the puzzle together, he is being taunted by both the killer and Dr Lecter, but he is getting closer to the killer, but he is nowhere near close enough yet. Despite showing us the killer’s human side Harris doesn’t shy away from reminding us after it all that he is still a killer and that he will kill again but there is still a heavy internal struggle.
In the final 50 pages of the novel, we know that the killer is going to be caught as this killer is mentioned in the next book and in the movies, but the question is will it be before or after the next murder? I know it is wrong, but I have been rooting for the killer this entire book and I really didn’t want him to be caught but it has to happen. I was fairly surprised that Hannibal Lecter has played such a small role in this novel given the history between him and Will Graham, I was under the impression he was going to play a much larger role than he actually did. The ending of Red Dragon was equal parts sad, shocking and just WTF, but I loved it probably not as much as I thought I would because Hannibal plays such a small role in this novel but still highly recommended.
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