A Story Of Innocence Lost (Hannibal Rising - Thomas Harris)

Member Name: Andy.mack

Product:	Hannibal Rising - Thomas Harris
Date:	12/02/07 (114 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A thrilling story, great characters, decent insight into how it all began

Disadvantages: Perhaps a little too transparant as a book for a movie

He is perhaps the most famous, freighting psychological killer to have ever graced literature. The return of Hannibal doesn't see him picking up where the last novel left off; rather Hannibal Rising gives an insight into what caused Hannibal to become the beast we all now know. The book explores his live during the war hiding away with his parents in the forest to escape the front lines. When his entire family are killed towards the end of the war, something changes in Hannibal and the rest of the novel explores and develops that change in personality and psyche.

I've really enjoyed the previous novels in the Hannibal series and because of that it made Hannibal Rising a must read. Having picked it up quite cheap in Tesco's (£9.89) I actually read the book in two sittings, which although not unusual has been quite rare in recent times. The idea behind Harris's motivations for this book were undoubtedly a fourth film. In fact the book is written in such a way that it is the first of Harris's novels I've felt was specifically written with a movie in mind. While I felt the addictive side of his previous thrillers was still there, it seemed to be lacking a little in intense chapters that I felt Red Dragon et all had in abundance.

The plot of the novel seems to be quite fast paced and really holds your attention as you carry on reading, in my case unable to put the book down. In the way that only Harris knows how he has a meticulous description of the locations of the story and he really brings his characters to live. Of course the exploration of the younger Hannibal was perhaps not the direction many would have seen this series going I have to say that it works very well. From an early age he seems to have an incredible intellect and as he matures and focuses he slowly starts to become the Hannibal we all know and fear.

Of course by taking the unexpected direction it was possible that Harris would have severe problems in linking the new novel into the other 3. It would have been all to easy for him to have taken an aspect of Lecter too lightly and thus ruining the appeal of this and the other books along the way. Thankfully he manages to avoid doing that and rather than revealing too much of Lecter's psyche, he actually gives us a bigger taster that actually makes the other three even more appealing. There is something about Harris's writing that really hooks the reader into his thrillers and this one is no different.

With the other three novels I found that Harris really excels when it comes to characterisation and once again he does not disappoint. Of course Lecter is the only character that any reader will have come across, but throughout the book Harris reveals a little more about our lead character. He gives enough to create a more insightful look into his mind, but still keeping enough of him a mystery to keep the reader hooked on the novel and more importantly the series.

The rest of the characters, while clearly only there to aid with the development of Lecter really were described and put across very well. His family for starters and in particular his sister Mishca were very well built up and I thought Harris did very well with his secondary characters indeed. The same can be said about Lady Murasaki, the widow of his late uncle Robert. Harris shows the relationship between them very well and in a hidden twist the way she nurtures him. I thought that a lot of the sub characters that Harris has created and used to fulfil his ultimate means work very well and make this a compelling read.

Overall I was very impressed with Hannibal Rising. I'd been quite worried that it might not live up to the expectation and I certainly wanted to read it before I seen the movie. I've felt that despite having the written for a movie feel about it, that Harris has created another page turning thriller. It hooks the reader from the very beginning and with a combination of addictive characters and shocking events it holds your attention throughout. If you haven't read any of the Hannibal series this would infact be a much better place to start than Red Dragon, but either way I wouldn't hesitate in recommending Hannibal Rising to anyone.

Amazon: £8.99
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Summary: A prequel to one of the most famous literary series