"He ate a painting." (Red Dragon - Thomas Harris)

Name: SqueakyG

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Product:	Red Dragon - Thomas Harris
Date:	25/09/01 (810 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Enjoyable thriller, shocks and excites, features Hannibal Lecter

Disadvantages: Lecter fans may be disappointed to find he is only a minor character

Ever wanted to get in the mind of a serial killer? Will Graham doesn't. Which is a shame, because it's his job, and he's frighteningly good at it. Okay. Enough of the promotional blurb-style writing. It was just the intro. I haven't written a book opinion for ages, so let me warm up, okay?

Most people only discover Thomas Harris's Red Dragon after watching the movie adaptations of 'The Silence of the Lambs' or 'Hannibal'. It is a shame the movies are more famous than the original novels and Red Dragon is often overlooked, because in many ways it is the best. Thomas Harris is not a prolific author, having written only four novels. Three of them feature his most famous character, Dr Hannibal Lecter, and Red Dragon is where it all begins. First published in 1982, it is a gruesome serial killer who-sick-weirdo-dunnit thriller. Perhaps the reason Red Dragon is overlooked compared to the other Hannibal Lecter stories is because the movie adaptation of Red Dragon wasn't a smash hit and it went under a different name, 'Manhunter'. But I'll talk about the movie later.


***


First the plot. Will Graham is in semi-retirement from his work with the FBI, where he assisted several serial killer investigations. After catching his last killer, Dr Hannibal Lecter (and almost getting killed by Lecter in the process), Graham settled down with his wife and stepson for a calm peaceful life. But there is now a new serial killer on the loose. The police and the press call him "The Tooth Fairy" due to the unusual bite-marks he leaves on his victims. He has killed two middle-class families during the last two full moons, and the FBI is pretty sure another family will be slaughtered when the next full moon comes. Will Graham is the best person to help catch the Tooth Fairy, because he has an exceptional talent for understanding the minds of serial killers. So he reluctantly joins the ca
se.

To help his understanding of the Tooth Fairy, Graham seeks advice from the only other person who might understand: Hannibal Lecter. However, he doesn't count on Lecter working against him and starting secret communications with the Tooth Fairy. As the story progresses, we see into the life of Francis Dolarhyde, a loner with a deformed face and a speech impediment, whose worship of William Blake's painting "The Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed with the Sun" is reaching schizophrenic proportions. (Yes, this is the Tooth Fairy).

I don't want to give away much more of the plot, but I'll have to reveal a bit more to analyse why to novel is so damn good, and to explain what parts are lacking. But don't worry. Red Dragon is a fairly complex story with the full plethora of leads, red herrings, clues and details that you'd expect from a crime thriller of this type. Every chapter throws up something new and unexpected, so even if I reveal a smidge too much of the plot, the story will still take you round some unexpected turns.


***


The character that catches most people's interest is Dr Hannibal Lecter. But I have to let you know that Red Dragon is not a Lecter story, it is merely a story in which Lecter appears for a few pages. His role is small but significant. This role was expanded somewhat in The Silence of the Lambs, which is almost a remake of the scenario. He isn't given much to do, but he makes the chapters in which he appears very tense and interesting.

The first half of the book focuses mainly on Graham's character. His main 'issue' is that he can understand the minds of serial killers, and this freaks him out because it takes over his thoughts and his personality. It makes him see the potential for evil in his own personality, knowing that he is in some ways like a serial killer himself. Dr Lecter also knows this, and tries to rattle Graham by mak
ing him think about it. I thought this was a very good piece of characterisation, and I was expecting Harris to expand upon the idea. Unfortunately by about half way through the story, Harris shifts his attention to the killer, and he seems to forget about Graham's character. Graham becomes under-used. This is a shame, because after setting up this personality and the potential for Graham to have problems, the thread is forgotten.

As the focus of the novel shifts from Graham's character to that of the killer's, we are shown a well-rounded detailed portrayal of an insane murderer. Harris goes into detail with Francis Dolarhyde's past, starting with his life as a child. This is good because it thoroughly explains Dolarhyde's afflictions and his reasons for killing. There is a good balance between making the reader feel sympathetic to Dolarhyde, and still fearing him because of the despicable acts he commits. Harris adds another element to enrich the story when Dolarhyde meets a blind female co-worker, who tries to start a romantic relationship with him. The bad thing about taking the story in this direction is that it shifts the focus away from Graham's investigation. But the pleasing thing is that the killer of the story is not just an inexplicable faceless murderer, but a detailed character who enriches the plot.

The story moves at a fast pace, and is written in a way that doesn't drag or become dull at all. It mixes suspense, excitement and drama very well. Graham and his FBI colleagues investigate the murder scenes, find clues, interpret them, and always have new things to push forward with the case. There is a lot of forensic analysis, and a lot of intricate details about the clues. It is sometimes hard to believe Will Graham has the leaps of logic to come to certain conclusions about the evidence, but we just take it for granted that he knows how to think like an insane killer. The story is pretty simple and easy to
understand, but it feels more complex than it really is due to all the forensic detail. I didn't predict the way the plot would twist and turn, except for the very ending of the novel where the last twist is a bit too predictable.

Thomas Harris writes in a style that eloquently explains everything the characters experience. He makes sure to describe sounds and smells, which puts the reader right into the scene. If I have one criticism, it is that Harris seems to have trouble with his tenses. He breaks from past-tense into present-tense in a very odd way, and it doesn't feel right. If I was his editor, I'd have a word with him about it and ask if it's really the way he intended to write. The version I read also had lots of print problems, with mis-spellings and bad punctuation, but I blame this on the crummy edition I got from the library.


***


Before I finish, I'll mention the movie. Like the two follow-ups, Red Dragon was adapted for the screen. It isn't called Red Dragon though. It is called Manhunter. The film was made in 1986 by Michael Mann, the creator of Miami Vice. There aren't any big-name stars in the film and it was made on a fairly small budget. Lecter is not played by Anthony Hopkins, but is played very well by Brian Cox, who delivers a more subtle realistic performance than Hopkins. The film hasn't aged particularly well and it feels very 1980's, but it is pretty good.

I suggest reading the book and watching the movie (in whichever order you choose), because both are well worth your time.

Ta ta.

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