Red Dragon

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Author: Thomas Harris

Genre: Thriller

Subject: Serial Killer

Rating: ***** (5 Stars)

Summary:

Red Dragon is one of four novels (that I am aware of) featuring Hannibal Lecter. In two of them, Red Dragon and The Silence Of The Lambs, Lecter is a relatively minor character. Already in a hospital for the criminally insane, Lecter, a highly perceptive psychologist, is called upon to help interpret clues in a series of bizarre serial murders.

In Red Dragon, Will Graham is a former special investigator for the FBI. He retired after sustaining severe psychological and physical wounds during the capture of Hannibal Lecter. Graham is persuaded to come out of retirement by Jack Crawford, an FBI agent who is leading the investigation into the bizarre but similar murders of two families in two different cities a month apart. After a few days of fruitlessly looking for a common thread that could lead back to the killer, Graham turns to his old nemesis, Hannibal Lecter, for advice.

Harris tells the killer’s story in parallel with the investigation. The killer, Francis Dolarhyde, works at a studio that, among other things, professionally edits home movies. He had selected the two families after viewing their films, and he filmed himself in their houses during and after the murders. We are shown flashbacks to Dolarhyde’s disturbingly abusive and neglectful childhood, and how his twisted worldview grew out of it.

My Thoughts:

Some authors wait until a killer is caught before revealing anything about him to the reader. Thomas Harris does not. He humanizes his bad guys, describing their backgrounds and how they came to do the terrible things they are hunted for. While reading Hannibal Rising, which describes Lecter’s boyhood in Europe during the Second World War, and Hannibal, which tells his story after he escapes from the mental hospital in The Silence Of The Lambs, I found myself rooting for the cannibal doctor, admiring his ingenuity, and hoping he would continue to elude capture. It’s pretty rare that an author can evoke such feelings for the bad guy.

Potentially Offensive Content:

Sexual content, action violence, vivid descriptions of horrific murders and their aftermath.

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