50 Books Challenge 2013 - # 35: Hannibal Rising by Thomas Harris (Hannibal Lecter # 4)

Title: Hannibal Rising(Hannibal Lecter # 4)
Author: Thomas Harris
Story: Hannibal Lecter emerges from the nightmare of the Eastern Front, a boy in the snow, mute, with a chain around his neck. He seems utterly alone, but he has brought his demons with him. Hannibal’s uncle, a noted painter, finds him in a Soviet orphanage and brings him to France, where Hannibal will live with his uncle and his uncle’s beautiful and exotic wife, Lady Murasaki. Lady Murasaki helps Hannibal to heal. With her help he flourishes, becoming the youngest person ever admitted to medical school in France. But Hannibal’s demons visit him and torment him. When he is old enough, he visits them in turn. He discovers he has gifts beyond the academic, and in that epiphany, Hannibal Lecter becomes death’s prodigy
Start: september 28th 2013
End: september 30th 2013
Comment: This books completes the circle, the final book in the Hannibal Lecter series. And it's nothing like the other three. The book opens during Hitler's 'Blitzkrieg' operation during World War II, when Axis troops spread across Europe and placed the majority of it under Nazi control. The Lecter family, which consists of the cultured Count and Countess as well as their talented son Hannibal and his little sister, Mischa, flees to their cabin in the woods of Poland to escape from the invading SS. The rest of the book deals with Hannibal as a disturbed teenager trying to deal with the pain over the loss with his sister when he is taken in by his uncle Robert and his dazzling wife, Lady Muraski, and subsequently his life as a young medical student in Paris, where he finally begins planning his revenge on the fiends who murdered his sister. The character of Hannibal still retains his wit and remains fascinating, but is a little more reckless and humane than his older self, though he's still just as delightfully brilliant as ever. You get to know Hannibal Lecter more, but some questions about him will remain unanswered. Maybe that makes Lecter more mysterious, but I really wanted to get the answers. Especially because it's the last book. But at the end you are left with a greater sense of who Hannibal Lecter is.
Rating: 3,5/ 5

50 Books Challenge 2013 - 34: Hannibal by Thomas Harris (Hannibal Lecter # 3)

Title: Hannibal(Hannibal Lecter # 3)
Author: Thomas Harris
Story: Seven years have passed since Dr. Lecter escaped from custody. And for seven years he's been at large, free to savor the scents, the essences, of an unguarded world. But intruders have entered Dr. Lecter's sanctuary, piercing his new identity, sensing the evil that surrounds him. For the multimillionaire Hannibal left maimed, for a corrupt Italian policeman. and for FBI agent Clarice Starling, who once stood before Lecter and who has never been the same, the hunt for Hannibal Lecter has begun. All of them, in their separate ways, want to find Dr. Lecter. And all three will get their wish. But only one will live long enough to savor the reward.
Start: september 23rd 2013
End: september 28th 2013
Comment: Of all the books in this series, this was the one I was least looking forward to. And, so far, this is the one I like the least. I did enjoy it to some point, but I just didn't like the ending. I know that no one expected this, because it is surprising. For me it's a bit unbelievable. I was sorry to see Clarice Starling come to such a sorry end. The character Mason Verger was a revolting and fascinating villain. I easily was more sympathetic toward Dr Lecter. There was lots of Harris's trademark detail and atmosphere and that's what I liked. I just did't enjoy this book as much as the previews two.
Rating: 3/ 5

50 Books Challenge 2013 - # 33: The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris (Hannibal Lecter # 2)

Title: The Silence of the Lambs(Hannibal Lecter # 2)
Author: Thomas Harris
Story: There's a killer on the loose who knows that beauty is only skin deep, and a trainee investigator who's trying to save her own hide. The only man that can help is locked in an asylum. But he's willing to put a brave face on - if it will help him escape.
Start: September 10th 2013
End: September 22nd 2013
Comment: This is the perfect book when it's raining outside, you got the lights on in your house and you're curled up on the couch with a hot cup of tea. This book is chillingly creepy. Hannibal Lecter is one of the scariest villains even created, but I thin Buffalo Bill is even creepier. His whole act and attitude is freaking me out. Clarice Starling is a strong female character, someone you can easily sympathize with and relate to. You feel her fear and strength. The dialogues between her and Hannibal are the strongest bits in the book. They captivate you from beginning to end. It's a fantastic book and now I think te movie is pretty true to it. Great read!
Rating: 5/ 5

50 Books Challenge 2013 - # 32: Red Dragon by Thomas Harris (Hannibal Lecter # 1)

Title: Red Dragon (Hannibal Lecter # 1)
Author: Thomas Harris
Story: Will Graham stands in a silent, empty house communing with a killer. An FBI instructor with a gift for hunting madmen, Graham knows what his murderer looks like, how he thinks, and what he did to his victims after they died. Now Graham must try to catch him. But to do it, he must feel the heat of a killer's brain, draw on the macabre advice of a dangerous mental patient, Dr. Hannibal Lecter, and follow a trail of microscopic clues to the place where another family has already been chosen to die--and where an innocent woman has found the Dragon first.
Start: September 1st 2013
End: September 10th 2013
Comment: The first book in the Hannibal Lecter series, this is what started it all. It gave us the cannibal we can't help but love. We follow two different minds: the mind of a killer and the mind of the man hunting the killer. Will Graham helps investigate the murders of two different families, taking place on two separate occasions. Graham is a likeable character, although he is flawed. But those are the best characters, aren't they? He has a hard time living a normal live. Hannibal Lecter is barely in this book, but the part that he is involved in leaves a mark. It's memorable and gives you a hard time to forget. Kicking of with this chilling thriller makes me even more exciting about the other books. Three more Lecter stories to go...
Rating: 4,5/ 5