Signed Thomas Harris book for under $20...? Yes, please!

[jeffingoff]

Started reading it tonight, and an hour or two and 50-something pages later, I’m throwing in the towel. Turns out all the bad reviews that I ignored until I could pass my own judgement on it were, in fact, right on the money. It’s so bad, so poorly written that I find it stupefying that it came from the pen of Thomas Harris. There are so many issues ranging from characterization to plot to pacing to even simple grammatical errors that I wouldn’t even know where to begin explaining the ways in which this book is a train-wreck...of course, the more pointed question is, Why? Why is this new creation of Harris’ so poor compared to what had come before? I’ve never read anything so disappointing, so shockingly, unexpectedly mediocre versus what was expected...and “mediocre” is putting it kindly.

GAH that sucks. I never got around to reading it and I think your review may be the final coffin nail. There's no way that these reviews are a matter of opinion. Not when it's universal and uniform. It's actually beyond subjective at this point. And that's so sad.

[bsaenz24]

GAH that sucks. I never got around to reading it and I think your review may be the final coffin nail. There's no way that these reviews are a matter of opinion. Not when it's universal and uniform. It's actually beyond subjective at this point. And that's so sad.

It really was a crappy book all around. I had to push myself to get through it and I loved Silence and Red Dragon. It truly felt like someone else must have written it. It felt like a heavily detailed screenplay, but a very shallow detailed novel. You didn't care about a single character. The only person I felt bad for was myself because I bought it.

[Marmaduke Grigsby]

To me, it was worth it just to get a hardcover book that is signed by him for less than $20 but it's a real shame the book itself isn't better.

(I haven't read it and it's highly unlikely that I ever will given the reviews I've seen.)

[bsaenz24]

To me, it was worth it just to get a hardcover book that is signed by him for less than $20 but it's a real shame the book itself isn't better.

(I haven't read it and it's highly unlikely that I ever will given the reviews I've seen.)

The sig is the only reason I will keep my copy now and that's barely enough.

[RonClinton]

The sig is the only reason I will keep my copy now and that's barely enough.

Me, too. I have it shelved behind my other Thomas Harris books, all of which save for this one are placed spine out…this one is just hidden behind them in the dark. Don’t even care to see it...even at $20 for a signed Thomas Harris, I feel like I got snookered.

[khaos]

I must be the lone weirdo then. I liked it. Could have been better in some places but overall a good story. Of course I haven't read anything else by him. Saw the movies. Books have just been on my TBR.

[bsaenz24]

I must be the lone weirdo then. I liked it. Could have been better in some places but overall a good story. Of course I haven't read anything else by him. Saw the movies. Books have just been on my TBR.

One you read Red Dragon and Silence of the Lambs, you'll see what he is really capable of.

[Martin]

I must be the lone weirdo then. I liked it. Could have been better in some places but overall a good story. Of course I haven't read anything else by him. Saw the movies. Books have just been on my TBR.

It was not horrible but compared to anything else he has written it was not good.

[bookworm 1]

GAH that sucks. I never got around to reading it and I think your review may be the final coffin nail. There's no way that these reviews are a matter of opinion. Not when it's universal and uniform. It's actually beyond subjective at this point. And that's so sad.

Think I agree with you on this. Not sure if I even want to keep my copy. Signed or not.

[swintek]

Man, that is a brutal critique, Ron. Fully warranted, I'm sure, unfortunately. I did buy it, but I had already pretty much given up on him after the profoundly disappointing (to me) HANNIBAL. Having counted RED DRAGON & SILENCE as 2 of my top 5 novels at that point- I KNEW that the 3rd was going to be amazing. Those 1st two were SO good- it couldn't possibly be anything less than great. I couldn't believe as I was reading it that it was the same author. The tone was all wrong. The plot was wing-wang. The characters weren't compelling. It felt lazy and puerile. I completely understood when Jodi Foster backed out of repeating her Oscar winning role after she read the book, as well as director Jonathan Demme. I know some people liked it, and that's fine. Actually, I like all the Lecter parts in Florence in Ridley Scott's movie just fine. The book- just flat out didn't like it. How can someone write not one, but two perfect thrillers- and then completely lose their way?

[RonClinton]

Man, that is a brutal critique, Ron. Fully warranted, I'm sure, unfortunately. I did buy it, but I had already pretty much given up on him after the profoundly disappointing (to me) HANNIBAL. Having counted RED DRAGON & SILENCE as 2 of my top 5 novels at that point- I KNEW that the 3rd was going to be amazing. Those 1st two were SO good- it couldn't possibly be anything less than great. I couldn't believe as I was reading it that it was the same author. The tone was all wrong. The plot was wing-wang. The characters weren't compelling. It felt lazy and puerile. I completely understood when Jodi Foster backed out of repeating her Oscar winning role after she read the book, as well as director Jonathan Demme. I know some people liked it, and that's fine. Actually, I like all the Lecter parts in Florence in Ridley Scott's movie just fine. The book- just flat out didn't like it. How can someone write not one, but two perfect thrillers- and then completely lose their way?

I had the same issue with HANNIBAL and, worse, HANNIBAL RISING. I didn't learn my lesson w/ HANNIBAL because, like you, I treasured RED DRAGON and SILENCE OF THE LAMBS so much that I wanted to revisit that magic again, and I gave him the benefit of the doubt and read RISING even though the previous volume was disappointing. Needless to say (if you've read them), that magic wasn't in the fourth Hannibal volume, either.

All that said, the utter narrative failure that is CARI MORA makes HANNIBAL and HANNIBAL RISING seem brilliant in comparison.

I've had my issues with favorite authors back in the day becoming contemporary authors whose work I no longer enjoy and, in fact, am no longer able to even recognize the quaities in their work that once made it so special to me -- Dean Koontz and Simon Clark leap to mind -- but the plummet from RED DRAGON and SILENCE OF THE LAMBS to, now, CARI MORA is certainly the most egregious example of that unfortunate transition I've ever experienced as a reader.

[Ben Staad]

Yikes!

I had the same issue with HANNIBAL and, worse, HANNIBAL RISING. I didn't learn my lesson w/ HANNIBAL because, like you, I treasured RED DRAGON and SILENCE OF THE LAMBS so much that I wanted to revisit that magic again, and I gave him the benefit of the doubt and read RISING even though the previous volume was disappointing. Needless to say (if you've read them), that magic wasn't in the fourth Hannibal volume, either.

All that said, the utter narrative failure that is CARI MORA makes HANNIBAL and HANNIBAL RISING seem brilliant in comparison.

I've had my issues with favorite authors back in the day becoming contemporary authors whose work I no longer enjoy and, in fact, am no longer able to even recognize the quaities in their work that once made it so special to me -- Dean Koontz and Simon Clark leap to mind -- but the plummet from RED DRAGON and SILENCE OF THE LAMBS to, now, CARI MORA is certainly the most egregious example of that unfortunate transition I've ever experienced as a reader.

[Martin]

I had the same issue with HANNIBAL and, worse, HANNIBAL RISING. I didn't learn my lesson w/ HANNIBAL because, like you, I treasured RED DRAGON and SILENCE OF THE LAMBS so much that I wanted to revisit that magic again, and I gave him the benefit of the doubt and read RISING even though the previous volume was disappointing. Needless to say (if you've read them), that magic wasn't in the fourth Hannibal volume, either.

All that said, the utter narrative failure that is CARI MORA makes HANNIBAL and HANNIBAL RISING seem brilliant in comparison.

I've had my issues with favorite authors back in the day becoming contemporary authors whose work I no longer enjoy and, in fact, am no longer able to even recognize the quaities in their work that once made it so special to me -- Dean Koontz and Simon Clark leap to mind -- but the plummet from RED DRAGON and SILENCE OF THE LAMBS to, now, CARI MORA is certainly the most egregious example of that unfortunate transition I've ever experienced as a reader.

I really enjoyed Hannibal. Hannibal Rising felt forced to me, it was a story that did not need to be told in my view, but it was not bad. Cari Mora is just not a good story. Even worse coming from Harris, it was just a poorly told story.

[Tommy]

I haven't read the new one yet but I loved Hannibal. I've actually read it three times now. It is a messy book but in the most beautiful ,for lack of a better word, way. I think I read somewhere that Hannibal Rising was a contractual obligation but I could just be pulling that out of thin air.

King certainly loved Hannibal and wrote a glowing review for it in the NYT...


Hannibal the Cannibal

I recognize that both RD(which is actually one of only a handful of books that had me looking over my shoulder when I was home alone, ha!) and TSotL are better books but Hannibal is just insane and I love it!

[RonClinton]

Goldsboro Books just put up for sale one copy of the signed/numbered/traycased edition that sold out long ago:

https://www.goldsborobooks.com/produ...deluxe-edition

[bsaenz24]

Goldsboro Books just put up for sale one copy of the signed/numbered/traycased edition that sold out long ago:

https://www.goldsborobooks.com/produ...deluxe-edition

Alex, I'll take "What are books I wouldn't take even for free!" for $500.

[jeffingoff]

Alex, I'll take "What are books I wouldn't take even for free!" for $500.

Brad living the thug life.

[bsaenz24]

Brad living the thug life.

Yeah, it was time for a change from my old ways...

Pug-life.jpg

[RonClinton]

Alex, I'll take "What are books I wouldn't take even for free!" for $500.

Burn.

And truth.