This book started out great: there’s a new serial killer on the loose, the FBI use all sorts of cool forensic and investigative techniques to try to track him down, and Hannibal Lecter “helps” them out with clever hints. The writing was great, there was plenty of suspense and mystery, and you got a glimpse into the mind of a psychopath—in short, all the things that made Silence of the Lambs a fun read were working here too.
And then, suddenly, the book shifts totally in tone. You start spending more and more time with the killer rather than the FBI (or Hannibal). All the suspense and mystery disappear. Instead of a race against time to stop a madman, you now follow the madman around, and quite frankly, he’s just not interesting enough to hold the story together. Hannibal Lecter is a delightfully evil and brilliant character you could follow around for days. Francis Dolarhyde is not. He’s just creepy.
As a result, the second half of the book—and the predictable ending—are a let down in what could’ve been a great book. I believe Red Dragon was actually written before Silence of the Lambs, so perhaps the author realized this and focused more on the stronger parts of the story in the latter.
Rating: 4 stars
Yevgeniy Brikman
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