| Red Dragon | Silence of the Lambs |
Red Dragon
Every so often something will cause me to shudder. Sometimes it's a memory from my childhood, perhaps it's a twisted view of what I think the future holds for me. Well, each page of this book made me sudder. It is sick, it is twisted, and it's a little bit too close to reality - I loved it.
Dr. Hannibal Lechter - whom we all love from the movies Manhunt and Silence of the Lambs is here to greet us. This series starts with Lechter already captured, in his funky little cell after his killing spree and the attempted murder of dective Will Graham (who is the one who captured him). Graham, after trying to retire from his life of super-sleuth, is met by Crawford, the head of the serial murder section of the FBI. Crawford has a new serial killer, the Tooth Fairy, on his hands, and needs Graham's help to capture him. Graham, though, despite his near clairvoyance, must enlist the help of Lechter - as this serial killer is really good, killing whole families & their pets.
The odd thing about this book is that it is not a mystery. The author comes right out with the identity of the murderer. It's a horror story - as Dolarhyde plans his next moves while Crawford and Graham try to figure out who he is. Of course, Lechter helps a little bit on both sides gets evil side into things, just to add a lot of hair-raising spice to things.
This book was more than scary, though - it was very interesting, and insightful. It takes a close look at FBI procedure for capturing and classifing serial killers, and it explains, in detail, what made Dolarhyde into this beast called the Red Dragon. It's very dry when it does this, from a psychological angle, it must be a masterpiece (e-mail me if you've read this and are in that field, I'd love to know what you thought of it). The funny thing is that you actually feel sorry for Dolarhyde at points, wondering if it was really his fault that he because the monster that he was.
Of course, this book can also be seen as an instructional guide to serial killing - and the scary thing is how close Dolarhyde was to avoiding getting caught . . . it was only one little thing (that went nearly unnoticed) that he was caught by.
Harris proves to be a master of the imagination. There are things he describes in detail, and there are things that he lets the mind take control of - where you still don't know all of the details about something, but I know my mind is coming up with something much worse than what could be seen in black and white.
Grade: A. This book really freaked me out.
Silence of the Lambs
Ok, I thought that the first book was scary, and it was - but this one was just slightly more freaky. I don't know if it's because I liked the herione in this story better, and therefore didn't want to see her hurt, or if it was because I just got disgusted at myself as I found myself cheering for Hannibal Lechter.
Clarice Starling (played by Jodie Foster in the excellent movie based on this book) is an eager FBI trainee who ends up in the middle of the mess surrounding the serial killer Buffalo Bill. Jack Crawford, director of the FBI, knows that the search for the Buffalo Bill (a serial killer who is kidnapping fat girls, keeping them for a few days, killing them, skinning them, and then leaving them in rivers) will be aided by his old buddy, the infamous Hannibal Lechter. The problem is that Lechter won't talk to any of Crawford's agents. Enter Starling, the beautiful trainee - and Lechter does talk to her.
Now, I saw the movie of this book before I saw the movie, and it was very interesting reading the book after the movie, as in the movie there are many things that simply aren't explained. I didn't see them as things that needed explaining in the movie - as they were simple axioms to grasp - but it was nice getting the detail to certain things. For the most part, the book follows the movie pretty closely, just in more detail. It was the times that the book differed from the movie (if only slightly) that I wish that I hadn't watched the movie. I found myself re-reading certain paragraphs (and one time a whole chapter) so that I made sure I understood the differences between what I was reading and what I was remembering.
But this is a wonderful book - brilliantly evil. This time, the focus of the "dark side," is not on the serial killer, but rather Hannibal Lechter. You learn a lot about this character, and for every ounce of evil in him, I like him more. I'm not sure why this is happening, and it is perhaps something that I should seek help for, but Lechter is a great character that I simply love. I also love the introduction of Starling, as well - the kick-ass, no BS FBI trainee who won't take "no" for an answer.
The only thing I liked better about Red Dragon (and don't get me wrong, I loved that book as well) was the time taken out of the story line to talk about how Dolarhyde became who he was. It was very, very interesting, even if it did slow down the pace of the book. This time, no such sidetrack is taken, and the book never slows down. In fact, it gets faster over time, and it's great.
Again, it's not a mystery - everything is out in the open. The character development is the best thing about the story. As I said I found myself rooting for the briliantly evil Lechter, worrying about Starling, feeling grief for the over-stressed Crawford, and wishing that Chilton (the director of the insane asylum that Lechter is kept in) were dead. It's funny, though, as the character that I respect the most is nothing more than a jail-guard of sorts (Barney). The ironic thing, though, is it is also who Lechter respects the most, too.
Grade: A+, the scariest thing I've ever experineced.
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