2011 Book #2.RED DRAGON

I read Red Dragon in one full day. The other night, I was watching one of the Biography/Discovery channels that was doing behind-the-scenes episodes of some of the great movies. We watched the one on Jaws which I'd seen before, and then immediately the one that came one on afterwards, The Silence of the Lambs. I was fascinated. I couldn't stop watching it. It's always been one of my favorite psychological thrillers. I've always thought of it as a thinking person's horror story, which makes it one of the greatest stories of all time. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I've always known that the movie was originally a book, but for some reason or another, it never occurred to me to actually read the book version...until I was watching this behind-the-scenes episode. The author, Thomas Harris, talked about how he had introduced this character, Hannibal the Cannibal, as a way of helping the FBI investigators capture the Red Dragon.  Even though the story isn't about Hannibal, Harris couldn't stop thinking about Hannibal.  Thus, the next story Silence of the Lambs was born.  Before the episode was half over, I'd gotten online and ordered the whole series about Hannibal Lecter, aka Hannibal, the Cannibal.

I watched the show on Thursday night, I'm pretty sure it was, and I had the books in my hands by Monday morning. I started the first book Red Dragon immediately and finished by Tuesday.

I know I'm sick, but I just couldn't put the book down. While Hannibal Lecter takes only a very minor roll in this particular book, Red Dragon, he is still intriguing enough that Thomas Harris couldn't stop himself from writing several books about Hannibal after that one.

Anyway, the book is really very good if you like stories about serial killers.  This story focuses on a serial killer who calls himself the "Red Dragon" because of a painting by William Blake about a Red Dragon and something about a woman and the sun.  (If the image doesn't show up below, you can do a quick google search about William Blake's Red Dragon.  It was the first image to show up and there are several portrayals of it, just in case you're curious enough to look at it.)  There was something about that painting that the serial killer was drawn to.  It drove him to do the evil things he did.  By the end of the story, I don't want to give anything away, but....the serial killer has split in to two separate personalities, one of which is the Red Dragon and that's the one that demands the lives, viciously.

If you've seen the Hannibal movies, you know the FBI detectives essentially are the same.  They hunt down the Red Dragon, calling him the "Tooth Fairy" because he likes to bite his victims--well, more than bite, but we'll just leave it at that to keep this posting at least a PG rating!  Of course, the serial killer hates the nickname "Tooth Fairy" and he makes completely certain that they change that moniker to the one he demands, Red Dragon.

The "surprise" ending where the serial killer shows up after everyone thinks he's dead isn't so surprising.  It's been a plot device used for so long that it's actually tiresome when I see it in movies or read about it in books now.  With that being said, though, it didn't take away from the interest in reading the book, including the ending. 

I've always been fascinated with the Hannibal stories in the movies and I'm excited to be reading the books!  I can't believe it's taken me this long to read them!  With the interest I have in the macabre and sicko-psychos, you'd think I would have read this series years ago, and re-read them several times by now!!!!!