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matt357's review against another edition
2.0
This book is unfortunately disappointing. Coming from someone with Harris's pedigree and after such a long break this is something of a doa. Given the long break before this book, this is a chance to see if all his skills were ruined by the last two Hannibal books
Harris uses several techniques he's used before, a history told in parts and flashbacks, lots of narration from a clearly evil character, a crime story with little police involved, and those only seeing the edges of this, but here these all feel a little... flat.
We start here with Hams-Peter, and within 10 pages he's already openly talking about abducting and killing someone purely for her looks. He comes off as an attempt to make a Hannibal for this book, but here he's too strong in the villainy, and consistent with it, and comes off looking cartoonish.
Secondly comes the other main character, Cari. She's beautiful, confident, dangerous and loving of animals and those she knows. At times she comes off as over perfect, but her quietness and self reflection fight against this admirably. Her past here could reasonably explain a lot of her personality, flaws included, which is nice to see.
The central question here, is who will get some of Pablo Escobar's gold, and how. The back and forward, plot and counter plot is engaging, and the action scenes both fast and bloody, showing Harris's experience here, especially his time in films.
If you've not read Harris before, this isn't worth your time. Instead pick up any of his first 3 books, those are much better and unarguably worth the time they take. If you've read his other works, this is just about worth the effort, although it does feel like watching a world class athlete warming up. I can only hope that's what this book represents, and that we'll see Harris back soon with something better.
Harris uses several techniques he's used before, a history told in parts and flashbacks, lots of narration from a clearly evil character, a crime story with little police involved, and those only seeing the edges of this, but here these all feel a little... flat.
We start here with Hams-Peter, and within 10 pages he's already openly talking about abducting and killing someone purely for her looks. He comes off as an attempt to make a Hannibal for this book, but here he's too strong in the villainy, and consistent with it, and comes off looking cartoonish.
Secondly comes the other main character, Cari. She's beautiful, confident, dangerous and loving of animals and those she knows. At times she comes off as over perfect, but her quietness and self reflection fight against this admirably. Her past here could reasonably explain a lot of her personality, flaws included, which is nice to see.
The central question here, is who will get some of Pablo Escobar's gold, and how. The back and forward, plot and counter plot is engaging, and the action scenes both fast and bloody, showing Harris's experience here, especially his time in films.
If you've not read Harris before, this isn't worth your time. Instead pick up any of his first 3 books, those are much better and unarguably worth the time they take. If you've read his other works, this is just about worth the effort, although it does feel like watching a world class athlete warming up. I can only hope that's what this book represents, and that we'll see Harris back soon with something better.
abcdefghijklmegg's review against another edition
3.0
The book really isn't that bad, but he gets you so invested in these characters and then... Nothing. Very disappointed at the end of the book.
katel1970's review against another edition
2.0
I have never read any of Harris' previous work. I had high hopes when I first heard about the book--there was an interesting interview I read with the author talking about his volunteer work with the bird sanctuary that appears in the book. But I felt like the author was often just trying to gross the reader out. Having vile characters talk of doing vile things for the sake of making the reader feel sick. There was potential at points, but the yuckiness factor outweighed any hints of potential for me. It was a super quick read.
vickiroberts082457's review against another edition
3.0
There were some thrilling parts in the book but not enough to really get my pulse racing. Actually the only real thrilling part comes briefly at the end and I found the ending unsatisfactory. Minor buildup and no real conclusion.
alerycelery's review against another edition
2.0
Quite the slog to get through. It didn’t really get exciting until the last twenty pages.
lena_05's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
mlou186's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
hayamaakito's review against another edition
3.0
Idk if it's because I haven't read anything by him since high school or if he's declined as a story teller but I really can't recommend this. Some promising characters and plot lines that just fall flat.
andyc_elsby232's review against another edition
3.0
Brief with enough moments of purely "wow" writing to make this a worthy couple of afternoons for people wondering just wtf Thomas Harris has been doing lately (answer: watching 'Narcos' and reading Ernest Hemingway). I've seen a lot of user reviews on here calling this book atrocious and boring. I can't agree with the former, but I totally understand the latter. There's definitely some parts of this that made my eyes say "I know we slept 8 hours last night, but how about 8 more right now?" But, from a writing standpoint, I kinda admire what those moments were going for, because they're in keeping with Harris' lifelong habit of giving everything-that-breathes a backstory. If it has a beating heart, it gets a lumpy bit of characterization: from the henchman who will die in a few pages to the alligator who ate that henchman.
I've seen some users call this overcommitment to fleshing out the story (which is pretty simple at its core) confusing, and I'm not trying to flex on them by saying I didn't find it confusing (because there is something very jerky about the way Harris plays with perspective), but re-reading certain scenes, I appreciated what he was trying for. That said, these very purposefully written moments create unintentional spaces for empty-subplot-scrutiny. Like, who tf ultimately cares about Iliana, or Robles' amnesiac wife? Instead of having anything meaningful to do with the story, they're just these empty seeming motivators who, by the time you reach the end of the book, make you angrily reflect on just how useless the pages spent on them were.
The titular character's backstory ends up being far more interesting than what she's doing in the present moment. Harris uses her brutal and sad past life to give her an air of hyper-vigilance and warrior-weariness, and this is initially awesome af, because when you meet the villains you know for a fact they've underestimated her. But in the climax of the book, you realize they haven't. Cari acts really f'n stupid in the last twenty pages of this book for no other reason than to give us an action sequence you can find in PG-13 horror movies that won't let their protagonists suffer the bleak fates their poorly written reflexes demand.
The length of this book makes these annoyances trivial, and I'm not a book critic so I don't go out of my way to punish books I willfully read (and in this case anticipated, being a very big fan of the Hannibal Lecter character). The most memorable part about it is the main villain, Hans Peter, who on paper may seem like a downgrade from Lecter, but once explored, his repulsiveness was actually enough to make me nauseous. Harris, in one of his very few interviews, repeatedly explained that he doesn't make any of this sadistic shit up (by all accounts he's a sweet-hearted fellow who loves animals and spent years of evenings talking to his mama); that what we see is what we get in actuality. Harris got his start in the writing world covering real-world crime, and in these crimes (after the admittedly way-too-extravagant Black Sunday) he found inspiration for characters like Lecter, Buffalo Bill, Mason Verger, and now this sick f**k Hans, who I'd argue ranks with them. His cruelty isn't throwaway over-the-top like you'll find in a lot of page-turner crime (numbing America's Most Wanted plagiarism), but dark-web scary. What has always succeeded about Harris' horror is that he derives creative inspiration from people who make a routine of their cruelty. They aren't boogeymen, but people who walk up and down the street and buy icecream cones and then go home and order human beings to be their slaves and, eventually, their meals. Evil not for the sake of evil, but evil as habit; evil as a lifestyle. Evil as sexual gratification and, I shit you not, financially upper-tier delicacy. Hans Peter isn't scary in ways you can ultimately dismiss as fictional; he's scary because folks like him exist and perpetuate the worst, most nightmarish human tendencies you could possibly read about. This is why it's disappointing when it seems like Cari will be a formidable adversary to his complex, far-reaching insidiousness, only for their good vs. evil duel (SPOILER...........................................) to be a vanilla chase scene that gives our protagonist a victory that should feel, after all the things we've read Hans do to people in gruesome detail, morally cleansing but is instead as quick-and-empty as watching a certain prince from a certain book series choke on wine.
It's nice to see Harris back, and I hope we hear more from him soon, I just hope he's preparing something more memorable than this for next time.
I've seen some users call this overcommitment to fleshing out the story (which is pretty simple at its core) confusing, and I'm not trying to flex on them by saying I didn't find it confusing (because there is something very jerky about the way Harris plays with perspective), but re-reading certain scenes, I appreciated what he was trying for. That said, these very purposefully written moments create unintentional spaces for empty-subplot-scrutiny. Like, who tf ultimately cares about Iliana, or Robles' amnesiac wife? Instead of having anything meaningful to do with the story, they're just these empty seeming motivators who, by the time you reach the end of the book, make you angrily reflect on just how useless the pages spent on them were.
The titular character's backstory ends up being far more interesting than what she's doing in the present moment. Harris uses her brutal and sad past life to give her an air of hyper-vigilance and warrior-weariness, and this is initially awesome af, because when you meet the villains you know for a fact they've underestimated her. But in the climax of the book, you realize they haven't. Cari acts really f'n stupid in the last twenty pages of this book for no other reason than to give us an action sequence you can find in PG-13 horror movies that won't let their protagonists suffer the bleak fates their poorly written reflexes demand.
The length of this book makes these annoyances trivial, and I'm not a book critic so I don't go out of my way to punish books I willfully read (and in this case anticipated, being a very big fan of the Hannibal Lecter character). The most memorable part about it is the main villain, Hans Peter, who on paper may seem like a downgrade from Lecter, but once explored, his repulsiveness was actually enough to make me nauseous. Harris, in one of his very few interviews, repeatedly explained that he doesn't make any of this sadistic shit up (by all accounts he's a sweet-hearted fellow who loves animals and spent years of evenings talking to his mama); that what we see is what we get in actuality. Harris got his start in the writing world covering real-world crime, and in these crimes (after the admittedly way-too-extravagant Black Sunday) he found inspiration for characters like Lecter, Buffalo Bill, Mason Verger, and now this sick f**k Hans, who I'd argue ranks with them. His cruelty isn't throwaway over-the-top like you'll find in a lot of page-turner crime (numbing America's Most Wanted plagiarism), but dark-web scary. What has always succeeded about Harris' horror is that he derives creative inspiration from people who make a routine of their cruelty. They aren't boogeymen, but people who walk up and down the street and buy icecream cones and then go home and order human beings to be their slaves and, eventually, their meals. Evil not for the sake of evil, but evil as habit; evil as a lifestyle. Evil as sexual gratification and, I shit you not, financially upper-tier delicacy. Hans Peter isn't scary in ways you can ultimately dismiss as fictional; he's scary because folks like him exist and perpetuate the worst, most nightmarish human tendencies you could possibly read about. This is why it's disappointing when it seems like Cari will be a formidable adversary to his complex, far-reaching insidiousness, only for their good vs. evil duel (SPOILER...........................................) to be a vanilla chase scene that gives our protagonist a victory that should feel, after all the things we've read Hans do to people in gruesome detail, morally cleansing but is instead as quick-and-empty as watching a certain prince from a certain book series choke on wine.
It's nice to see Harris back, and I hope we hear more from him soon, I just hope he's preparing something more memorable than this for next time.
liamkeith's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0