Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Red Dragon by Thomas Harris

30 reviews

gilmargirl's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gore, Mental illness, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Torture, Body horror, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Domestic abuse, Medical content, Body shaming, Child abuse, Bullying, and Kidnapping

Minor: Animal cruelty and Animal death

alpinkpaca's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

I genuinely forgot this book supposed to be horror and started to root for the romance part because it was cute :') Still a good book, love reading about Hannibal just being locked up and obsessing over Will.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, Sexual assault, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Violence, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Stalking, Torture, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Rape, Suicide, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, and Physical abuse

nuvo's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.25

It's a bit slow for me, also at times I didn't care very much about some of the backstory. It's pretty gory at times, which isn't my favorite thing.

Also the storyline of the Dragon guy suddenly not wanting to kill anymore because of some random woman was a bit rushed imo. Also would have preferred if Dragon had just died in the fire, the last few chapters just felt awkward and unnecessary. That would have at least rounded him trying to stop for his almost-girlfriend up a lot better, now it just feels even more random.

I did enjoy (?) reading this, but I'm 98% sure I'm not rereading that ever again. But I will continue the series just because i want some more Hannibal the Cannibal.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child abuse, Gore, Kidnapping, Murder, Animal death, Death, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Torture

Minor: Fire/Fire injury

milda_mark's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Violence, Death, Rape, and Mental illness

Moderate: Domestic abuse and Abandonment

Minor: Animal death and Cannibalism

hocuscrocus's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

This will always be one of my favorite books and I will always give it full stars whenever the opportunity arises. That being said, I'd only recommend it to others with some caveats.
First, there are some parts of this book that are truly disgusting. Read with caution and mind the content warnings.
Second, if your main exposure to this series is the NBC Hannibal adaptation, just know this is a very different style of storytelling. I've loved every bit of media related to this series from childhood (I may never understand why my dad let me watch Silence of the Lambs at 8) and I consider NBC's Hannibal to be a masterpiece. That said, the books are much more linear. Maybe a little dry at times. I personally enjoy Thomas Harris' writing style, but as always, your mileage may vary.

I could go on forever and ever about how much I love this book and the rest of the series but I'll spare the essay here. It's a great story to be enjoyed safely and with an open mind.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Murder, Suicide attempt, Violence, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual assault, Blood, Medical trauma, Abandonment, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Medical content, Physical abuse, and Rape

Moderate: Animal death, Animal cruelty, and Pregnancy

Minor: Dementia and Racism

littleredwinter's review against another edition

Very disappointed. I thought I’d like the book because I liked the movie version of The Silence of the Lambs, but this book had inconsistent pacing, extraneous details galore, and very little characterization of its most interesting characters. The dated writing style that included way too much detail about unnecessary sexual stuff and actual slurs made my skin crawl more than the gore, which I expected more of than I actually got. The backstory felt unnecessary to understand the killer. And I felt I didn’t get Will Graham as a character at all. The only redeeming quality was Hannibal Lecter himself. He had the best characterization of anyone but was barely in the book. DNF at 86%. I couldn’t get all the way through it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Violence, and Gore

Moderate: Gun violence, Gore, Ableism, Animal cruelty, Mental illness, Sexism, Homophobia, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Stalking, Animal death, and Medical trauma

Minor: Fire/Fire injury and Cannibalism

phantasia's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Murder, Gun violence, Death, Gore, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Animal cruelty

frmeden's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Cursing, Murder, Medical content, Body shaming, Violence, Child death, Ableism, Mental illness, Bullying, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Fire/Fire injury, and Stalking

Moderate: Sexual assault, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Rape, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Minor: Cannibalism, Homophobia, Racial slurs, and Misogyny

jaylee_books's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Stalking, Mental illness, Confinement, Murder, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Torture, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexual content, and Violence

volo's review against another edition

dark sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I like this book because im obsessed with the Hannibal series. It very much feels like it was written back in 1988. Lots of racism and homophobia and very detailed childhood abuse. I dont like this Will Graham as much as I liked Edward Nortons Will Graham in the film adaptation or the NBC series but it was alright. Definitely a cult classic that probably wouldn't get the same following if published today.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Murder, Racial slurs, Sexual content, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Homophobia, Torture, Child abuse, Gore, Rape, Death of parent, Kidnapping, Racism, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Violence, Animal death, Blood, Ableism, Cursing, Sexual violence, Death, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Medical content, Alcohol, Emotional abuse, Cannibalism, Abandonment, Antisemitism, and Misogyny

Many mentions of graphic childhood abuse. Graphic depictions of gore and torture. A fair amount of racism and homophobia.