Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Red Dragon by Thomas Harris

6 reviews

heather_harrison's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

3.25

This book has left me with the controversial question once again - is the book actually better than the move? This time I'm not sure. 

I enjoyed how the backstory for Francis Dolarhyde was teased out, and his bizarre relationships. I would have certainly enjoyed a bit more of the infamous Hannibal Lecter. His cat and mouse relationship with "retired" FBI profiler Will Graham was exceptionally interesting. 

I kept finding myself pulled out of the story with the blantant sexism... Every woman that appears anywhere in the story described in terms of her beauty and it was honestly just annoying. It was weird that Graham would focus on woman when the families are all targeted by the Tooth Fairy, and the idea that he picked the families based on the woman did turn out to be completely unfounded. There were so many moments were our protagonist, our seeming knight in shining armor, just did not pass the vibe check. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Violence, Stalking, Misogyny, Torture, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Murder, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Blood, Body shaming, Cannibalism, Death, Forced institutionalization, Confinement, Body horror, and Death of parent

thechocolatefinger's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I actually think about this books a lot and how good it was. I really recommend and it’s much better than the film
it focusses on actual Francis not Hannibal so don’t expect stuff about Hannibal even though they put his name all on the front cover he’s just a minor character.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Mental illness, Violence, Death, Murder, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Suicide, Ableism, Emotional abuse, Body shaming, Bullying, Dysphoria, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Sexual content, Fire/Fire injury, Kidnapping, and Torture

Minor: Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, Body horror, Dementia, Gore, Homophobia, Stalking, Animal death, Blood, Grief, Medical content, Sexual violence, and Toxic relationship

cowardlyteaman's review

challenging dark funny mysterious medium-paced

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

4.5

I read this after watching the NBC Hannibal series, and was told I would be disappointed, but I really am not. Actually, if you ignore the homosexuality, then the show has stayed surprisingly true to the book. Especially Crawford—my God—he was so annoyingly naïve, it was beautiful.
I think the antagonist was good, and the author also killed off the character I wanted him to?? Amazing.
However, sometimes the dialogue is so absurd that I find it inappropriate? Like, the amount of humour in a book with such a serious theme, I dunno.
I liked this book. :) I want to read the following books as well.

Also, I think I have homosexual feelings for Dr. Bloom.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Stalking, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Gore

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Homophobia

rendezvous's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Physical abuse, Murder, Mental illness, Medical content, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Gore, Grief, Gaslighting, Fire/Fire injury, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Death, Child abuse, Child death, Body horror, Blood, Animal cruelty, Abandonment, and Torture

Moderate: Animal death, Body shaming, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Misogyny, Sexism, Alcoholism, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Stalking, Sexual content, Racism, Cursing, Bullying, and Xenophobia

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Kidnapping, Excrement, Cannibalism, and Panic attacks/disorders

sonyareadsbooks's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Blood, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gore, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Minor: Torture

foreverinastory's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

This was boring. I expected Dr Lecter to be more involved in this than he was. I've heard he is more in the later books, but I don't really have any interest in reading more of these? I normally like murder mysteries so I don't exactly know why this one bored me so much. Maybe it was Will and how cishetero he is. Plus this book is old so the misogyny and gender roles prevail. Blegh. 

Would recommend to murder mystery fans who don't have a problem with cannibalism and rape-murder. Idk this was just not for me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Death, Gore, Rape, Sexual violence, Violence, and Confinement

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Xenophobia, Toxic relationship, and Sexism