Reviews tagging 'Medical trauma'

Red Dragon by Thomas Harris

7 reviews

moviesnob04's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Emotional abuse, Suicide, Kidnapping, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Hate crime, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Cannibalism, Body horror, and Abandonment

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

alomie's review against another edition

challenging dark tense

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

4.0

This was a surprising win for me, I'm not a huge horror reader but I found this to be fast paced and I found myself reaching for it constantly to find out the ending. 

There are bits in this that genuinely made me squirm, it was rough to read and the constant intense threat of Francis Dolarhyde attacking again really makes you want the book to end. 

The final twist in the book did feel a little rushed in my opinion, and I would have in a rare moment preferred this book to be a little longer to give the final standoff just a bit more space and time to develop. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Child abuse, Dysphoria, Gore, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual content

nodogsonthemoon's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicide, Violence, Animal cruelty, and Animal death

Moderate: Abandonment, Body horror, Cannibalism, and Dementia

Minor: Ableism, Bullying, Torture, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Racial slurs, and Dementia

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

elenamarmiroli's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.25

La lettura di questo libro è stata sicuramente interessante, in quanto il mio livello di godimento dell'opera è variato parecchio nel corso di quest'ultima.

Personalmente, ho trovato l'inizio e la prima parte dello sviluppo della storia, fino a pagina 120 circa, lento e non particolarmente coinvolgente, a tal punto da aver difficoltà a voler proseguire con la lettura. Poi, è arrivata la parte centrale del libro, che mi ha completamente stregata e mi ha tenuta incollata alle pagine, e questo momento è durato quasi fine alla conclusione dell'opera.

Purtroppo, però, gli ultimi due capitoli del romanzo hanno inficiato sul mio apprezzamento del finale, che sarebbe invece stato perfetto senza quest'ultimi.

In aggiunta, ma questo è dovuto al fatto che mi sono approcciata a questa lettura senza conoscerne in maniera approfondita la trama, mi sarei aspettata nell'opera una presenza maggiore di Hannibal Lecter, ma la cosa non ha influito sul giudizio dell'opera.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Violence, Torture, Blood, Body horror, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis