Simone and Her Books

There’s nothing more intimidating than a super muscular demon on the book cover to represent the horrors of the villain within its pages. In this review, I dive into my thoughts on Red Dragon by Thomas Harris, the first book to feature Dr. Hannibal Lecter and before the even more famous The Silence of the Lambs. Having watched the movie (Manhunter, not Red Dragon) before reading the book, I started with a pretty good idea of the events that would take place hoping the book will fill in the gaps that the movie leaves out. To my surprise, I think I liked the movie more.

The story follows William Graham, a retired investigator who had a hand in arresting some of the most notorious serial killers and mass murderers in the country, including the infamous Dr. Hannibal Lecter. However, years of sinking into the minds of monsters has left him a little more than an empty shell, so he decides to retire with his new wife and stepson in some remote part of Florida beaches. That is, until Jack Crawford, an FBI agent, comes to him with a new case in hopes of employing him one more time. What follows is William Graham on the trial to find what the newspapers have called “The Tooth Fairy” who murders entire families in their sleep and then does some pretty nasty stuff with their bodies.

I was more intrigued by this component of the story. William Graham sounded like a Sherlock-esque investigator who likes to get into the roles of his murderers in order to find them. Think like they think, hunt like they hunt, and hopefully through this process find out who they are. And from what I can tell, it looked like he was pretty good at what he did. However, this is the part of the novel that I was frustrated by for the most part.

One of the downsides of watching the movie first and then reading the book is that the movie leaves out little details that you can only get from the book. I was so intrigued by William Graham that I wanted to read more from the book in hopes of learning his process and holding onto the Sherlock vibes I was feeling in the movie. But I didn’t end up getting a lot of backstory from Will Graham. In fact, the person you learn the most about in this book is the killer.

One of the downsides of reading the book after watching the movie is really seeing how unhinged some of the characters truly are and in the book, you really see Mr. Dolarhyde and his motivation for all the killings.

Let me tell you, I wish I knew what I was getting into before I started reading the book. While the movie portrayal of him is more of a quiet, shy, lanky and tall dude with no social skills, what you get in the book is this husky, muscular man with military training, and the voice of the red dragon in his head. There’s also an added layer of gruesome when he’s masturbating to a movie he made of the killings, criticizing his own performance (mind you, naked and covered in blood), and then his voyeuristic search for the next victims who he calls “performers.” There’s a level of psychosis that I think a trained psycho therapist would adore about this book.

But at the same time, it’s almost building a case for the reader to have sympathy for him. You see his upbringing. You see how he’s bullied and cast out and you think to yourself that this might be a good reason to almost root for the guy. Yeah, let’s root for the guy who randomly chooses regular families to kill so that a demon dragon from a William Blake painting can come to life inside him. It all makes perfect sense!

I will say that Thomas Harris does a good job creating this villainous character. He’s definitely not the type of stranger I would like to meet let alone enter into a dangerous relationship with. However, I wish there was more to the actual police pursuit, the investigation, the part of the story you want to root for; the hero. And if this is a story where the villain is the hero, then maybe some edits to remove Will Graham and the Feds out of it would have been better.

• 3 stars
• Amazon | Bookshop.org