Red Dragon cover art

Red Dragon

Hannibal Lecter, Book 1

Preview

Get 30 days of Premium Plus free

£8.99/month after 30-day free trial. Cancel monthly.
Try for £0.00
More purchase options
Buy Now for £15.99

Buy Now for £15.99

About this listen

A quiet summer night...a neat suburban house...and another innocent, happy family is shattered - the latest victims of a grisly series of hideous sacrificial killings that no one understands, and no one can stop. Nobody lives to tell of the unimaginable carnage. Only the blood-stained walls bear witness.

All hope rests on Special Agent Will Graham, who must peer inside the killer's tortured soul to understand his rage, to anticipate and prevent his next vicious crime. Desperate for help, Graham finds himself locked in a deadly alliance with the brilliant Dr. Hannibal Lecter, the infamous mass murderer who Graham put in prison years ago.

As the imprisoned Lecter tightens the reins of revenge, Graham's feverish pursuit of the Red Dragon draws him inside the warped mind of a psychopath, into an unforgettable world of demonic ritual and violence, beyond the limits of human terror.

A native of Mississippi, Thomas Harris began his writing career covering crime in the United States and Mexico, and was a reporter and editor for the Associated Press in New York City. His first novel, Black Sunday, was published in 1975; followed by Red Dragon, in 1981; The Silence of the Lambs, in 1988; Hannibal, in 1999; and Hannibal Rising, in 2006. All the Hannibal Lecter books have been made into films, most notably starring Anthony Hopkins and Jodie Foster. Sky has also produced a television series based on the notorious mass murderer, starring Mads Mikkelsen, Laurence Fishburne, and Hugh Dancy.

©1981 Thomas Harris (P)2014 Audible Ltd
Psychological Suspense Thriller & Suspense Scary Exciting Fiction Dragons Fantasy

Critic reviews

"The best popular novel published since The Godfather." (Stephen King)
"Completely gripping." ( Time Out)
"Something out of the ordinary for strong nerves and stomachs, an intricately crafted chiller." ( Observer)
All stars
Most relevant
A very good story enhanced by the excellent narration of Alan Sklar, I strongly recommend this book.

Red Dragon

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

I'd seen the movie before I read the book but fortunately it was such a long time ago that I hardly remembered it and so it didn't spoil anything.

Very well written with a truly terrifying criminal to try to understand. Incredibly gruesome in parts but not voyeuristic.

Well performed, my only criticism being the voices between Will Graham and Jack Crawford weren't always the easiest to distinguish when they were having a conversation.

Gripping and Terrifying

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

narrator absaloutly made this novel into a gripping story. His mastery of the different voices and the spine chilling changes he had Mr D perform were outstanding and totally believable.

outstanding narration

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

What's to say? It's a masterful story, chilling, psychologically disturbing, and the introduction of one Dr Hannibal Lecter. The narrator is great, throwing himself into and nailing each role. Loved it then, love it now.

A must

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

My first Thomas Harris thriller though I have seen the film version of Silence of the Lamb. Very absorbing and insightful in its depiction of the behaviour, emotions and thought processes of a fantasist serial killer. The technical and procedural detail is excellent, supporting the narrative rather than swamping it so the reader’s interest is still maintained. The juxtaposition of the thought processes of the killer with those of the lead detective Will Graham pushes the story along and makes one believe how unsettling it must be to try to get inside the mind of a sociopathic killer in real life.

The momentum of the story falters somewhat in the second half as the killers backstory is revealed. So the readers concern over the possibility of a third mass killing event is diminished.

The narration is very good overall, though I felt the depiction of the relationship between the killer and blind woman was slightly less convincing than all the others.

Absorbing, intricate and insightful thriller

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

See more reviews