Hannibal Rising by Thomas Harris

(323 pages)



HE IS ONE OF THE MOST HAUNTING CHARACTERS IN ALL OF LITERATURE.
AT LAST THE EVOLUTION OF HIS EVIL IS REVEALED
Hannibal Lecter emerges from the nightmare of the Eastern Front, a boy in the snow, mute, with a chain around his neck.
He seems utterly alone, but he has brought his demons with him.
Hannibal’s uncle, a noted painter, finds him in a Soviet orphanage and brings him to France, where Hannibal will live with his uncle and his uncle’s beautiful and exotic wife, Lady Murasaki.
Lady Murasaki helps Hannibal to heal. With her help he flourishes, becoming the youngest person ever admitted to medical school in France.
But Hannibal’s demons visit him and torment him. When he is old enough, he visits them in turn.
He discovers he has gifts beyond the academic, and in that epiphany, Hannibal Lecter becomes death’s prodigy.

I really cannot speak highly enough of this book. Admittedly it doesn't have all the sensationalism and extreme violence of the other Lecter books, but as the beginning to a series it is fabulous. When reading the other books about Hannibal, there are plenty of gaps in the backstory, leaving the reader with masses of questions, the most predominant being "why?".
Hannibal Rising attempts and succeeds in filling in these gaps by describing in sometimes horrific detail, the early life experiences if Hannibal Lecter. The reader is still left with a sense of shock and horror, even though the gaps are filled (not entirely however).
I absolutely loved how the story of what actually happeneng in the hunting lodge built up gradually and the consequences involved.
Way to go Mr. Harris!