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

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: Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, and Abandonment

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Pregnancy

Minor: Racism and Dementia

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, Gore, and Violence

Moderate: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Mental illness, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Medical trauma, and Stalking

Minor: Cannibalism and Fire/Fire injury

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

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

Moderate: Body horror, Dementia, Cannibalism, and Abandonment

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

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

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

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, Body horror, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis