Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

Red Dragon by Thomas Harris

16 reviews

heather_harrison's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

3.25

This book has left me with the controversial question once again - is the book actually better than the move? This time I'm not sure. 

I enjoyed how the backstory for Francis Dolarhyde was teased out, and his bizarre relationships. I would have certainly enjoyed a bit more of the infamous Hannibal Lecter. His cat and mouse relationship with "retired" FBI profiler Will Graham was exceptionally interesting. 

I kept finding myself pulled out of the story with the blantant sexism... Every woman that appears anywhere in the story described in terms of her beauty and it was honestly just annoying. It was weird that Graham would focus on woman when the families are all targeted by the Tooth Fairy, and the idea that he picked the families based on the woman did turn out to be completely unfounded. There were so many moments were our protagonist, our seeming knight in shining armor, just did not pass the vibe check. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Violence, Stalking, Misogyny, Torture, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Murder, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Blood, Body shaming, Cannibalism, Death, Forced institutionalization, Confinement, Body horror, and Death of parent

sir_meowsalot's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Abandonment, Fire/Fire injury, Death, Cursing, Confinement, Child death, Bullying, Stalking, Self harm, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Forced institutionalization, Blood, Animal death, Kidnapping, Violence, Gun violence, Sexual content, Physical abuse, Murder, Mental illness, Body horror, Sexual violence, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Injury/Injury detail

gilmargirl's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gore, Mental illness, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Torture, Body horror, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Domestic abuse, Medical content, Body shaming, Child abuse, Bullying, and Kidnapping

Minor: Animal cruelty and Animal death

thechocolatefinger's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I actually think about this books a lot and how good it was. I really recommend and it’s much better than the film
it focusses on actual Francis not Hannibal so don’t expect stuff about Hannibal even though they put his name all on the front cover he’s just a minor character.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Mental illness, Violence, Death, Murder, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Suicide, Ableism, Emotional abuse, Body shaming, Bullying, Dysphoria, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Sexual content, Fire/Fire injury, Kidnapping, and Torture

Minor: Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, Body horror, Dementia, Gore, Homophobia, Stalking, Animal death, Blood, Grief, Medical content, Sexual violence, and Toxic relationship

jnkay01's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

• 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Child abuse, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Adult/minor relationship, Murder, Abandonment, and Sexual violence

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

sadikes's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.25

I watched the NBC show Hannibal before I read this, and I found it really interesting comparing the two! There are more steps to the mystery in the book, and without giving away anything, I'll say that the two endings are very different. The mystery was alright--it probably would have been more intriguing if I didn't already know how it ended. One thing that bugged me was how little the character Hannibal was in the book.

Spoiler

Will makes such a big deal about having to go and see him, but he doesn't really help at all. Just tries to get the Red Dragon to murder him.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Child death, Murder, Blood, Body horror, Sexual violence, and Violence

dilani's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Self harm, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Cursing and Death

Minor: Cannibalism