Series: Hannibal
Author: Thomas Harris
Released: 1981
Rating: 5/6
Basic Plot: A killer called the Tooth Fairy is on the loose and Will Graham is called in to stop him. Graham ends up having to seek the help of the cannibal who tried to kill him. Hannibal Lecter.
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The Tooth Fairy
The villain for this book is complex. He isn't a killer that kills for the sake of killing, he has a reason. He is humanized and I pitied him, but knew he had to be caught. What causes him to kill can be traced back to him being abused in his childhood. So his vision of the world got seriously fucked up. I like when a villain is more than pure evil and you can see why they react like they do. It's not merely that they do bad to do bad, but that they believe they are doing right.
Revealing the Villain
While I don't like Manhunter (the first movie adaptation of this book), the fact is I like that reveal of the Tooth Fairy. I feel that the novel revealed the identity of the Tooth Fairy too early. I get that now that we know who he is we can see the chase from both sides. However, I'd really like the buildup to his reveal to have been longer.
Will's Resolve
Will Graham has been retired but in the beginning of the novel he is brought back in. He doesn't like his work at all. He doesn't like feeling like a killer. Oh, forgot to mention that Will has a sort of superhuman ability to get into the mind of a killer so that he feels what the killer feels. So when he's on a case it can be very disturbing for him. Will mentions at least once in the novel that he goes through Hell so that people will be alive in the future.
Final Thoughts
I bet some of you are wondering why I haven't mentioned Hannibal Lecter in this review. These written reviews are meant to be short and Hannibal doesn't play one of the biggest roles in the novel. Don't get me wrong, he is the one to help Will solve the case and he is also the one to give the Tooth Fairy the ability to find Will's home. But I was trying to keep to the basics here. This is a good novel and it soars over Hannibal Rising (the first book in the Hannibal series I read). If you are looking for a good scare with good characters, I recommend this book for you.
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