Red Dragon by Thomas Harris (Hardcover Edition): Booknear.com

RED DRAGON centres around Graham, a forensic specialist and profiler for the FBI. Graham's gift, and curse, is that he is unusually empathic, enabling him to fully sympathize with his quarry, and allowing him to make leaps in judgment that would seem, at first glance, to be unreasonable. Indeed, it is because of one such leap that he was able to capture Hannibal Lecter himself (not an easy capture, by any means). Despite an overall hatred for the job, Graham is lured back into his role through the actions of the Red Dragon, a serial killer who has so far destroyed two whole families. There are no leads, little concrete evidence, and no motive. And the clock is ticking.

In Graham, Harris has created an original anguished hero, an individual who realizes that he could easily become what he pursues. "When you stare into the abyss, the abyss stares back into you." That may not be an accurate quote, but the sentiment applies perfectly to Graham. The longer he chases a killer, the more like a killer he becomes. Harris explores this theme expertly, relying on Lecter to provide asides to the reader, as a sort of Chorus to Graham's state of mind.

Harris, as in his subsequent novels, plays both sides of the field, bringing the reader into the thoughts and motivations of Francis Dollarhyde, the 'Red Dragon'. By presenting Dollarhyde's day-to-day activities, as well as a brief summary of his past (truly frightening and believeable), Harris presents the monster as human, a fragile ego convinced that he is BECOMING. Becoming exactly what is vague, but it's never less than terrifying. More terrifying than Lecter, actually. Lecter is aloof, intelligent, and eloquent. Despite his appeal, he exists only on the page. Dollarhyde, despite his fantastical leanings, is far more likely the type of serial killer that exists in reality.

Harris shows his ability to create tension not through a series of breathless chase scenarios, but through what could be, in lesser hands, extremely dull procedural matters. The most exciting scenes are those of people sitting around talking, making phone calls, discussing evidence. It's admirable how Harris creates the sense of increasing speed, without resorting to 'close calls' between hero and villain. The action itself, when presented, is sparse, quick, and brutal.

While Hannibal Lecter has taken centre stage in subsequent novels, Graham remains Harris' best character. Characters such as Jeffrey Deaver's Lincoln Ryhme (THE BONE COLLECTOR et al.) and James Patterson's Alex Cross (CAT AND MOUSE et al.) are mirror imitations of his compelling persona, but as with mirrors, they only reveal the surface, never reaching the depths of character that Harris does. Lecter may have taken the glory, but Graham remains RED DRAGON's bruised heart. If Thomas Harris must tread down this lane a fourth time, I hope he decided to bring back Graham.

Summary of Red Dragon

In the realm of psychological suspense, Thomas Harris stands alone. Exploring both the nature of human evil and the nerve-racking anatomy of forensic investigation, Harris unleashes a frightening vision of the dark side of our well-lighted world. In this extraordinary tale?which preceded The Silence of the Lambs and Hannibal, Harris introduced the unforgettable character, Dr. Hannibal Lecter. And in it, Will Graham?the FBI man who hunted Lecter down?risks his sanity and his life to duel a killer called... The Red Dragon

A quiet summer night... a neat suburban house... and another 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 the 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.

The sleuth, Will Graham, actually quit the FBI after nearly getting killed by Lecter while nabbing him, but fear isn't what bugs him about crime busting. It's just too creepy to get inside a killer's twisted mind. But he comes back to stop a madman who's been butchering entire families. The FBI needs Graham's insight, and Graham needs Lecter's genius. But Lecter is a clever fiend, and he manipulates both Graham and the killer at large from his cell.

That killer, Francis Dolarhyde, works in a film lab, where he picks his victims by studying their home movies. He's obsessed with William Blake's bizarre painting The Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed with the Sun, believing there's a red dragon within him, the personification of his demonic drives. Flashbacks to Dolarhyde's terrifying childhood and superb stream-of-consciousness prose get us right there inside his head. When Dolarhyde does weird things, we understand why. We sympathize when the voice of the cruel dead grandma who raised and crazed him urges him to mayhem--she's way scarier than that old bat in Psycho. When he falls in love with a blind girl at the lab, we hope he doesn't give in to Grandma's violent advice.

This book is awesomely detailed, ingeniously plotted, judiciously gory, and fantastically imagined. If you haven't read it, you've never had the creeps. --Tim Appelo

Red Dragon