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Article: `Hannibal Rising': How he got that appetite.(Book review)
- Article from:
- The Philadelphia Inquirer (Philadelphia, PA)
- Article date:
- December 20, 2006
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2006 The Philadelphia Inquirer. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Byline: David Hiltbrand
``Hannibal Rising'' by Thomas Harris; Delacorte ($27.95)
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"Hannibal Rising'' is the curiously off-target prequel to "The Silence of the Lambs.'' It presents the early years of Hannibal Lecter, one of fiction's most chilling and macabre sociopaths. But instead of giving us the making of a maniac, Harris has fashioned a banal if violent revenge saga that owes more than a little to Jerzy Kosinski's "The Painted Bird.''
In this grim fairy tale, Hannibal grows up as a wealthy Lithuanian aristocrat, a doting brother and an artistic soul. The only thing that keeps you plowing through this prosaic opening is the ...