Cari Mora: from the creator of Hannibal Lecter Audio CD – CD, 16 May 2019

Cari Mora has a very promising opening of 40 - 50 pages. A story begins to unfold with an interesting range of characters.Thereafter the book loses all focus. The story fragments, transitions between chapters are hard to follow, entire sections of the book are unclear and there is no tension. The resolution is dull and uninteresting and the last bit of the story is just tacked on.There are a few sentences that demonstrate the tremendous craft and talent of the man, but nothing more. It is so sad to write this review, as Red Dragon and The Silence of the Lambs are magnificent books. In comparison to those books, the present title has nothing to offer and is less interesting even than Hannibal Rising where the Lecter series descended to self-mockery (having commenced self-parody in Hannibal which nevertheless had some fine writing).

This short new novel from Thomas Harris has some of his tropes - a strong, dry female lead; a whimsical yet monstrous killer - but it is far removed from the police procedural form of Red Dragon or Silence of the Lambs. There is no escaping that this book is written by the 'later' Harris, the one who confounded people with Hannibal's baroque form and twist ending. But it's a fast and focused book that reads like a more lyrical version of an Elmore Leonard crime novel. My expectation is that it will disappoint as many as it delights, but put me in the delighted category. I'd be happy for him to continue down this path and deliver us some more short, character driven crime novels - and hopefully sooner than 13 years this time!

If you are a fan of Thomas Harris, and loved Red Dragon and Silence of the Lambs (as I did), please read the negative reviews of this particular novel and save your money because it's very poor. It feels as if it was written to satisfy some contractual obligation because Mr Harris' heart clearly isn't in it. The plotting is all over the place, the characterisation (particularly of the bad guy) is thin to non-existent, and there is none of the subtlety and nuance that we have come to expect from this author. It's very disappointing that Mr Harris thinks this is good enough because it's not, yet he knows we will buy it on the strength of his previous wonderful work.

Such high expectations. Silence of the Lambs is my favourite book of all time.This might just be one of the worst books I have read. Impossible to get into the characters and feels like it's been written in a very short time without much due care and attention. No doubt the characters are all in the authors head but somehow the reader can't get into them at all.Very sad.

The story flies along, and i read it all in couple of days. Short chapters, large font...But the characterisation is wafer thin, even of the main character, Cari Mora. Other characters drift in, are quickly killed or never reappear in any significant way. There is some some vileness, some tension, some wanting to know how it will end but the book seems like a series of mini scenes rather than a whole story - the scenes are related brilliantly, but put together add up to less than the sum of their parts.Yes it all races along and it does make for thrills at times, but it does feel like literary fast food. Well made, but not very nutritional, and when you have finished it you remain under satisfied by the whole thing

First up, I was so looking forward to this book, had pre-ordered it and saved it to read on my holiday. What a letdown. The characters are uninteresting and just lack depth. The plot line is below average, it reads like a first novel by an author who hasn’t really thought out the story. Am beyond disappointed. If you are a fan of Thomas Harris maybe give this a miss, it is nothing like his previous work.

I have been waiting forever for Thomas Harris to write another book, the others were so good but be warned it is a let down...its an expensive hardback and the words are HUGE so I read it in two days...it is an okay read but I got two impressions, the first was that it was something he wrote long ago prior to his other novels...a bit like a novices practice run and the other impression was that it read like an embellished film script...here's hoping eh Thomas? Kching.

If you’re a Harris fan, you’ll be disappointed by this pedestrian thriller; if you’re not, this isn’t the best place to start. It’s not all bad: the descriptive writing about Miami wildlife is deftly done, and there’s a powerful sense of place. The flashbacks to Cari’s childhood are the best part of the book, by some margin. There’s also something to be said for a relatively straightforward thriller which does have a sense of propulsive momentum. It could be a good film, and probably would be a better TV movie than a novel. But for the most part, this is stodgy, sub-Narcos fare (Narcos is fleetingly referenced in the text, and there’s a scene in a hospital which seems directly inspired by Breaking Bad). The plot’s promising - the hunt for Pablo Escobar’s hidden gold - but it doesn’t ever quite play out in a satisfying way, leaving some loose ends - but I didn’t care that they weren’t really ever cleared up: it seemed the least of the novel’s many problems. Some of the writing - eg many verbless sentences, and needless repetition - is just really bad. Ultimately, the best that can be said for Cari Mora is that it’s a short read, much shorter than I’d imagined. But it falls woefully short of the massive, entirely unjustified hype.