I’m not sure some aspects of young Hannibal make sense for the character we know in later books. There’s a small reveal that initially seems sensical, but when you extrapolate it to later, seems questionable. It’s also littered with some weird exoticism that, when paired with fetishism, feels pretty antiquated and not well thought out. The movie gets away with more because it’s a Hollywood production.

This, though, seems pretty devoid of what makes the first two books, particularly Silence of the Lambs, really great: A better than average depiction of women and a greater awareness of socio-political issues permeating characters. While I bought the reveal of why Hannibal is cannibal, not much else worked, and it has a formula about it derived from the previous books re: the investigator on the scent of Hannibal.