Hannibal by Thomas Harris

(pb; 1999: third novel in the Hannibal Lecter quadrilogy)

From the back cover

“You remember Hannibal Lecter: gentleman, genius, cannibal. Seven years have passed since Dr. Lecter escaped from custody. And for seven years he’s been at large, free to savor the scents, the essences, of an unguarded world. But intruders have entered Dr. Lecter’s sanctuary, piercing his new identity, sensing the evil that surrounds him. For the multimillionaire Hannibal left maimed, for a corrupt Italian policeman, and for FBI agent Clarice Starling, who once stood before Lecter and who has never been the same, the final hunt for Hannibal Lecter has begun. All of them, in their separate ways, want to find Dr. Lecter. And all three will get their wish. But only one willlive long enough to savor the reward.”

Review

Hannibal is part witty comedy, part travelogue and part bloody thriller. This third entry in the Hannibal Lecter quadrilogy ups the series’ humor and Grand Guignol elements, as well as Hannibal’s love of Florence, Italy─whose sensory-based glories get plenty of “air time” in this cinematic-descriptive horror work. I tired quickly of this latter element (I’m a barebones thriller reader), but I understand why Harris included these parts in the book: it is consistent with Hannibal’s sensibilities and the tone of the previous novels. I laughed quite a bit, especially during the dinner scene near the end of the book. An over-the-top work, this is worth reading, possibly worth owning if you are into the above, well-written elements.

Followed by a prequel, Hannibal Rising.

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The film version was released stateside on February 9, 2001. Ridley Scott directed the film, from a screenplay by David Mamet and Steve Zaillian.

Anthony Hopkins played Hannibal Lecter. Julianne Moore played Clarice Starling. Gary Oldman played Mason Verger. Ray Liotta played Paul Krendler. Giancarlo Giannini played Insp. Rinaldo Pazzi. 

Frankie Faison, billed as Frankie R. Faison, reprised his role of Barney from The Silence of the Lambs.

Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith

(hb; 2008: first novel in the Agent Leo Demidov trilogy)

From the inside flap:

"Stalin's Soviet Union strives to be a paradise for its workers, providing for all of their needs. One of its fundamental pillars is that its citizens live free from the fear of ordinary crime and criminals.

"But in this society, millions do live in fear. . . of the State. Death is a whisper away. The mere suspicion of ideological disloyalty -- owning a book from the decadent West, the wrong word at the wrong time -- sends millions of innocents into the Gulags or to their executions. Defending the system from its citizens is the MGB, the State Security Force. And no MGB officer is more courageous, conscientious or idealistic than Leo Demidov.

"A war hero with a beautiful wife, Leo lives in relative luxury in Moscow, even providing a decent apartment for his parents. His only ambition has been to serve his country. For this greater good, he has been arrested and interrogated.

"Then the impossible happens. A different kind of criminal -- a murderer -- is on the loose, killing at will. At the same time, Leo finds himself demoted and denounced by his enemies, his world turned upside down and every belief he's ever held shattered. The only way to save his life and the lives of his family is to uncover this criminal. But in a society that is officially paradise, it's a crime against the State to suggest that a murderer -- much less a serial killer -- is in their midst."

Review:

Child is an excellent and thrilling novel, with relatable characters (who are realistic in their mix of darkness and light), its historic and Russian milieu, as well as its fictionalized/time transposed use of real-life child murderer Andrei Chikatilo. Not only that, there is romance in this harsh tale, which is sometimes tender (often at unexpected moments).

Great read, this -- followed by The Secret Speech.

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The resulting film is scheduled for April 17, 2015 stateside release. Daniel Espinosa directed the film, from a screenplay by Richard Price.

Tom Hardy played Leo Demidov. Noomi Rapace played Raisa Demidov. Fares Fares played Alexei Andreyev. Jason Clarke played Anatoly Tarasovich Brodsky. Gary Oldman played General Mikhail Nesterov. Tara Fitzgerald played Inessa Nesterov.

Vincent Cassel played Major Kuzmin. Joel Kinnaman played Vasili. Paddy Considine played Vladimir Malevich. Charles Dance played Major Grachev. Vlastina Svátková played "Rostov Parent #1".

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes: Firestorm by Greg Keyes

(pb; 2014: book sequel to the 2011 film Rise of the Planet of the Apes and prequel to the film/movie tie-in novel Dawn of the Planet of Apes, by Alex Irvine)


From the back cover:

"Caesar and his followers have escaped the clutches of man, fighting their way across the Golden Gate Bridge and taking refuge in the vast redwood forest known as Muir Woods.  There they hope to establish a home, far from the humans who so horribly abused them.

"But mankind has far worse things to worry about.

"The 'Simian Flu' has begun to strike down unsuspecting innocents throughout San Francisco.  What began as isolated cases quickly become a full-on epidemic.  There are those who blame the apes, and would like to take revenge, while others hunt Caesar and his troop for their own insidious reasons.  Either way the result will be the same. . ."


Review:

Firestorm is a cinematically streamlined, smart, humane and entertaining novel that links Rise and Dawn.  Its pace never lags, it shares two main characters (Gary Oldman's Dreyfus and Andy Serkis's Caesar) with Dawn (as well as other supporting characters), while making plot-pertinent mentions of James Franco's Will Rodman from Rise.  Not only that, its tone is consistent with its bookending films and its ending is satisfactory.

Good summer blockbuster read, this. 

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, by John le Carré

(hb; 1974: third novel in the George Smiley series; first novel in the Karla trilogy)

From the inside flap:

"London. It has become evident beyond all question that somewhere at the very highest levels of British Intelligence there stands a double agent -- a 'mole' implanted deep in its fabric, perhaps decades ago, by Moscow Centre. And it is evident as well that he can be one of five men -- brilliant, complicated men, proven in action, men who have worked closely together through the years, respecting each other, depending on each other, despite abrasive clashes of temperament and painful differences of caste and sensibility, despite the central imperative of their profession to trust no one. . .

"It is George Smiley, one of the five, perhaps the most brilliant and complicated of them all, who is tapped to dig out the mole and destroy him. 'You'll take the job, clean the stables?' the man from Whitehall says to him. 'Go backwards, go forwards, do whatever is necessary?' And so Smiley embarks on his blind night walk, retracing path after path into his own past -- its aliases, covers, sleights of hand -- burrowing into the dust of unresolved episodes, among them the 'mad' twilight of his old chief, Control; the two Czech bullets in Jim Prideaux's back; the dissensions that have torn apart the Circus (as Intelligence Headquarters is ambivalently called); the vagaries of his own so beautiful, so well-connected wife. . ."

Review:

The shooting of a 'Circus' agent, Jim Prideaux, in Czechoslavakia exposes the existence of a high-level Russian mole inside the British agency. As he did with the murders of the previous Smiley novels, George Smiley must sift through varied and often duplicitous personalities, recorded and current conversations, and secret paperwork spanning four decades to unearth who that agent is.

And he must do it without official government approval, without alarming the mole, or his Russian controller, Karla.

Tinker is an improvement over A Murder of Quality in that le Carré's material this time out is less ponderous (i.e., not set in a stuffy English school), with larger ramifications if Smiley, reeling from multiple personal betrayals, fails.

Excellent read, worth checking out: a great set-up for the next Smiley novel, The Honourable Schoolboy.

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The resulting television mini-series, bearing the same title, aired in England on September 10, 1979. It first aired stateside on September 29, 1980.

Alec Guinness played George Smiley. Michael Jayston played Peter Guillam. Anthony Bate played Sir Oliver Lacon. George Sewell played Mendel. Ian Richardson played Bill Haydon.

Bernard Hepton played Toby Esterhase. Hywel Bennett played Ricki Tarr. Terence Rigby played Roy Bland. Ian Bannen played Jim Prideaux. Michael Aldridge played Percy Alleline.

Alec Sabin played Fawn. Alexander Knox played Control. Duncan Jones played Roach. Daniel Beecher played Spikely.

An uncredited Patrick Stewart played Karla (aka "Gastman").

John Irvin directed the seven-episode mini-series, from a screenplay by Arthur Hopcraft.

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A theatrical remake of the 1979 mini-series is scheduled for stateside release on November 18, 2011.

Gary Oldman played George Smiley. Mark Strong played Jim Prideaux. Tom Hardy played Ricki Tarr. Benedict Cumberbatch played Peter Guillam. Kathy Burke played Connie Sachs. David Dencik played Esterhase.

Katrina Vasilieva played Ann Smiley.

Colin Firth is listed in the film credits, but there's no character name attached to his role. Such is the case for Ciarán Hinds, also.

The film was directed by Tomas Alfredson, from a script by Bridget O'Connor and Peter Straughan.