A tidy little thriller that has very little to do with the TV show featuring some of its characters. I only read this book because Hannibal was said to be based on it, but it turns out the two have little in common other than some characters. This book takes place well after the TV show does, and the characters, while somewhat similar, are really quite different. So if you're coming into this looking for Hannibal, look elsewhere. 
 In any case, this book by itself is still quite entertaining. The "Tooth Fairy" is an interesting, frightening character, and while Will Graham's attempts to track him down are interesting, the meat of the book is really in the murderer's history and thoughts. Harris does a good job of making the character believable and the scenes in which you see inside his head are some of the best. 
 I was rather disappointed by one thing, however: (view spoiler)[Hannibal Lecter is basically a nonentity in this book. He still has a lot of the character traits which make him who he "is", but overall he only plays a bit part in this whole thing. (hide spoiler)] 
 However, I would still recommend this book for people who are interested in crime stories. It is rather gruesome at times (that's an element of the book which is very similar to the show), but never excessive, I think.