The Hannibal Lecter Series

Daily

Has anyone ever read these books? From what I gather the written order of the books are:

Red Dragon
Silence of the Lambs
Hannibal
Hannibal Rising

But the chronological order is:

Hannibal Rising
Red Dragon
Silence of the Lambs
Hannibal

Should I read the books in the written order or the chronological order? I'm leaning towards written but some people have said reading it in the chronological order seems more appropriate or something.

Recommendations?

Dfg

Haven't read it. I think the written order would be better. I will look for some Audio Books later.

vOmitree

I've read all of those books except for Hannibal Rising. I decided not to read it because my friends that did basically all said the same thing, that it was a poor book and disgraced the series.
However, if you feel that you must read it, written order would make more sense imo. I think you'll find the quality of writing in the series to be way more digestibly good and such until the final book which happens to be the prequel.
Pretty sure prequels are supposed to be read after everything else, not before.

fanglekai

I haven't read Hannibal, but I've read the other 3. Read Red Dragon, then Silence, then Hannibal and lastly the prequel. I really liked Hannibal Rising, maybe because it's better than the movie. It's a different sort of book than the others because it's more of a story and less of a thriller, per se. They're all worth reading. I've only just started Hannibal. I need to finish a couple other books before I get into it.

vOmitree

I think Red Dragon is ultimately my favorite out of the series, but Hannibal has a lot of story going on in it as I remember(it goes worldwide) and more delectably playful language.

vOmitree

What is it about serial killing psychopaths that interests the general public so much anywaysies?

fanglekai

We all have a little Hannibal inside us.