Dead Inside vs Red Dragon: Which Should You Read?
Both live on shelves: Cannibalism, Horror
Dead Inside
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A young hospital security guard with a disturbingly unique taste in women. A maternity doctor with a horrifically unusual appetite. When the two of them meet, they embark on a journey of self-discovery while…
Red Dragon
“WILL GRAHAM SAT Crawford down at a picnic table between the house and the ocean and gave him a glass of iced tea.”
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Red Dragon is a novel by American author Thomas Harris, first published in 1981. The plot follows former FBI profiler Will Graham, who comes out of retirement to find and apprehend an enigmatic serial-killer nicknamed…
Side by side
The verdict
- Readers rate Red Dragon highest: Red Dragon 4.1 · Dead Inside 3.4.
- Dead Inside is the quickest read — about 3 hours vs 7 for Red Dragon.
- Red Dragon has the widest readership — 383128 ratings behind its score.
How to choose
Scores by source
| Dead Inside | Red Dragon | |
|---|---|---|
| Goodreads | — | 4.1 (383128) |
| Hardcover | 2.9 (52) | 4.0 (578) |
| Google Books | — | 4.5 (2) |
| Apple Books | 3.5 (284) | 4.5 (1077) |
Reception
| Dead Inside | Red Dragon | |
|---|---|---|
| Ratings | 284 | 383128 |
| Editions | 4 | 60 |
| Film adaptations | — | 1 |
| Want to read | — | 240914 |
| Reading it now | — | 8787 |
| Written reviews | — | 10538 |
| Wikipedia attention | 80 | 28249 |
| Pages | 166 | 415 |
Questions readers ask
Which is rated higher: Dead Inside or Red Dragon?
Red Dragon has the higher combined reader rating across sources (Red Dragon 4.1/5, Dead Inside 3.4/5).
Which is shorter to read: Dead Inside or Red Dragon?
Dead Inside is the quickest read. Estimated at 225 words per minute: Dead Inside (166 pages, ≈ 3 h 04 m); Red Dragon (415 pages, ≈ 7 h 41 m).
Which is harder to read: Dead Inside or Red Dragon?
Estimated difficulty, based on era, reader shelves and length — Dead Inside: Moderate; Red Dragon: Moderate.
Have both books been made into films?
Dead Inside: no film adaptation on record; Red Dragon: 5 film adaptations.