Misery vs Red Dragon: Which Should You Read?
Both live on shelves: Thriller
Misery
Novelist Paul Sheldon has plans to make the difficult transition from writing historical romances featuring heroine Misery Chastain to publishing literary fiction. Annie Wilkes, Sheldon's number one fan, rescues the…
1 film adaptation
vs
Red Dragon
THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERFeed your fears with the terrifying classic that introduced cannibalistic serial killer Hannibal Lecter.FBI agent Will Graham once risked his sanity to capture Hannibal Lecter, an ingenious…
1 film adaptation
The verdict
- Ratings are close across the board — any is a safe pick by score.
- Misery is the quickest read — about 7 hours vs 9 for Red Dragon.
- Misery has the widest readership — 855105 ratings behind its score.
- Red Dragon runs the darker storyline; Misery stays the lighter read.
How to choose
Scores by source
| Misery | Red Dragon | |
|---|---|---|
| Goodreads | 4.2 (855105) | 4.1 (383316) |
| Hardcover | 4.1 (1323) | 4.0 (584) |
| Google Books | 4.5 (3) | 4.5 (2) |
| Apple Books | 4.5 (1023) | 4.5 (1071) |
Reception
| Misery | Red Dragon | |
|---|---|---|
| Ratings | 855105 | 383316 |
| Editions | 99 | — |
| Film adaptations | 1 | 1 |
| Want to read | 543737 | 241052 |
| Reading it now | 19231 | 8812 |
| Written reviews | 41012 | 10559 |
| Wikipedia attention | 14535 | 22038 |
| Pages | 384 | 533 |