The series is a radical departure from the book, and I can't say that the experiment is successful. Will Graham, who was a highly perceptive and imaginative, but generally normal person in the book, has been reimagined as a sociophobic psychic, which makes it rather difficult to identify with him, but that's not even the biggest problem. The biggest problem is that Graham, who is able to get into a killer's mind just by having a look at a crime scene, is somehow unable to tell that his best buddy is a brutal murderer, and we are supposed to believe that. Lecter's evil machinations are fun to watch, but, by the series' own logic, they shouldn't be possible. Even with Graham out of the equation, there is Jack Crawford, who can smell falsity from a mile away, and who is bound to get suspicious about Lecter (which he eventually does, but, inexplicably, it doesn't lead anywhere). This whole thing might have worked as a miniseries if they toned down Will Graham's character, but the idea of several seasons is absurd. The first season alone was enough to shatter my suspension of disbelief.