The Silence of the Lambs (Hannibal Lecter)

by Thomas Harris

1991

Status

Checked out

Publication

St. Martin's Paperbacks (1991), 384 pages

Description

A serial murderer known by a grotesquely apt nickname--Buffalo Bill-is stalking particular women. A young F.B.I. trainee is assigned to interview a mental patient--a brilliant psychiatrist and killer, for insights into the crime.

User reviews

LibraryThing member Woodcat
Still gets five stars but not as good as Red Dragon.
LibraryThing member TiffanyAK
This book is one of those exceptionally rare cases where I can honestly say that the movie and book are quite equal in enjoyment, and, considering that the film is widely considered to be one of the greatest ever done, that is truly saying something. And, yes, I am one of those people who saw the
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movie YEARS ago, loved it, and only now finally got around to reading the book. My bad, truly.

Am I saying that the book is one of the best ever written? Well, no, but that's mostly because filmmaking and book writing are two very different things. And, on top of that, one will spend only a couple of hours watching the movie - while the book is required to keep one's interest for a great deal longer than that. Yet, suffice it to say, this is one of the very rare times where I read a book made into a movie and truly thought that it fully EARNED that distinction, as well as having the story and characters already in place to fully allow for such without massive overhauls being necessary.

Indeed, if you've seen the movie, the book is familiar - extremely familiar. Whole scenes and conversations are taken almost whole cloth from the book to be put into the movie. The characters are virtually identical, and the events match up rather closely. Thomas Harris truly gave the screenwriters pretty much all that they needed here.

So, what sets the book apart? When transforming a 400-page book into a two-hour-long movie, obviously a lot of cuts will be necessary. The characters have a bit more depth here, with background and details you don't get elsewhere, and there are events that are streamlined in the screenplay, etc.

Plus, I'm going to be honest - while Anthony Hopkins provided an absolutely unforgettable performance on-screen, nothing could ever quite match up to the images that play in your head whenever Hannibal Lecter comes into the scene in the book. It is a truly chilling dynamic, even with a rather less disturbing ending than that offered by the on-screen depiction of the story.

Is the book a MUST-see, if you've seen the movie? Honestly, probably not. The screen version is so well-done, you more than get the idea just by watching it. But, if you did enjoy the movie, or haven't seen it at all yet, this is definitely a defining crime thriller, which in many ways set the bar for so many that subsequently followed. Knowing this was first released in 1988, it is very easy to see the ways in which elements found here echo across so many later works even today. I couldn't put it down after I had started, even having seen the movie at least a hundred times, and am VERY glad I made the decision to give the book a try. Reading it was time very well spent.
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LibraryThing member Schmerguls
This well-known book, first published in 1988, was on a list of "8 thrillers you have to read". So I have read it. Of the 8 books listed, I had read Rebecca, In Cold
Blood, Frankenstein, and Jane Eyre. The book is a sequel to other books but I did not know that when I decided to read this. I did
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know that the book is famous and had been made into a famous movie--which I have not yet seen, but now feel I must. The book is not for the squeamish, and there are pages not enjoyable to read. But it is intensely exciting, especially in the second half of the book. The evil psychiatrist is not hunted in this book and helps, vaguely, to enable the FBI trainee, Clarice Starling, to do some heroic things in regard to the kidnapped daughter of a fictitious Senator. If I had been better prepared, I would have read Harris's prior books on the evil psychiatist. but this book was a thriller indeed.
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LibraryThing member D.C.Alexander
My favorite book of the genre. So crisp and creepy. There isn't a single superfluous paragraph.
LibraryThing member auntieknickers
Another auction box book that's going straight to donation box unread. I've heard enough of the story to know that life is too short for me to read this book.
LibraryThing member ecataldi
One of my top five favorite books of all time. This is probably the fifth or sixth time I've read this book and the first time I've done so by listening to the audiobook and I was pleasantly surprised by how enjoyable that was. It was narrated by Kathy Bates who did a wonderful job! FBI student
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lucks out when she is asked by Special Agent Crawford to do a special assignment for him; he wants her to go visit the infamous serial killer Hannibal Lector and get him to take a psychological survey to add to the database of known serial killers. Crawford would go himself but he's got his hands tied with Buffalo Bill, a serial killer that's been skinning his female victims. When Clarice goes to the maximum holding center to interview Hannibal she gets an unexpected gift from the madman himself, a tip about the Buffalo Bill. Suddenly Clarice finds herself in the middle of a serious investigation aided by Hannibal Lector. It's dark, twisted, thrilling, and a non-stop action ride. I think the movie is a GREAT adaptation of the book. Read this already!
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LibraryThing member etimme
I was disappointed by this novel. I enjoyed Lecter's character immensely, of course, and also found satisfaction in following a young Clarice Starling, but personally felt that Harris's writing was very weak, which took away from the story for me. The way the author rushed the transitions between
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scenes and skipped from locale to locale left me dizzy and with no emotional attachment or concern for Starling, even as the book reached its climax with Clarice meeting Jame face to face but not knowing him.

You know, what really struck me the most reading this book was how great of a job Hopkins did playing Lecter in the film adaptation. I will probably recommend the movie to people over the book going forward.

I might revisit this author in the future to read this book's sequel, Hannibal, if only to see the radical change in endings between film and novel, which I just spoiled for myself on Wikipedia.
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LibraryThing member LisaMaria_C
A thrilling read and meditation on evil, with among the most chilling villains (Dr. Hannibal Lector) and strong heroines (FBI Agent-Trainee Clarice Starling) around. In fact, Hannibal Lector is more than a villain, he's a monster--a much scarier predator than a Great White Shark. Before we ever
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meet him he's built up in two ways--examples given both of his extraordinary intellect and his incredible viciousness. This serial killer Hannibal "the Cannibal" doesn't just kill, he devours--and we know he's incredibly dangerous just by all the precautions taken where he's incarcerated.

Small details when he's first introduced stroke up the menace. He has a sixth finger on his left hand. His eyes are described as reflecting "the light in pinpoints of red" and those "points of light seem to fly like sparks to his center." He's built up as bestial, demonic--but then in his conversation with Starling shows the insight and sharpness of a Sherlock Holmes.

Now, there's a lot more to this novel. It's a murder mystery and an incredibly suspenseful, nail-biting, unputdownable thriller and Lector's not the main focus here. This really is more police procedural as the FBI seeks to find another serial killer. But it's Lector who freezes you at the bone and makes this book unforgettable. What I've heard of the sequel, Hannibal, and how the relationship between Starling and Lector develops there means I'll never read that book. But this one I certainly highly recommend. (And some tell me the prequel, Red Dragon, is even better, so that one I might try some time.)
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LibraryThing member 5hrdrive
The two best crime novels I've ever read are The Day of the Jackal and The Silence of the Lambs. They are both absolutely riveting. I first read this about four years ago and decided to reread it to see if it gave me the same heart-wrenching sense of realism - oh boy does it. The real-time aspects
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of the chase are what make this stand out - and when the doorbell rings, well the real world just doesn't matter anymore. Wholeheartedly recommended - you won't be able to put it down.
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LibraryThing member Borg-mx5
Simply loved it. Characters were interesting and the mystery was not easily solved. Who could not love Hannibal Lechter?
LibraryThing member KLmesoftly
Disappointing, to say the least. I heard from someone that Harris wrote this novel after the screenplay for the film, and if this is true, it makes a lot of sense. The novel adds nothing to the movie in terms of connection to characters or insights into themes; this is one of a few rare instances I
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recommend that one skip the novel and just watch the movie.
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LibraryThing member BraveKelso
An excellent novel. Many crime novels with serial killer characters treat the serial killer as a malevolent presence, like something in a horror novel. Harris gives readers something different - an really evil human presence.
LibraryThing member stephxsu
The movie version of this chilling tale is a classic, and Hannibal Lecter a legend among characters. Very few people, however, know about its origins as a bestselling paperback, albeit with just average writing.
Clarice Starling is an agent in training at the FBI center in Quantico when her boss,
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Jack Crawford, enlists her help in profiling Hannibal Lecter, a gifted psychologist who killed nine people and ate their body parts. He’s been in lockup for nine years now, but even behind a Plexiglas wall he is as observant and disconcerting as ever.

Starling doesn’t realize at first that Crawford wants her to crack Hannibal so that he would help in their most recent serial killer case, a guy nicknamed Buffalo Bill who killed large young women and skinned their bodies. Hannibal just about knows who the killer is and why he is doing it, but he chooses to dole out his knowledge in small amounts, striking a bargain with Starling: she’d submit to his questions about her childhood in exchange for information on how to capture Buffalo Bill.

Meanwhile, Buffalo Bill has captured the daughter of a senator and the clock is ticking as Starling races to piece together the identity and whereabouts of Buffalo Bill using her brains and Hannibal’s insights. Will she be able to save Catherine Martin in time? And what will happen to Hannibal if he gets the opportunity to escape…?

This is one of the rare cases where I believe the movie is better than the book. Harris’ writing is direct, with more telling than showing, it seems. It’s a fascinating plot idea but not one that Harris really makes into a gripping, can’t-put-the-book-down tale. Still, THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS ranks solidly up there with the works of suspense masters Michael Crichton and John Grisham.
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LibraryThing member readingrat
This is a book that stays with you forever.
LibraryThing member Scaryguy
Who can forget the movie? The book is better!
LibraryThing member hugh_ashton
Re-read this recently - I've had it for a long time. 4 1/2 stars, really. Don't know why not 5, but it's not a perfect book for some reason. The tense shifts from present to past rather disturbingly, but I quite like the God's Eye View ("Hannibal Lecter has six fingers on his left hand") which can
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add to the realism. There are some very gripping images and metaphors, and the characters are all realistic - hardly a cardboard cutout among them. I liked the trick of giving away the murderer's identity, but not his motive - that's difficult to do without losing the reader's interest.

I enjoyed the movie, but the book is definitely better, despite Antony Hopkins' fine performance. I don't like the other Hannibal Lecter books, though, or the movies.
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LibraryThing member mandolin82
Gory, yet appropriate to the book. Very well written. I loved the characters. A good read.
LibraryThing member andyray
this is, without much doubt, thomas harris' best book, for many reasons. The story line is continuous and well put together and doesn't relie on any former or later work re Hannibel. His lack of emotion is definite in a sociopath and he does love the game. This would have been enough without the
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other three Hannibal novels.
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LibraryThing member face_at_the_window
One of my all-time favourite books, and one of the few that spawned a film just as good. I still wish I was Clarice.
LibraryThing member theeclecticreview
A book you can't put down. Hannibal Lecter is the epitome of an evil presence. Harris is a mastermind in suspense thrillers.
LibraryThing member agnesmack
I can't say that I had high expectations for this book, which turned out to be a good thing. I felt like I was reading an episode of Law & Order. There was zero in the way of character development. Sure, I knew what school the protagonist was going to and basic information about her room mate and a
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flashback here and there to her childhood. But overall, I didn't really get to know or care about the characters.

I kept waiting for it to get scary but it really didn't do it for me. The tension wasn't built quite well enough for me, nor was the writing particularly interesting. In fact, I noted that there were 3 pages in a row where every single paragraph started with, "Starling..." (which is the main character's name). "Starling went to the bank.." "Starling thought long and hard, " Starling woke up and then walked around for awhile."

Everyone was either good or bad, there was just basically no depth at all.

Overall, I'm not impressed.
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LibraryThing member KRaySaulis
Brilliant. For once the book is so brilliant the movie wasn't able to ruin it!
LibraryThing member Cats_Critters
This is a serial killer with taste and manners. It's Dr. Hannibal Lecter, psychologist, chief, serial killer, and cannibal. Interesting combo right? To me he is the thing that holds the book together and makes you crave more. He leads Clarice Starling, a FBI agent to be, on the hunt for a killer
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who kills and skins his victims.

I loved the movie and ended up tracking down all the books Red Dragon,The Silence of the Lambs,Hannibal, and Hannibal Rising. And Silence of the Lambs is the best of them all, but always makes me wonder why didn't we get a book about Hannibal Lecter when he was free and not on the run, as a psychologist and killer?
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LibraryThing member Chellsway
Having seen the movie adaptation of "The Silence of the Lambs" several times it seemed at times that I could see the action on the pages of the book rather than just reading them. I cannot help but see Jodie Foster as Clarice Starling and it is the voice of Anthony Hopkins I hear when Hannibal
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Lecter speaks. While this may limit how I view the characters this does not detract at all from the book and I feel that in many ways the novel is superior and is still gripping despite my familiarity with the story.
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LibraryThing member superphoenix
This was an amazing book. Terrifying and oddly exciting. Just loved it. Hannibal Lecter is scary, yet an enigma that refuses to disappear even after you put the book down. As you read through the book you realize how cunningly he steers the entire investigation to suit himself. One is left
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wondering of his fascination and interest in Clarice- does her relentless spirit affects more deeply than he would like or want to admit. An overall a great book. A must read for everyone.
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Language

Original language

English

Original publication date

1988
1991 (deu.)

Physical description

384 p.; 4.2 inches

ISBN

0312924585 / 9780312924584

Barcode

1601446
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