The Silence of the Lambs [Mass Market Paperback]

Thomas Harris (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 15, 1991

As part of the search for a serial murderer nicknames "Buffalo Bill," FBI trainee Clarice Starling is given an assignment. She must visit a man confined to a high-security facility for the criminally insane and interview him.

That man, Dr. Hannibal Lecter, is a former psychiatrist with unusual tastes and an intense curiosity about the darker corners of the mind. His intimate understanding of the killer and of Clarice herself form the core of Thomas Harris' The Silence of the Lambs--an unforgettable classic of suspense fiction.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The Silence of the Lambs, by Thomas Harris, is even better than the successful movie. Like his earlier Red Dragon, the book takes us inside the world of professional criminal investigation. All the elements of a well-executed thriller are working here--driving suspense, compelling characters, inside information, publicity-hungry bureaucrats thwarting the search, and the clock ticking relentlessly down toward the death of another young woman. What enriches this well-told tale is the opportunity to live inside the minds of both the crime fighters and the criminals as each struggles in a prison of pain and seeks, sometimes violently, relief.

Clarice Starling, a precociously self-disciplined FBI trainee, is dispatched by her boss, Section Chief Jack Crawford, the FBI's most successful tracker of serial killers, to see whether she can learn anything useful from Dr. Hannibal Lecter. Lecter's a gifted psychopath whose nickname is "The Cannibal" because he likes to eat parts of his victims. Isolated by his crimes from all physical contact with the human race, he plays an enigmatic game of "Clue" with Starling, providing her with snippets of data that, if she is smart enough, will lead her to the criminal. Undaunted, she goes where the data takes her. As the tension mounts and the bureaucracy thwarts Starling at every turn, Crawford tells her, "Keep the information and freeze the feelings." Insulted, betrayed, and humiliated, Starling struggles to focus. If she can understand Lecter's final, ambiguous scrawl, she can find the killer. But can she figure it out in time? --Barbara Schlieper

From Publishers Weekly

In this thrillingly effective follow-up to Harris's masterful 1981 suspense novel Red Dragon, the heroine is new, but the villain isn't: Dr. Hannibal Lecter, the evil genius who played a small but crucial role in the earlier novel, returns, to mesmerizing effect. When a serial killer known as Buffalo Bill (he kidnaps, slays and skins young women) begins a crosscountry rampage, FBI trainee Clarice Starling tries to interview Lecter, a psychiatrist whose brilliant insights into the criminally insane are matched only by his bloodlusthe's currently imprisoned for nine murders, and would like nothing more than the chance to kill again. Lecter, a vicious gamesman, will offer clues to the murderer's pattern only in exchange for information about Clarice, analyzing her with horrible accuracy from the barest details. When Bill strikes again, the agent begins to realize that Lecter may know much more, and races against time and two twisted minds. Harris understands the crafting of literary terror as very few writers do; readers who put themselves in his good, coldblooded hands will lose sleep, and demand a sequel. 200,000 first printing; $200,000 ad/promo; BOMC main selection.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Paperbacks (February 15, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312924585
• ISBN-13: 978-0312924584
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (350 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #181,659 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

33 of 35 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The best of all Harris books May 7, 2000

By A Customer

Format:Mass Market Paperback

I doubt that anyone would argue the fact that this is the best of Harris's books, though RED DRAGON and BLACK SUNDAY are excellent, too. Any would-be author should read any of these as textbook examples displaying how "brevity of description" --as opposed to long drawn-out descriptions of a person or place in a scene--can be so powerful. For instance, Clarice Starling is simply described in her own thougths as someone who "knew she could look allright without primping" and that left you with the image of a great-looking female protagonist. Harris, and lesser known but equally as talented fellow Mississippi author Charles Wilson are two of the best I've ever read at being able to pull this "brevity" off. In fact, the above mentioned books of Harris, along with Wilson's GAME PLAN, DONOR, and NIGHTWATCHER, are among the most visual books I've ever read, without boring you with "too-much" description to get that effect. By the way, for those who loved SILENCE in particular, and haven't read Wilson, they should try NIGHTWATCHER for a read very similar to SILENCE in its story line and fear factor, with possibly better laid-out character development in NIGHTWATCHER--but hey, all of them top notch reads.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars gripping March 4, 2004

By Joe Sherry

Format:Mass Market Paperback

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 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.

Clarice Starling is in training at the FBI Academy. She is a star student in the Behavioral Sciences Division when the Department Chief, Jack Crawford, calls her into his office and gives her a job. She is to interview one Dr Hannibal "The Cannibal" Lecter in order to help get into the mind of a serial killer. There is an open case with a serial killer who has been nicknamed "Buffalo Bill", and Dr. Lecter may be the only chance to solve the case without there being many more murders. Starling is only a trainee, and this may be why Lecter is actually willing to speak to Starling about Buffalo Bill, though he is always holding something back.

Lecter is a villain of extreme intellect and this comes through in his dialogue. Like "Red Dragon", Dr. Lecter is not the central villain and the story does not revolve specifically around him (though he has a larger role this time around). Lecter does play a pivotal role because without him, the story cannot move forward. We never truly get into the psyche of Jame Gumb (not as much as we did with Frances Dolorhyde in "Red Dragon"), and it seems as if most of his actions happen off camera.

While Lecter is a very interesting character, it is Clarice Starling that we get to see grow as a character and become more confident and insistent in her work with Lecter and to catch "Buffalo Bill" even though she is only a trainee. She was put on this case and she intends to see it through.

As creepy as the movie could be, I loved this book. It had a very fast pace and stayed interesting throughout the story and it didn't matter that I had seen the movie multiple times. I was interested in the story Thomas Harris was telling. While Harris goes into detail about crimes, it doesn't feel very gory or unnecessary. It seems that this novel was a best seller in the late 80's and it is easy to see why. "The Silence of the Lambs" is a well told thriller and any fans of James Patterson and that genre should definitely give this one a look.

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars You've Seen the Film, Now Read Mr. Harris' Book May 3, 2001

By Stephen Capadona

Format:Hardcover

Thomas Harris' book The Silence of the Lambs has been reissued with a subtler, more artistic design, displaying a moth but no screaming death's head, and in a larger size that hints at the literary heft to be found between its covers. The publishers at St. Martin's Press know what they're doing, and if they want to argue for Harris a larger place in the modern canon, I will agree: we're being asked to pay attention to Harris with more than airport-reading consideration and we will be rewarded. The Silence of the Lambs stars Clarice Starling, a student at the FBI training academy, who becomes enmeshed in a disturbing serial murder case.

As the only woman in a male dominated behavioral science department, Clarice brings fresh insights to the search for mad killer Buffalo Bill. Strangely, the other person with insight into the case is locked away in a high security prison vault, sealed from the light of day-Dr. Hannibal Lecter, a madman in his own right. The two, bright-eyed, young, but worldly Clarice and human-organ-eating Lecter, make for an interesting team. But each has power in his or her way and each wants something precious from the other.

Lecter wants freedom and, to some extent, Clarice's company, while Clarice needs to close in on Buffalo Bill before he maims another woman. Along the way, she may also silence some of her self-doubt and lingering need for closure with aspects of her past. Buffalo Bill is on the lose trapping, holding captive, killing, and skinning overweight twenty-something women. The fact that he believes himself to be a transvestite and is making himself a dress out of woman skin has uncertain thematic implications, but there it is. The imprisoned Lecter, who originally seems to have uncanny and brilliant insight into the mind of this lunatic, draws Clarice closer to him by lending her clues in miserly fashion. With their dangerous tango in play, Clarice shifts back into the world of the FBI and on more than one occasion is forced to deal with a sexist environment to simply do her job.

Harris takes care to show us how the mind of this young trainee works systematically and deductively, qualities her male superiors can immediately appreciate, but also how she draws from her own unique experience as a woman and someone raised lower class. Driving her throughout the text is a deep sense of connection with the victims, a heightened empathy we fail to see demonstrated by the other investigators, and more importantly, with the living Catherine Martin. Buffalo Bill's latest detainee, Catherine is the daughter of a senator, and the question will be whether she and Clarice Starling can not only actively resist, but overcome the forces that move to stifle them.