Customer Reviews

The Silence of the Lambs

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I'm normally one for something a tad more 'fun'-----you know the ones I'm talking about---Sedaris with his 'Me Talk Pretty' or McCrae and his 'Katzenjammer' :both first-rate by the way----but I opted for this as I had seen the movie and wanted to 'read' the story. Glad I did. While the movie was fantastic, the book was, believe it or not, even better. Really blew me away. I'd recommend this even is you have seen the movie.

There are only a handful of books that I've read from cover to cover in just one sitting. Thomas Harris' SILENCE OF THE LAMBS was one of them. And for good reasons: his story was completely absorbing and he wrote it well.

You all know the story, especially because of the hit movie. But if you haven't read the book, I urge you to do so. While the film successfully conveyed the psychodrama between Starling and Hannibal, what I thought was missing was the sense of urgency, the suspense that a life was hanging in the balance. The book is a rush because its suspense is so compelling from cover to cover.

I read this book prior to watching the movie version and it prepared me for a gruesome ride.

While the writing is basic at best, the horror and mystery is spellbinding. Hannibal Lecter will send chills up your spine for days and many nights! But amazingly he grows on you as a sickeningly likable character. Clarice Starling, the tough yet fragile FBI agent, pursues a murderer and with the help of Hannibal Lecter faces her true fears. Somehow they develop a relationship that makes sense....But how does madness make sense? That must be Thomas Harris's secret!

I read this before the film
Deliberatly

And I can tell you - this book is simply phenomenal
Twisting, turning and unpredictablity is what this is about
Yet there are only 4 main locations in the book everything links together, but just as you think you can work out what's going to happen - You realise you don't

The pivotal moments of the book start very slowly, and for the first 2 pages you don't realise you are reading a pivotal moment that will change the entire books perspective from now on. It slowly evolves into a huge event, accelerating away and then before you know it the chapter's finished and you are drawn away to a different location in the next chapter

You have to keep reading -Cos you want to know what will happen

It's simply addictive and extremely well written

Oh- And It's got Hannibal Lector in it
T. Harris is a genius to think up a character like him
Enough Said

In "Silence of the Lambs", Thomas Harris continues the series of HANNIBAL LECTER, a supersmart villain with a serial killer that kills and skins women that are about his size. This time, the head of the department of Behavioral Science of the FBI Jack Crawford, sends in Clarisse Starling to talk to Hannibal at the Chesapeake State Hospital for the Criminally Insane. Everyone at the FBI thinks that Hannibal knows who has been kiiling the women and they send in the beautiful first rate forensicQuantico student to talk to Hannibal. In the midst of our reading ,the killer has ensnared the daughter of a Senator. From there Clarrisse investigates the previous victims of 'Buffalo Bill. Hannibal is transferred to a Tennesssee prison and bribed with more freedom if he tells them who has captured Catherine. Hannibal fools them and ends up escaping from the prison. Catherine is saved and all is well. For now. Read the second book in this trilogy, SILENCE OF THE LAMBS. I really liked it and think that it is a very captivating read. Mr. Harris really keeps you on your toes with this one, as he always does. So, yeah, get this book! It's a great suspense novel and it will keep you thinking.

Clarice Starling is the star of this story. She's an up and coming FBI agent who gives chase to a serial killer named "Buffalo Bill." Starling meets up with a psychiatrist named Dr. Hannibal Lecter. "Silence" is pretty much split up into two different sections. One section includes Hannibal the other does not. The relationship between Starling and Lecter is what kept me interested in the book. I suggest this book to anyone. The thing some people might not like is the subject matter, it is extremely graphic. Other then that, it's great.

The Silence of the Lambs has to be the most gruesome book I've ever read. The good news is that the characters are really well developed and the plot is thrillingly twisted. In other words: there is more to this book than cannibalism and the ability to shock.

I have never seen the film (although I'm definitely going to now) but on it's own the book is still very disturbing. The smallest things that Hannibal Lector said could be construed as threatening - the fact that he was behind bars and locked away did not diminish his scariness. Lector is incredibly intelligent and perceptive, as well as possessing a twisted sense of humour, which makes him a fascinating villain. The matter of fact way that the author retells his horrible crimes only makes them seem more terrifying. The other killer in the story, Buffalo Bill, was equally demented, although in a less intelligent way than Lector.

I really enjoyed reading about Clarice Starling and I felt that she was a great lead character; brave, decent and driven. The insights into her childhood and her fears of inadequacy were very well done. Jack Crawford, Clarice's superior, was described really well too and the parts of the book set around his home life and dying wife Bella made him seem more real and sympathetic. The plot was impeccable and the tension that was built and maintained throughout was extraordinary.

Overall The Silence of The Lambs is a crime novel that will go down in history as something special.

JoAnne

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.

I read first The Red Dragon and I like it very much, then I read Hannibal and I didn't like it so I didn't want to read this book, but it happens, someone give it to me and I read it, and what a book! you wont be able to put it down and maybe you will never go to a psychotherapist again, the story is not out of reality at all, the descriptions of the bodies are excellent, so don't read this book late at night.

Whether you saw the movie or not, buy the book and read it. Even if you know what's going to happen, Harris' way of telling the story is magnificent and spellbinding. Talk about your page turners! While not for the faint-of-heart, it was nowhere as graphic as I expected. Still, it will get your pulse-rate up. Don't miss this one.

Also recommended: Bark of the Dogwood by McCrae and Lasher by Rice