The Silence of the Lambs
Book 2 of the Hannibal series
Thomas Harris

The time is now. A serial murderer known only by a grotesquely apt nickname - Buffalo Bill - is stalking particular women. He has a purpose, but no one can fathom it, for the bodies are discovered in different states. Clarice Starling, a young trainee at the F.B.I. Academy, is surprised to be summoned by Jack Crawford, Chief of the Bureau's Behavioral Science section. Her assignment: to interview Dr. Hannibal Lecter, a brilliant psychiatrist and grisly killer now kept under close watch in the Baltimore State Hospital for the Criminally Insane. Lecter's insight into the minds of murderers could help track and capture Buffalo Bill.
Smart and attractive, Starling is shaken to find herself in a strange, intense relationship with the acutely perceptive Lecter. His cryptic clues - about Buffalo Bill and about her - launch Clarice on a search that every reader will find startling, harrowing, and totally compelling.

Luckily, it's been a very long time since I've watched the movie version of this so my reading of this novel was not tainted either by the film nor by the actors who portrayed the various characters.

This is the second novel in a series - and while it can be read on a stand alone basis and be understood, I would highly recommend reading Red Dragon before reading this novel. After all, if one wishes to read this, why not read the entire series, or, at the very least, the one that came before it. There are a few references to Red Dragon in this novel, but not enough to confuse a reader who chose to read this as a stand along book.

The characters in this book are very well fleshed out. Harris did an excellent job of fleshing out and making a believable female protagonist and his depiction of Hannibal Lecter is quite astounding, especially considering he is not the main character of this novel. He even does a great job of making the lesser characters in this book believable, real people.

The plot is engaging from the very beginning and even though he know who the killer is during the reading - it is still extremely interesting to watch the both F.B.I. and Starling put it all together.

The reasoning behind the killings are horrifying, yet also strike a realistic nerve with modern psychiatric criminals even though the novel was written in 1988. Even now, in 2012, there are only a few things you would notice that are a bit out of place in this modern era. This novel definitely holds up to the test of time.

I would highly recommend this novel with two caveats - read Red Dragon and then read this one and, if possible, read this before seeing the movie.

My rating: Four and a half out of five snails.