The Silence of the Lambs [Paperback]

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

‘Thrillers don’t come any better than this… razor-sharp entertainment, beautifully constructed and brilliantly written’ --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

‘The best book I’ve read in a very long time… subtle, horrific and splendid’ --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

‘A snapshot from hell’ --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

The international bestseller. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

There's a killer on the loose who knows that beauty is only skin deep, and a trainee investigator who's trying to save her own hide. The only man that can help is locked in an asylum. But he's willing to put a brave face on - if it will help him escape.

The international bestseller – Hannibal Lecter is back. The most frightening book you will ever read. --This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.

THE LEGENDARY PSYCHOLOGICAL THRILLER

An FBI trainee

A psychopath locked up for unspeakable crimes

And a serial killer getting ever closer to his latest victim ...

FBI rookie Clarice Starling turns to Dr. Hannibal Lecter, monster cannibal held in a hospital for the criminally insane, for insight into the deadly madman she must find. As Dr. Lecter invites her into the darkest chambers of his mind, he forces her to confront her own childhood demons as the price of understanding, an unspeakable tuition he exacts to teach her how the monster thinks. And time is running out . . .

'Thrillers don't come any better than this ... razor sharp entertainment, beautifully constructed and brilliantly written. It takes us to places in the mind where few writers have the talent or sheer nerve to venture' Clive Barker

'A virtual textbook on the craft of suspense. A masterwork of sheer momentum that rockets seamlessly towards its climax ... Harris is quite simply the best suspense novelist working today' Washington Post

'Evil cannibalistic serial killer Hannibal Lecter is brought in to advise Clarice Starling on the movements of a killer on the loose. Can his genius help trap the killer who knows that beauty is only skin-deep? Utterly gripping' Independent

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

A native of Mississippi, Thomas Harris began his writing career covering crime in the US and Mexico, and was a reporter and editor for the Associated Press in New York City. His first novel, Black Sunday, was published in 1975, followed by Red Dragon in 1981, Silence of the Lambs in 1988, Hannibal in 1999 and Hannibal Rising in 2006. --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.