As I said in my review of Red Dragon, I’m one of the only people on Goodreads who, until now, hadn’t read Thomas Harris’s novels about that infamous cannibal, Dr. Hannibal Lecter. I’ve never seen the movie adaptations, either. Seriously.

So I don’t think it’s prudent I rehash this book’s plot; you know it. I will say I’ve been totally blindsided by how much I’ve fallen in love with Hannibal as a character. I’m obsessed. This dude oozes swagger. He sends ice through my veins. This novel featured him more than Red Dragon, and for that I am thankful. The other characters found here are good, too (who couldn’t love Clarice?), but I found myself always a little anxious for Hannibal Lecter to come back onscreen.

Part police procedural, part thriller, part horror, Silence of the Lambs is a more than worthy followup to its predecessor. While the murder case in these pages didn’t grab me quite as much as the one found in Harris’s precious release, that was made up for with more Hannibal. So, to me, the two books are equal. As I said on Twitter the other night, I am kicking myself for not reading this series sooner.

And now I must check out the movie...

I didn't realize this was an abridged copy.

I was so excited by how amazing Kathy Bates' voice sounded narrating the sample clip that I streamed the entire book over the course of two days. It's just over 3 hours long but I honestly could not tell it was abridged. Is it abridged because parts were cut out or because Bates talks so fast? Hmmm... For reference, this version, at least, is like a text version of the movie. I didn't realize how closely the movie followed the original source material. As usual, however, I feel the text is superior, if only because the imagery (or lack thereof, which is freaking terrifying when it's used) is amazing. Not a single wasted word. The only reason it took me so long to listen to the whole thing is because I kept falling asleep while listening, so I had to go back and try to find my spot again to pick up from.

Another plus: Bates's accents are ah-mazing~~! I don't know if it's her pitch or tone, but she manages the same inflections used by both Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins in the movie that made their characters so memorable. Got chills when she did the humming and sighs as the characters. Spectacular performance.

I read this quite a few years ago. The Silence of the Lambs is one of my all time favourite films. However, I still loved the book, despite having already seen the film.

Retro review time!

Loved the movie, so I read the book. Liked the book enough to look into other Thomas Harris books. Read Red Dragon. Fucking loved it. And then it was all downhill after that.Hannibal was okay. Never read Hannibal Rising, and it still holds zero draw for me.

What I remember the most about Silence of the Lambs is Clarice catching some spunk to the eye. That, above all else, is my most striking memory from this book. What's worse than a surprise money shot? A surprise money shot from a psycho. Bleck!

The ending is probably the best part. Nerve-shattering fun.

Thomas Harris is so good he takes seven years to write a book. Donna Tartt and Marisha Pessl do the same. Stephen King said in On Writing that he (the next quote is paraphrased) couldn't understand why someone would only do something every seven years when they were so damn good at it. This has no bearing on this book, but I like purposeless trivia, so there you have it.

In summation: I figured I'd go back and review all these titles I read before I joined Goodreads (or before Goodreads even existed) because I wanna. Truly, that's the only reason. Because I wanna.

Final Judgment: Better than spunk in the eye.