A review by zakcebulski
The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5


What can one say about this book and this story that has not been said up to this point?
Not a whole lot.
I am, as I am sure many are, a fan of the movie adaptation of this book. As such, I had some trepidation to read this book because I thought that I would get hung up on comparing this book to the movie over and again. I am happy to say that I did not do that throughout this book.
I thought that this was an absolutely stellar read.
This book reads like a movie, even more so than the movie which I saw. I thought that the pacing of this book was exquisitely well done. It moves seamlessly from point to point. Harris strikes a perfect and delicate balance in building gradually to the climax- which is only two scenes of out and out violence.
This book is riddled with iconic scenes which will burrow their way in to your mind's eye for days and weeks once you close the book. The escape scene with Lecter and the discovery of Klaus are two that I have to point out.  
I think that Thomas Harris crafted one of the most endearing protagonists in Clarise Starling (not Sterling) of a thriller that I can remember. I love that she, although a trainee in the FBI, is a no bullshit person. In an era where female characters are written to be little more than damsels in distress, Clarice, to me, is a strong female lead. I may be wrong in saying this, and people may disagree, but, I thought that for a man writing this character, Clarice was well written. She is resourceful, she is clever, she does not take shit- which was so fucking refreshing to read. I truly felt a level of empathy with Clarice. I wanted her to succeed, and, though I knew the outcome of the story, I was worried for her when she fell into the hands of Lecter or in peril with Bill.

Dr. Hannibal Lecter is one of the greatest villains in any media which I have personally encountered. I thought that the way that he was written was so fucking good. He is a serial killer, and while he is incarcerated, you still feel his presence transcend the bars of his prison. He is lethally intelligent and is clearly fooling around while law enforcement is scrambling to catch Jame Gumb aka Buffalo Bill. 
It is the mark of a well written and charismatic character that there are instances when Dr. Lecter shares the page with a "good guy" and he is not the most deplorable person in the story. I found myself, at points, completely forgetting that he was a vicious, cannibalistic serial killer. And, while that is very creepy to think about, I think that that was the intention from Thomas Harris- he wanted to make is so that in some perverted way, we almost come to appreciate Lecter and maybe in some odd way like him. This is so that when he does break out, we are hit with that shock like "oh fuck, yeah, this dude is a walking hyper-intelligent killing machine". I love that through expertly written dialogue and prose, we understand that Lecter is always four to five steps ahead of everyone. Such a fascinating character. 

I love the story of this book wherein an FBI trainee in Clarice Starling has to try and catch Buffalo Bill (a serial killer inspired by Ed Gein, Ted Bundy and maybe Edmund Kemper?) who is intent on killing large women to make a skin suit out of them. To do this, she must work with Dr. Hannibal Lecter to get one killer's insight in to how to catch another. Side note- this was actually done during the Green River Killer case in Washington. The FBI asked for Ted Bundy's help- he supposedly gave little to no useful information because Bundy, like every serial killer, is a piece of shit dumbass. 
Anyway. 
I thought that this was an expertly crafted thriller/ mystery with good notes of horror, as well. 
Thomas Harris does a great job of letting the character's actions speak for themselves, without having to constantly tell the reader what to think. I loved the verbal chess playing between Starling and Lecter wherein they are working to pull pieces of information from each other- a verbal tug of war. This was so fascinating. 

I cannot wait to read more from Thomas  Harris. I thought that the book ended in the perfect cliffhanger- we know that a hyper- intelligent super-predator is out of the cage and in the wild and Clarice is known to him. 
I think that this to me is as wonderful an incentive as any to read the prequels and sequels of this book.
I can absolutely understand why this book was a cultural high water mark. There is so much in this book to love, and so many ways to read through it- whether it is as a police procedural thriller, or maybe through the lens of a feminist critique on law enforcement and institutionalized sexism- both? there is a fucking plethora of content in this book. Reading Clarice's internal monologue is perfect for all of the rage, malcontent and displeasure is some of the best parts of dialogue to me, as it shows that Clarice is fully aware of the fuckeduppedness of the patriarchal dominance of law enforcement, but, also shows that she will not be beaten by it. 

Great read, would love to do more research on the sexism the book seems to comment on. 

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