The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris

The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Hannibal Lecter is unarguably one of the most chilling and creepiest book characters. And the scariest thing is that he’s not just the product of the author’s imagination. Serial killers like him lived through us, and my god, they still might be among us.
I decided to read the book after I rewatched The Silence of the Lambs few weeks ago. That movie is outstanding, and of course i was curious to get to know the source material. This is one of those rare cases when the movie is as good as the book, maybe even slightly better. Mostly because of Hopkins’s performance. I also think that they did some things better in the movie, like showing Buffalo Bill applying make up and dancing naked near the end of the movie, unlike the book. That scene in the movie made the hair on my nape stand up. It was the moment when I realized that he can never be reasoned with, and that made him so much scarier.
But back to the book. My favorite parts were of course the interaction between Lecter and Clarice. Whenever Lecter appeared on the pages, I’d read his scenes slowly and meticulously. The most interesting aspect of Lecter is that he can’t be categorized, ‘cause he’s simultaneously too smart and too evil. Is he a psychopath? Sure. But why? That’s the interesting part about him: the reason. Why is he a psycho? The book doesn’t give an answer. And it ends with him gaining freedom, making the story even scarier, leaving the reader with the knowledge that this person with no feeling of remorse or love is out, hunting someone just for fun.


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