I’ve finally taken my own advice again and read a book AFTER I’ve watched the movie it’s based on. Although in this instance, I don’t believe it really would have mattered. That’s because The Silence of the Lambs was filmed so long ago, that I feel like directors and writers took source material more seriously. I’ll get into that shortly. It struck me that since I’ve watched Hannibal, read Red Dragon, and watched The Silence of the Lambs that it only makes sense that I should read the book that film is based on. So I did!
Just like Red Dragon, The Silence of the Lambs had me interested from the very first page. Especially since there is the introduction of the brand new character (albeit pop culturally famous) of Clarice Starling. She’s an FBI agent in training who has degrees in criminology and psychology, and who has worked in those environments for a time before taking her talents to the FBI. She’s laser-focused and quite good at what she does, which catches the eye of Jack Crawford. Early in the novel he reaches out to her in order to try and communicate with the essentially mute Dr. Lecter, since she’s got a psychology background.
She’s nervous, naturally, but shows a brave face. And her methods work, although probably more in Dr. Lecter’s favor than her own. It’s crazy how easily he is at manipulation even when everyone already knows this about him! Her dealings with Lecter pull her into the Buffalo Bill case with Jack. Buffalo Bill has been abducting women and then sometime later dumping them in a river far away from where they were taken, with large patches of skin removed. Unable to solve the mystery herself, Starling consults with Lecter again. Since Lecter knows who Buffalo Bill really is, he plays a game with Starling (and everyone, really) about pieces of information that are accurate, but not exactly painting the whole picture.
Ultimately, Lecter is able to get himself into a situation where he is able to murderously free himself from custody, while also helping Starling close the information gap in the case. Without spoiling it for anyone, I feel like I should stop there. Maybe reading is not your jam, but I do encourage you to watch the film. Even though it was released in 1991, it is still visually stunning and the story is captivating. Also, the movie follows the book so well that I could vividly picture the movie scenes as I was reading the parts in the book. If parts were omitted, they were not plentiful, and for that I am happy.
Thomas Harris, whose publications came out in the 80s , writes such insanely deep characters with complicated lives, and it is a thrill to read. To think that what he created is still so prevalent in pop culture today is truly a feat. As much as I’ve written about this world of Hannibal, I hope I’ve persuaded some people to check out everything there is about Harris’ work, written or otherwise.