Hannibal Lecter
Title: Silence of the Lambs
Author: Thomas Harris
Entertainment Value: 3/3
The thriller that set the bar. Smartphones aside, this story reads like it was just released. Hannibal Lecter, forensic psychiatrist and cannibalistic serial killer, plays the anti-mentor to a young FBI trainee, Clarice Starling, as she helps the FBI track a serial killer dubbed "Buffalo Bill." This book was difficult to put down. I found myself reading it among group activities with friends and losing sleep to finish one more chapter. The characters were so interesting and dynamic that I would think about them as real people weeks after I finished the novel. A must read for anyone who enjoys suspense.
"What do you know about Buffalo Bill?"
"Nobody knows much."
"Has everything been in the papers?"
"I think so. Dr. Lecter, I haven't seen any confidential material on that case, my
job is---"
"How many women has Buffalo Bill used?"
"The police have found five."
"All flayed?"
"Partially, yes."
"The papers have never explained his name. Do you know why he's called
Buffalo Bill?"
"Yes."
"Tell me."
"I'll tell you if you'll look at this questionnaire."
"I'll look, that's all. Now, why?"
"It started as a bad joke in Kansas City homicide."
"Yes...?"
"They call him Buffalo Bill because he skins his humps."
Starling discovered that she had traded feeling frightened for feeling cheap. Of the
two, she preferred feeling frightened.
"Send through the questionnaire."
Starling rolled the blue section through on the tray. She sat still while Lecter
flipped through it.
He dropped it back in the carrier. "Oh, Officer Starling, do you think you can
dissect me with this blunt little tool?"
"No, I think you can provide some insight and advance this study."
"And what possible reason could I have to do that?"
"Curiosity."
"About what?"
"About why you're here. About what happened to you."
"Nothing happened to me, Officer Starling. I happened. You can't reduce me to a
set of influences. You've given up good and evil for behaviorism, Officer Starling.
You've got everybody in moral dignity pants--- nothing is ever anybody's fault. Look at
me, Officer Starling. Can you stand to say I'm evil? Am I evil, Officer Starling?"
"I think you've been destructive. For me it's the same thing."
"Evil's just destructive? Then storms are evil, if it's that simple. And we have fire,
and then there's hail. Underwriters lump it all under 'Acts of God.' "
