Although this wasn’t the first outing for Hannibal Lecter (that was RED DRAGON), this book really made the author’s career, and in many ways created the modern serial killer genre – as well as the anti-hero.
Rookie FBI agent Clarice Starling is sent to interview incarcerated psychopath Dr Hannibal Lecter, in the hope he can help them track a brutal serial killer who skins his victims alive. Lecter leads her on a chase, drip-feeding enigmatic clues, doing his best to get under her skin. Meanwhile, the killer has kidnapped a Senator’s daughter, and the clock is ticking to find her alive.
It’s hard to read the book now without picturing the superlative film, but it was ground-breaking in the creation of a compelling, unique villain, the extreme violence of both the killer and Lecter’s past cannibalism, and also in the constant upping of tension as Lecter escapes and Clarice closes in on the killer. The characterisation, dialogue, and settings are also brilliantly evoked, proving that a blood-soaked gripping thriller can still also be well written.
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