Book Review: The Silence of the Lambs

There are few movie/book combinations out there where both are equally excellent, but Thomas Harris’s Silence of the Lambs most definitely ranks among them. Think of it like this: the film is ranked #23 on IMDB. It’s got an 8.6/10. It swept the 5 “big” Oscars: Best Film Director, Actor, Actress, and Screenplay. It did all this as very much a genre film, something the Oscars traditionally ignore. It’s a fantastic movie.

And the book is just as good. It grabs hold of you right from the beginning and doesn’t let go until the end. It does this by blending great characters with a fantastic plot, which makes the transition from page to screen much easier. You’ve got the FBI agent in training main character who’s sharp and promising, but still untested. You’ve got an absolute monster of a serial killer in both the way he kills and the skill in which he evades detection. And then you’ve got one of the best villains ever written in Hannibal Lecter, and he’s not even the Big Bad. The interplay between him and Clarice is just electric.

There’s a debate as to whether it’s a Thriller or a Horror, and I think it’s a great example of why insisting on categorizing everything can be a useless effort at times. It’s both thrilling and horrific. If someone’s a horror buff, I’d pitch it as a horror. If someone hates horror, I’d emphasize the thriller aspects of it. Ultimately, a good movie or book is a good movie or book, regardless of genre, though obviously some people prefer some genres to others. It’s not as if someone’s a huge regency romance fan, then they’ll love Silence of the Lambs, simply because it’s great. But if you’re into thrillers or horrors at all and you haven’t seen or read this one, you owe it to yourself to check it out.

As a writer of thrillers and horrors, it makes me insanely jealous. It’s so well done, from the concept right through to the execution. It holds up to repeat viewings and watchings, and makes me wonder how Harris came up with such a great set up. Part of me thinks Faustian pact might have been involved, but who knows.

In any case, I can’t recommend it enough. 10/10. (And if you want to have a deeper cut, check out Michael Mann’s Manhunter. It’s an adaptation of Red Dragon, the first book in this series. Lecter has a big role in it as well.)