20. Silence of the Lambs

Book 20: Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris (A-)

Wow, the author of this book should be locked up with the psychos that he writes about. He has a scary mind! To come up with a character like Hannibal Lector... or Buffalo Bill... seriously?! And, he's written many of these Lector novels. He's got to be at least partially psychotic! The novel absolutely terrified me! I had to stop reading it when I was home alone or when it got dark because it was just too chilling!
FBI trainee Clarice Starling is called upon to interview the infamous cannibal psychiatrist Hannibal Lector in the hopes of gaining answers from the minds of criminals to assist in solving current FBI cases. Instead, Lector sees right through Starling and helps her find the FBI's current number 1, Buffalo Bill. Bill is parading around the country killing girls with a shot to the head then skinning them before dumping them in various rivers off highways. Lector knows all about Bill. Lector himself was sitting in prison because of eating Bill's boyfriend's liver along with various other patients. If Starling only plays Lector's game, he'll give her the information she wants and hopefully before the next victim gets skinned.
Sicked. Twisted. Undeniably frightening. This is the book that gives adults nightmares.

It was extremely well-written. The facts seem to be in order, and the overall majority of the book seems plausible. I had only one problem with it and that was the ending was drawn out and went on a bit. Either that or the rest of the book took a bit to get anywhere so it seemed the ending took forever to wrap up because I was tired of reading the story. The story is fast-paced. It's just a lot to take in! Probably one of the more complicated books I've read.
If you like thrillers, read this book. If you want a quick recap of the book, rent the movie where Jodi Foster breathes through the majority of her lines and Anthony Hopkins will leaving you crying for a mental facility so you can be locked up from him. And if it's possible, the book is significantly creepier than the movie! ...Actually, make that the movie trailer is scarier than BOTH!