What ruined my experience with this book was 1) seeing half the movie a priori and 2) the TV series.


Number one irretrievably painted the protagonist’s features with Jodie Foster’s poor acting skills. The book character came off as a story propelling channel with no background or individualistic attributes one could latch himself onto.

“She didn’t give a damn about some of them, but she had grown to learn that inattention can be a stratagem to avoid pain, and that it is often misread as shallowness and indifference.”

Ironically, Clarice Starling turns out exactly that. Shallow and indifferent.

Two basically set the bar so high. Harris’ Lecter was good but I can’t help feeling that Bryan Fuller gave him a new dimension altogether. In my opinion, Fuller took the sporadic potential you stumble upon reading the novels and amplified it. The story is written after all in the 90’s in contrast with the very recent TV production.


The Silence of the Lambs is not the best psychological thriller out there. However, it features a character that does not fit in any psychological profile. That alone is reason enough to read it, to get a glimpse of what Lucifer incarnated can do.