Clarice Starling is a promising cadet at the FBI academy pushing herself she can make it in the field. Driven and determined, she’s surprised when Jack Crawford asks her to question the legendary psychopath, Dr. Hannibal Lector. After the events of Red Dragon (book) he hasn’t responded to any questioning and his advice can become crucial in catching a disturbed killer called Buffalo Bill, who flays the flesh off of woman. When Buffalo Bill kidnaps a senator’s daughter, it’s up to Starling to try and discover the identity of this madman and save her, relying on Dr. Lector for advice and clues into the mind of madness.
So this book is pretty much what kids today would call a se-boot. You can pick it up just fine on it’s own without reading Red Dragon; their are callbacks to Graham and events of the first book but the info you get is pretty sufficient. While I personally like Will Graham better as a main character, Clarice is compelling in her own way and it is interesting to see how she interacts with familiar characters. Again, the villains steal the show. Lector is pretty damn memorable and Buffalo Bill is a creepy ass son of a bitch. The end comes together really nicely and there’s a lot of tension. The pacing is good and admittedly I never got bored with it. In the end I’d definitely say it’s well worth a read. May the gaming gods bring you glory.
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