The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris is a psychological thriller and crime novel published in 1988. The novel follows FBI agent-in-training Clarice Starling as she becomes increasingly involved in the investigation of serial killer Buffalo Bill. The book is the sequel to Harris’s 1981 novel Red Dragon and includes several continuing characters, like the serial killer Dr. Hannibal Lecter. The novel won the 1988 Bram Stoker Award and 1989 Anthony Award for Best Novel, and it was adapted into a film in 1991 that won five Academy Awards. This guide discusses violence against women and includes the novel’s outdated terms for transgender people that some readers may find triggering. The guide follows the first edition paperback published by St. Martin’s Press in 1991.

Plot Summary

The book opens with Agent Jack Crawford pulling Clarice Starling out of training for a special assignment. As his personnel are busy working on the investigation of Buffalo Bill, Crawford asks Starling to help complete the FBI’s profiling database by interviewing imprisoned serial killer Dr. Hannibal Lecter. At the Baltimore State Hospital for the Criminally Insane, Clarice meets the arrogant administrator Dr. Chilton and the cunning Lecter. Lecter refuses to complete her questionnaire, but when another inmate assaults Clarice, Lecter gives her a clue to follow. Tracking down the lead, Clarice finds the preserved head of “Klaus”—a lover of Lecter’s former patient and victim—in a storage unit. Clarice returns to Lecter for more information, but Lecter wants to discuss Buffalo Bill.

When Buffalo Bill’s newest victim washes up in the Elk River, Crawford invites Clarice to fingerprint the corpse. Clarice examines the body of Kimberly Emberg, noting changes in the killer’s behavior that align with Lecter’s theories. Clarice finds a cocoon in Kimberly’s throat, which she takes to entomologists Pilcher and Roden to identify. In Clarice’s return visits to the museum, Pilcher identifies another moth from Klaus’s head and shows Clarice a live specimen. Connecting the two murders through this unique detail, Clarice again interviews Lecter.

Meanwhile, Buffalo Bill—real name Jame Gumb—abducts Senator Ruth Martin’s daughter, Catherine, and traps her in his basement. The killer makes ritualistic preparations to flay the woman and construct a garment of her and his other victims’ skin. Catherine, at the bottom of a dark oubliette, concocts a plan to trap Gumb’s dog and barter for her life. With new urgency in the case, Clarice bargains with Lecter using a false deal and Lecter guesses that Buffalo Bill began killing after a rejection for sex reassignment surgery. In exchange, Lecter forces Clarice to divulge traumatic childhood memories. Crawford tries unsuccessfully to follow Lecter’s clue, while Chilton makes a real deal with the Senator. Chilton secretly records Clarice’s conversation and taunts Lecter with the truth about her manipulation.

Chilton moves Lecter to Memphis, where he sends the Senator on the false trail for suspect “Billy” Rubin. A new taskforce takes over, but Clarice goes to Memphis to search Catherine’s apartment. Thwarted by the Senator and the Department of Justice’s Paul Krendler, Clarice sets out for the Memphis courthouse to speak with Lecter a final time. Clarice reveals more memories that have tormented her since childhood, and Lecter, satisfied with Clarice’s honesty, returns her casefile with his annotations. Lecter kills his guards and uses a gruesome disguise to fool the paramedics into carrying him outside. By the time the police realize Lecter’s trick, he is already on his way to St. Louis, where he prepares to leave the country.

Clarice uses Lecter’s annotations to form new theories, and follows a lead to Belvedere, Ohio—the hometown of Buffalo Bill’s first victim, Fredrica Bimmel. Clarice has an epiphany in Fredrica’s bedroom about how Buffalo Bill finds his victims, but Jerry Burroughs on the FBI hotline reveals that a SWAT team is preparing to surprise a new suspect, Jame Gumb, in Illinois. Clarice continues to interview Fredrica’s acquaintances, hoping to find corroborating evidence for the arrest, but instead she stumbles upon Jame Gumb’s real address. She follows the killer into his basement, where he chases her around the maze-like layout in the dark. Though Gumb has the advantage, Clarice shoots him dead and saves Catherine. Clarice returns to the Academy where she completes her schooling, learns of Gumb’s backstory, and goes on a date with Pilcher. Lecter writes to Clarice, congratulating her on her success.