The Silence of the Lambs

By: Thomas Harris

Narrated by: Frank Muller

Length: 10 hrs and 43 mins

Publisher's summary

A serial murderer known only by a grotesquely apt nickname—Buffalo Bill—is stalking women. He has a purpose, but no one can fathom it, for the bodies are discovered in different states. Clarice Starling, a young trainee at the FBI Academy, is surprised to be summoned by Jack Crawford, chief of the Bureau's Behavioral Science section. Her assignment: to interview Dr. Hannibal Lecter—Hannibal the Cannibal—who is kept under close watch in the Baltimore State Hospital for the Criminally Insane.

Dr. Lecter is a former psychiatrist with a grisly history, unusual tastes, and an intense curiosity about the darker corners of the mind. His intimate understanding of the killer and of Clarice herself form the core of Thomas Harris' The Silence of the Lambs—and ingenious, masterfully written book and an unforgettable classic of suspense fiction.

Please note: This is an historical recording. The audio quality represents the technology of the time when it was produced.

©1998 Thomas Harris (P)2011 Simon & Schuster

Critic reviews

"Scary Tales are always best when told out loud, which is why a novel such as The Silence of the Lambs works so well on tape." (Playboy)

"Even if you’ve already loved the movie and the book, you’ll still love this production of this wildly successful thriller.... This telling should not be missed. Acclaimed and popular narrator Frank Muller does his usual great narration by changing timbre and the level of his voice and sometimes his accent. The characters sound exactly as they should in this wonderful production. It’s probably wise to stay away from listening to this while eating, but otherwise it’s a triumph." (AudioFile)

simply amazing

ignore the movie. this is the silence of the lambs you wanted. great narration, perfect.

Enthralling!

I loved listening to the narrator bring all these famed characters to life! Images from the movie fit right in as I listened along.

great audiobook!

This is a great audiobook. The novel is great and the storytelling lends itself well to an audiobook. I highly recommend. My one complaint is that the volume is low, which made listening to the book while driving somewhat annoying.

Loved it!

I have seen the movie and it's sequels, the book is so much better in that you can glimpse the mind of the characters. Well worth listening to!

Great Movie Awesome Book!

I was a little hesitant about picking up this book since I have seen the movie dozens of times. I am really glad I did, I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Reading this book made the movie seem even better. The movie did a great job in keeping true to the book. The book added more character development and back stories that wasn't possible to fit into a 2 hour movie.

The author does a great job of getting you interested in the plot and charaters from the very beginning and then never letting up. The book keeps and perfect pace never too much or too little detail.

Frank Muller one of the best narrators ever and he didn't disappoint in this book, he nailed all the characters.

The only thing I didn't like about this book is I was so captivated by it I couldn't stop listening and finished it within the first few days instead of stretching it for a week or two by listening to it on Walks and Commuting

Big fan

I am a big fan of the movie and a bigger fan of the book, a great listen

Classic!

This book is everything a suspense should be, well written and a true nail bitter.

One of my favorite books

I very much enjoyed listening to this book. The narrator did an especially great job! It was engrossing. I have listened to it more than once.

Better than the movie

Would you consider the audio edition of The Silence of the Lambs to be better than the print version?

Yes

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

I would have made Buffalo Bill's victims bigger than a woman's size 12 to make it more believable that a man 6'2'' was trying to make a suit for himself.

Have you listened to any of Frank Muller’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No

Riveting and dark mystery thriller

This audiobook is everything in the movie, plus more. The big difference is that there is a lot more on the serial killer, all of it creepy and engaging. I assume everyone reading this knows the basic plot line - a young woman studying to be an FBI agent is pulled into a serial killer case in order to try to get info from Hannibal Lector, an incarcerated genius cannibal-killer who may be able to help. Lector is one of the all-time great villains of fiction / cinema. The reader captures Lector so well. My only criticism is that the reader often speaks in a melodramatic drawl, something that works with Lector but gets tiring otherwise. Still, the story is so powerful, I got used to the voice (which added to parts of this and detracted from other parts). The final few hours were so riveting, even for a listener who had seen the movie more than once. This novel, like Hannibal Lector, is a work of twisted genius.