4 stars for the book, 5 stars for the audiobook (the narrator is superb).

While this is a fantastic book, not really sure why its called silence of the lambs. There's very little emphasis on the lambs and their screaming compared to the movie. There's like, one throwaway line about it and then Harris fixates on how the lambs were the drive for Starling. There's just not enough evidence of this. It kind of muddles that message.

I'm surprised at how well this book aged compared to the movie over all. While there are still some crappy authors using the 'man in a dress murders women' as a stand in for their own fear of trans women, Harris doesn't seem to actually have done this and emphasis that trans people are in need of care, not to be made into boogie...people. Seems a bit hypocritical, I know, but for a book published more than 30 years ago the author took more care with the subject matter than many do today.

As always, Hannibal Lecter is a fantastic villain. Starling is much more badass in the book and I LOVED Catherine Martin. Crawford has an actual character and storyline. Jame Gumb is a real person. Just a solid book :)