Hannibal Rising

From the Bestselling author of 'The Silence of the Lambs'

Dr. Hannibal Lecter, the physician and monster who has fascinated millions, returns in Hannibal Rising, the new novel by Thomas Harris.

In Thomas Harris's previous novels, which include The Silence of the Lambs and Red Dragon, readers learned that Dr. Lecter saw his entire family killed during World War II in Eastern Europe. Hannibal Rising chronicles the early life of Dr. Lecter, covers the young Hannibal from age 6 to 20, and sheds more light on the circumstances of those deaths, with a focus on Dr. Lecter's memories of his younger sister, Mischa.

Thomas Harris has written the most compelling psychological suspense of our time and each of his novels has been an event. In Dr. Hannibal Lecter, he has gone beyond creating a master villain to present one of the most irresistibly brilliant and disturbing characters in all of literature. Now, in Hannibal Rising, readers will at last learn of Lecter's beginnings and will see the evolution of his evil.

Hannibal Lecter emerges from the nightmare of the Eastern Front, a boy in the snow, mute, with a chain around his neck.

He seems utterly alone, but he has brought his demons with him.

Hannibal's uncle, a noted painter, finds him in a Soviet orphanage and brings him to France, where Hannibal will live with his uncle and his uncle's beautiful and exotic wife, Lady Murasaki.

Lady Murasaki helps Hannibal to heal. With her help he flourishes, becoming the youngest person ever admitted to medical school in France.

But Hannibal's demons visit him and torment him. When he is old enough, he visits them in turn. He discovers he has gifts beyond the academic, and in that epiphany, Hannibal Lecter becomes death's prodigy.

About the Author:
A native of Mississippi, THOMAS HARRIS began his career covering crime in the United States and Mexico, and was a reporter and editor for the Associated Press in New York City. His first novel, BLACK SUNDAY, was published in 1975, followed by RED DRAGON in 1981, SILENCE OF THE LAMBS in 1988 and HANNIBAL in 1999.

Random House Australia
Author: Thomas Harris
ISBN: 9780434014088 / 0434014087
RRP: $49.95

Review: Chilling to the bone, best thriller published in years.