Top 20 American Crime Novels

Reading lists

Top 20 American crime writers

Serial-killer-books

13 of the best serial killer thrillers

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18 creepy horror audiobooks

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Features

How Thomas Harris defined a genre and created fiction’s most likeable villain

(Hannibal Lecter)

Silence Of The Lambs

Intellectually brilliant, cultured and sophisticated, with refined tastes in art, music and cuisine. And a pure sociopath. This is the series that launched the world’s number one villain – Hannibal Lecter.

THE LEGENDARY HANNIBAL LECTER THRILLER. Now fans of the new Sky Living TV series Hannibal can read the book that launched a legend.

THE CULT CLASSIC PSYCHOLIGICAL CRIME THRILLER THAT CREATED DR HANNIBAL LECTER 
 
‘The only FBI-centred novel worth reading’ The Guardian 
‘Completely gripping’ Time Out 
‘Endlessly terrifying’ Los Angeles Times 
 
A serial killer known as ‘Buffalo Bill’ is stalking women across America . . . 
 
He abducts them, starves them, and leaves their bodies in different states — each murder more disturbing than the last. 
 
To understand the Buffalo Bill's mindset, FBI rookie Clarice Starling is assigned to seek help from imprisoned psychopath and convicted serial killer Dr Hannibal Lecter, whose insight into the depraved minds of killers is second to none. Locked away in a high-security asylum, Lecter agrees to help — but at a price. 
 
In exchange for inviting her into the darkest chambers of his mind, Hannibal begins to probe at hers, demanding knowledge of her childhood demons as the price of understanding Buffalo Bill's. 
 
Clarice knows exactly how dangerous Hannibal Lecter is — and what he can do with the secrets she reveals. 
 
But women are still disappearing, and time is running out. To save innocent lives, Clarice might have to risk her own . . . 
 
Praise for the Thomas Harris and the Hannibal Lecter series: 
 
‘The best popular novel published since The Godfather’ Stephen King 
 
‘Completely gripping’ Time Out 
 
‘An intricately crafted chiller’ Observer 
 
‘No one has illuminated this kind of darkness more thoroughly or effectively than Harris. It seems unlikely that anyone ever will.’ Washington Post 
 
‘A unique master still at the top of his strange and chilling form.’ Wall Street Journal 
 
‘Handles the suspense as finely as you would expect from one of the genre's foremost practitioners’ CrimeReads 
 
‘Will not disappoint fans of disturbing, taut thrillers’ BookPage 
 
‘Endlessly terrifying’ Los Angeles Times

Thomas Harris is the author of five novels and is perhaps best known for his character Hannibal Lecter. All of his books have been made into films, including most notably the multiple Oscar winner, The Silence of the Lambs. Harris began his writing career covering crime in the United States and Mexico, and was a reporter and editor at the Associated Press in New York.

_________________________ 
THE CLASSIC THRILLER BEHIND THE OSCAR-WINNING MOVIE 
 
FBI trainee Clarice Starling has an elusive serial killer to hunt. 
Only one man can help. 
Psychopathic cannibal Hannibal Lecter... 
 
The serial killer nicknamed 'Buffalo Bill' has been capturing and starving women, then murdering and skinning them. FBI rookie Clarice Starling is assigned to solicit help from imprisoned psychopath Dr Hannibal 'the Cannibal' Lecter, whose insight into the depraved minds of serial killers is second to none. 
 
But in exchange for inviting her into the darkest chambers of his mind, Hannibal begins to probe at hers, demanding knowledge of her childhood demons as the price of understanding Buffalo Bill's. 
 
Clarice knows how dangerous this man is, and the terrible things he can do with this information. But women are still disappearing, and time is running out...

The original Hannibal Lecter classic (Hannibal Lecter)

Red Dragon

The thriller that launched Hannibal Lecter's legacy of evil. Now fans of the new Sky Living TV series Hannibal can read the books that launched a legend.

THE ICONIC CULT CLASSIC - THE THRILLER SERIES THAT CREATED DR HANNIBAL LECTER 
 
The chilling first book in the bestselling psychological crime thriller series behind the Oscar Award-winning film, The Silence of the Lambs. 
 
‘The best popular novel published since The Godfather’ Stephen King 
 
Will Graham was a brilliant profiler of criminals for the FBI - until he suffered terrible injuries in the process of capturing Dr Hannibal 'the Cannibal' Lecter. 
 
Years later, a new serial killer is terrorising America. Dubbed the ‘Tooth Fairy’ by the press, he murders entire families under the full moon, leaving no witnesses behind. 
 
With no leads and time running out, the FBI turns to the one man who understands the minds of psychopaths better than anyone: Will Graham. 
 
To catch a monster, Graham must confront another - Hannibal Lecter. 
 
But Hannibal is playing his own twisted game from the asylum for the criminally insane. And Will isn't the only one getting advice from the cannibal… 
 
Praise for the Thomas Harris and the Hannibal Lecter series: 
 
‘The only FBI-centred novel worth reading’ The Guardian 
 
‘No one has illuminated this kind of darkness more thoroughly or effectively than Harris. It seems unlikely that anyone ever will.’ Washington Post 
 
‘A unique master still at the top of his strange and chilling form.’ Wall Street Journal 
‘Handles the suspense as finely as you would expect from one of the genre's foremost practitioners’ – CrimeReads 
 
‘Will not disappoint fans of disturbing, taut thrillers’ BookPage 
 
‘Endlessly terrifying’ Los Angeles Times

_________________________ 
THE LEGENDARY THRILLER THAT CREATED DR HANNIBAL LECTER 
 
Will Graham was a brilliant profiler of criminals for the FBI - until he suffered terrible injuries in the process of capturing Dr Hannibal 'the Cannibal' Lecter. 
 
Years later, a serial killer nicknamed 'the Tooth Fairy' is massacring entire families each full moon. With the FBI desperate for progress, Will reluctantly agrees to consult. But he soon realises that he alone can't crack the case; he needs the help of the only mind even better than his own at understanding the mentalities of psychopaths. 
 
The mind of Hannibal Lecter. 
 
But Hannibal is playing his own twisted game from the asylum for the criminally insane. Will isn't alone in getting advice from the cannibal. So is the Tooth Fairy - the man haunted by visions of the murderous Red Dragon...

Hannibal

THE RETURN OF HANNIBAL LECTER Thomas Harris's follow-up to The Silence of the Lambs once again pits Clarice Starling against Hannibal the Cannibal in this utterly compelling thriller. Now fans of the new Sky Living TV series Hannibal can read the books that launched a legend.

_________________________ 
HANNIBAL LECTER HAS BEEN ON THE RUN FOR SEVEN YEARS. 
 
And seven years after he helped FBI Special Agent Clarice Starling bring down Buffalo Bill, her career is collapsing after a disastrous drug bust. 
 
Meanwhile, seven years after violently escaping from custody, Hannibal Lecter is hunted by Mason Verger, a psychopathic former client obsessed with feeding him to wild boars. 
 
With the one-time partners at a low ebb, Hannibal is the one to reach out to Clarice, who has been plagued by dreams of his rasping voice. 
 
It has been seven years since they both came to realise they shared more than they expected. 
 
Seven years since their last meeting. 
 
Seven years to lay plans for the next one... 
__________________________________ 
 
'Quite simply a compelling and brilliant thriller' Mirror 
 
'Addictive on every level' Express 
 
'Better than Red Dragon and Silence of the Lambs' Stephen King

Hannibal Rising

The story of Hannibal Lecter's childhood and early years, from the mega-bestselling author of Hannibal and The Silence of the Lambs. Now fans of the new Sky Living TV series Hannibal can read the books that launched a legend.

_________________________ 
HANNIBAL LECTER WASN'T BORN A MONSTER. 
HE WAS MADE ONE. 
 
Hannibal Lecter emerges from the nightmare of the Eastern Front of World War II, a boy in the snow, mute, with a chain around his neck. He will not speak of what happened to him and his family. 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. There, Hannibal lives with his uncle and his uncle's beautiful and exotic wife, Lady Murasaki, who helps him to heal - and flourish. 
 
But Hannibal's demons are not so easily defeated. Throughout his young life, they visit him and torment him. When he is old enough, he visits them in turn - and in the fog of traumatic memory, he discovers that he has gifts far beyond what he imagined...

The Hannibal Lecter Collection

INCLUDES ALL FOUR HANNIBAL LECTER EBOOKS 
 
Red Dragon - The thriller that launched Hannibal Lecter's legacy of evil. 
 
The Silence of the Lambs - FBI trainee Clarice Starling has an elusive serial killer to hunt. Only one man can help. 
 
Hannibal - It has been seven years since Dr Hannibal Lecter has been on the run. Seven years since his last meeting with Clarice Starling. Seven years to lay plans for the next one. 
 
Hannibal Rising - Hannibal Lecter wasn't born a monster. He was made one.

Thomas Harris

As good as ever. Reading his prose is like running a slow hand down cold silk.

The good news for readers of Cari Mora is that Hannibal is here in spirit if not in person. This is a very peculiar book, lavishly ridiculous in almost every respect and fully committed to the gothic extremes of human cruelty ... Sounds like fun, right? Well, it is … There are decapitations, multiple dismemberments and brains dripping off ceilings. Also, a certain amount of lyrical stuff about manatees and seabirds, and some comic business with a foul-mouthed cockatoo … What his fans look for is here – turned up to 11.

Thomas Harris set the bar for modern suspense writing … [Cari Mora is] a tense heist thriller, plausibly grounded in coastal Florida and urban Colombia ... Harris’s best since The Silence of the Lambs

Cari Mora reinforces the brilliance of an author who can carve a piece of art from the placement of words on a page to form a narrative that scorches the mind, and makes one think.

A literary event ... Thomas Harris is a supreme thriller writer – for not only does he create memorable and monstrous villains, but he also gives us formidable female protagonists … Violent, brutal and action-packed, yet told with Harris’s typical wry wit, it crackles from first page to last.

As you would expect from the author this is violent, gruesome and terrifyingly tense.

A cavalcade of the grotesque, with murderous figures that make Hannibal the Cannibal, the Tooth Fairy and Buffalo Bill appear like upright citizens from small-town America. In Cari Mora, Harris has plumbed the depths of Dante’s Inferno to craft characters who see violent death as a lucrative career … Harris turns up the heat … Hollywood directors will be dreaming of a golden windfall by putting this page-clawing thriller on to the big screen. Harris is a superlative storyteller with an eye for the director’s cut.

Thomas Harris, the creator of Hannibal Lecter, is the greatest thriller writer of our time … An expertly delivered and fast-paced thriller, full of distinctively Harrisian inflections … So here is that utterly distinctive imaginative world again … A fierce read.

A gripping tale of lost cartel gold … No shortage of physical action … Harris delivers a narrative that is absolutely cut to the bone

Pulse-boosting suspense …Harris’s flavourful prose: laconic, tough-guy Hemingway one moment … then veering off into imagery of a Baroque luxuriance … Harris evokes the poetry of everyday life – especially the natural world.

A supreme thriller with a great female protagonist, this is Harris at his wry best.

Written with gusto […] the pleasure in this one is watching Harris unwind.

from the creator of Hannibal Lecter

_______________________ 
A story of evil, greed and the consequences of dark obsession. 
 
Twenty-five million dollars in cartel gold lies hidden beneath a mansion on the Miami Beach waterfront. Ruthless men have tracked it for years. 
 
Cari Mora, caretaker of the house, has escaped the violence of her native country. 
 
Beautiful and marked by war, she catches the eye of Hans-Peter Schneider, the insatiably violent leader of the group of men looking for the gold. 
 
But Cari has surprising skills, and her will to survive has been tested before… 
 _______________________ 
‘Tantalising and engaging’ 
The Times 
 
‘Expertly delivered and fast-paced.’ 
Evening Standard 
 
‘A supreme thriller.' 
Daily Mail 
 
‘Memorably horrific.’ 
Financial Times 
 
‘Like running a slow hand down cold silk.’ 
Stephen King

Thomas Harris

Books by Thomas Harris

Series by Thomas Harris

Hannibal Lecter

Articles featuring Thomas Harris

Top 20 American crime writers

13 of the best serial killer thrillers

18 creepy horror audiobooks

How Thomas Harris defined a genre and created fiction’s most likeable villain

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