owerful, Creepy, Scary and often just plain sick. The climax is all of these brought together at the expense of someone who really deserves it (The manner of his down fall is probably impossible - but whose going to check!) In a particularly twisted way its also a love story!

In honour of the UK release of the film. Suggest you read the Scanning/Proofing notes at the end before reading it. From a UK paperback version. Enjoy. AFB,

Hannibal by Thomas Harris

Seven years have passed since Hannibal Lecter escaped from custody, seven years since FBI Special Agent Clarice Starling interviewed him in a maximum security Hospital for the criminally insane. The doctor is still at large, but Starling has never forgotten her encounters with Dr Lecter, and the metallic rasp of his seldom-used voice still sounds in her dreams...

'Quite simply a compelling and brilliant thriller' Mirror.

'It has been worth the wait...Look no further for the chiller of the year.' The Times.

'A gut-churning, nail-biting, skin-crawling triumph - addictive on every level' Express.

'Readers who have been waiting for Hannibal only want to know if it is as good as Red Dragon and The Silence of the Lambs...It is a pleasure to reply in the negative. No. Not as good. This one is better' Stephen King.

Praise for Hannibal

"Is this the best novel of the year? . . . a masterpiece . . . chillingly brilliant . . . Hannibal grips like a vice, from its brilliantly realized opening to its horrifying and delightfully whimsical conclusion . . . [the book] grabs you by the ear, the eye, the throat and drags the reader helplessly around a switchback-cum-maze of narrative ingenuity . . . I sat skewered to my seat until the last page . . . Every line of Hannibal is suffused with the sense of a titanic struggle with evil in its blackest form . . . It contains writing of which our best writers would be proud . . . In Hannibal, Harris has surpassed himself. It has wit, erudition, golden dialogue and it does that thing that most novels can't do: it describes almost constant action. I'm prepared to bet that Observer readers won't pick up a more compelling novel this year." Robert McCrum, Observer

"Well if this novel isn't the number one bestseller by this time next week, I'll eat my tongue . . . [it] is quite simply a compelling and brilliant thriller . . . it seems all too real and quite terrifying. Thomas Harris is a brilliantly clever author . . . Sentence for sentence there is nobody to match him . . . It is an incredible achievement . . . absorbing" Mirror

"The readers who have been waiting for Hannibal only want to know if it is as good as Red Dragon and The Silence of the Lambs . . . It is a pleasure to reply in the negative. No, not as good. This one is better. It is, in fact, one of the two most frightening popular novels of our time, the other being The Exorcist . . . Hannibal is really not a sequel at all, but rather the third and most satisfying part of one very long and scary ride through the haunted palace of abnormal psychiatry. . . I hope with all my heart that [Harris] will write again, and sooner rather than later - novels that bravely and cleverly erase the line between popular fiction and literature are very much to be prized." Stephen King, New York Times Book Review

"No panting fan waiting these 11 years for the three Thomas Harrises to become four could have hoped for more. Tense, dark, allusive and alert to the state of the nation, Hannibal is a great popular novel and a plausible candidate for the Pulitzer Prize. The last two decades of 19th century popular fiction were dominated by Conan Doyle and Sherlock Holmes. A century on, suspense literature has achieved their equals in Thomas Harris and Hannibal Lecter." Guardian

"[Hannibal] ought to have been a flop - The Silence of the Lambs should have been an impossible act to follow. But the opposite is the case: it is a gut-churning, nail-biting, skin-crawling, often lyrical triumph-addictive on every level . . . If there's a better book this year, with truth, fantasy and a touch of erudition combined in prose which really does leap off the page, I'll eat my hat." Francis Fyfield, Express

"Astonishing . . . Hannibal grips from the very beginning like a crazed dog on Mason Verger's face. And while it's the devilish detail which makes this book a delight to read, the revelations concerning Lecter's own psychology, and that of Clarice Starling, make it imperative that you get to the end. The tension between my desire to savor this story and find out what happens was deliciously awful . . . Harris is that most unusual of things, a genre writer who supersedes and transfigures the genre he chose to write in. I raise my glass of Chateau d'Yquem to him." Will Self, Independent on Sunday

"There is no book more unputdownable this summer . . . The thrills, horror, sly erudition and sheer exquisite writing make this so much more than another serial killer novel . . . [It] reaches almost sublime levels of gothic grandeur at its conclusion. If only all bestsellers were so rewarding" Guardian "An absolutely holiday must. Quite simply this is the best-written thriller to dominate the market in years . . . in the wit, erudition and sheer style of the eponymous Dr Lecter, we have not only a world-class villain but a literary evocation of the diabolical to compare with Goethe and Gogol. Honestly" The Times

"So does Hannibal live up to the expectations raised by a wait of ten years? Yes. Or rather, no, it exceeds them. Hannibal is a momentous achievement . . . the reader is held in a ferocious grip. He lies at the author's mercy . . . Hannibal works faultlessly as a thriller . . . no sooner have you finished it than you want to go through it again . . . Hannibal is the work of a real writer, following his own path, despite the pressures of fame. He's not doing it for money and there won't be another Lecter novel. We're lucky to have this." Evening Standard

"On paper Lecter is wittier, more complex and more frightening than any actor could convey on screen" Daily Telegraph

"Impeccably researched, marvelously written and peppered with Harris's dark humor . . . blackly, bizarrely funny, horrific, emotionally wrenching. . . confirms Harris's status as a master of the genre" Irish Times

"Beautifully written . . . there is not a single ugly or dead sentence here . . . Lecter is a superbly seductive creation" Sunday Times

"Insanely readable . . . No thriller writer is better attuned than Thomas Harris to the rhythms of suspense. No horror writer is more adept at making the stomach churn . . . compelling . . . truly shocking . . . a brilliant book" Craig Brown, Mail on Sunday

"It has taken Harris the better part of a decade to produce this, only his fourth novel. It has been worth the wait . . . Harris's writing bears the hallmarks of honed perfection . . . This piece of literature is popular fiction only in the sense that it will sell. And sell . . . Look no further for the chiller of the year: Hannibal walks among us." Peter Millar, The Times

"Terrific . . . Hannibal confirms our worst fears and will spur many nightmares this summer. It's that good. What can one say but: pig out" Scotland on Sunday

"A master breaks his own mould. Edgar Allan Poe for today" Evening Standard

"Masterful . . . disturbing . . . a fine novel, deep and intriguing, worthy of its bald, bold language and biblical allusion . . . Lecter's power as a character of fiction is that he lives to haunt us, to exist in the reader's imagination outside the novel, to stand beside the other monsters lingering in the shadows: the Beast with his Beauty, Grendel, Bluebeard and Dracula." The Times

"Gets off to a flying start, and barely relents for near on 500 pages. You will be sleeping with the lights on" Harpers & Queen

"Harris is a superb writer, clean, economical and witty - as razor sharp in plot and character as Hannibal's rib-tickling knife" Scotland on Sunday

"While Harris twists the plot with his usual ease, few will foresee the final outcome which is exactly how a Harris novel should be . . . shows you how psychological horror should be done" List

"This is superior craftsmanship, beautifully written and filled with strikingly elegant prose shot through with a coal-black wit, every sentence honed to perfection, making this novel a masterpiece of contemporary fiction" Uncut

"Hannibal Lecter is back at his deadliest best. . . for sheer heart-stopping suspense he's hard to beat in a deliriously sadistic dance with death which will grip you to its eerie, unexpected climax" Big Issue

"The most significant sequel since Paradise Regained" Independent

"Reading Hannibal and trying to figure out why Harris is so much better than other writers at this sort of thing is a bit like watching a magician . . . Not even the most astute reader will be able to foresee where Harris is leading, but few will be disappointed to get there. And where he takes us in the end is all the more shocking for the calm tones in which it is related." New York Post

"Deliciously frightening . . . interested in getting the hell scared out of you? Buy this book on a Friday. Plan a weekend of easy-to-identify meals. Lock all doors and windows. And by Monday, God and That Guy willing, you just might be able to sleep without a night-light." Newsday

"486 fast-paced pages, in which every respite is but a prelude to further furious action. . . a tale that is endlessly terrifying . . . Hannibal speaks to the imagination, to the feelings, to the passions, to exalted senses and to debased ones. Harris's voice will be heard for awhile." Los Angeles Times

"Diabolically clever plotting . . . Harris serves up a feast in Hannibal . . . Harris writes like an angel with the devil's sense of humor . . . The hypnotic blend of horror story and psychological thriller lifts crime fiction to sublime . . . Hannibal is ghoulishly good fare." Boston Herald

"A work of art . . . You'll eat up Hannibal . . . There isn't a wasted word . . . the last 100 pages are the best I've ever read in the thriller genre." USA Today

"[A] devilish tale . . . eerily realistic and chillingly vivid from beginning to end. As Harris sketches his hideous scenarios, he allows us to color them in with our imaginations. But not overdoing it, he draws us in, practically making us conspirators in his macabre fantasy." New York Post

"A truly scary book . . . As deep and disturbing a thriller as has ever been written." People

"[A] page-turner . . . I have read every word of Hannibal, most of them only twice, but some as many as five or six times." New York Magazine

About the author

A native of Mississippi, Thomas Harris began his writing 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, The Silence of the Lambs in 1988 and Hannibal in 1999.

Also by Thomas Harris

BLACK SUNDAY

RED DRAGON

THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS

Published in the United Kingdom in 2000 by Arrow Books l 3 S 7 9 10 8 6 4 2 Copyright (c) Yazoo Fabrications, Inc 1999 The right of Thomas Harris to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988.

This novel is a work of fiction. Names and characters are the product of the author's imagination and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher's prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

First published in the United Kingdom in 1999 by William Heinemann Arrow Books The Random House Group Limited 20 Vauxhall Bridge Road, London, SW1V 2SA Random (louse Australia (Pry) Limited 20 Alfred Street, Milsons Point, Sydney, New South Wales 2061, Australia Random House New Zealand Limited 18 Poland Road, Glenfield Auckland 10, New Zealand Random House (Pry) Limited Endulini, 5a Jubilee Road, Parktown 2193, South Africa The Random House Group Limited Reg. No, 954009 www.randomhouse.co.uk A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Papers used by Random House are natural, recyclable products made from wood grown in sustainable forests. The manufacturing processes conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin Typeset by Palimpsest Book Production Limited, Polmont, Stirlingshire Printed and bound in Germany by Elsnerdruck, Berlin ISBN 0 01) 929770 1 I WASHINGTON, D.C.

Hannibal by Thomas Harris