Hannibal (novel)

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Hannibal

First edition cover
Author Thomas Harris
Country United States
Language English
Series Hannibal Lecter
Genre(s) Thriller
Publisher Delacorte Press
Publication date 8 June 1999
Media type Print (Hardback & Paperback)
Pages 484 pp (first edition, hardback)
ISBN ISBN 0-385-33487-7 (first edition, hardback)
Preceded by The Silence of the Lambs
Followed by Hannibal Rising

Hannibal is a novel by Thomas Harris, a third part of a series involving his iconic psychopathic character Hannibal Lecter. The novel takes place seven years after the events of The Silence of the Lambs and deals with the intended revenge of one of Hannibal Lecter's victims. The novel also is the source material for the film Hannibal, directed by Ridley Scott.

[edit] Plot summary

Hannibal is set after The Silence of the Lambs. Dr. Hannibal Lecter, the cannibalistic murderer, having escaped from custody seven years earlier, is still eluding the FBI. Special agent Clarice Starling, who had interviewed Dr. Lecter during his incarceration to gain insight into the mind of the serial killer Buffalo Bill, is on the case to capture him. In order to convince the FBI directors that Starling needs to be terminated, Starling's nemesis in the U.S. Department of Justice, Paul Krendler, implies that an inappropriate relationship exists between Starling and Lecter. After a private reward is issued from Lecter's only surviving victim, the disgustingly disfigured wealthy child molester Mason Verger, Krendler attempts to put Starling in distress, so that Lecter will come out of hiding in order to comfort her. For the time being, she is retained simply to help him catch Lecter, so that he will get the reward.

Years earlier, Lecter had persuaded Verger to cut off his own face with mirror shards while under the influence of drugs, before he broke Verger's neck. Surprisingly, Verger didn't die. As a billionaire, he could afford the best medical care and rehabilitation: he survives in relative comfort in his vast country estate. As revenge Verger intends to mutilate Lecter by feeding him piece-by-piece to specially bred boars, kept on a farm in Sardinia by a family descended from many generations of brigands and kidnappers. They train the boars in a curious way: They place a scarecrow-like effigy, made of old clothes stuffed with sausage and other meat, in front of the boars, while playing the tape-recorded screams of torture victims. This whets the boars' appetite enough to attack a living victim, if they can find one. Verger thinks he can.

Lecter is discovered to be residing in Florence, Italy, under the false name Dr. Fell. Since he is fluent in Tuscan and an expert on Dante and Italian Renaissance art, he is appointed curator of library and museum located in an elegant palazzo dating from Dante's time, updated with modern conveniences: plumbing, wiring, an elevator, an Internet connection. During this time, Krendler plants a romantic letter from Lecter in Starling's office, and upon seeing this falsified letter, the FBI puts her on suspended leave for three months. She is now powerless to stop Verger's men. Having discovered the true identity of Dr. Fell, the police commissioner of Florence, named Pazzi, assembles a team of independent workers and attempts to capture Lecter. We are introduced to Dr Fell, as are his new patrons, at a lecture on Dante, suicide, hanging, and embezzlement, describing in detail two cases: Judas Iscariot and a certain 15th-century Pazzi. The modern Pazzi, while listening to the lecture, has brought Verger's Sardinian minions to the palazzo to capture Lecter; instead, Lecter captures Pazzi and kills him as one of his ancestors had been, hanging him from a balcony, with one choice: bowels in, or out. Hearing no reply from Pazzi, Lecter disembowels him before pushing him off the balcony.

He returns to Washington to stalk (without homicidal intentions) Starling upon learning of her being placed on temporary suspension of duty from the FBI. Later, he visits a hospital, in scrubs, to borrow some surgical tools.

When Lecter arrives, he kills a bow-hunter who had offended him, then butchers the hunter's body for meat. Lecter begins stalking Starling and is captured at a market as he waits for Starling to return so he can give her a birthday present - a bottle of Chateau d'Yquem from her birth year. While waiting in the parking lot for Starling to return, Lecter is captured by the Sardinian kidnappers. Starling witnesses the abduction, and reports it to the FBI. The FBI doubts Starling's claim, and Verger further discredits her by claiming he has received threatening voicemails from Starling, so only a brief sweep of Verger's farm is performed. No trace of Lecter is found. Starling decides that she cannot allow Lecter to be tortured to death, though she can understand Verger's quest for revenge, and she arrives at the farm to rescue Lecter from Verger. In the process, she is shot twice with darts filled with a strong tranquilizer, and Lecter, now free, carries the unconscious Starling away from the vicious boars. Verger is killed by his sister Margot, whom he sexually abused. During a previous conversation with Lecter, Margot tells him of all her troubles, namely that her life partner, Judy, and herself want a child but that the child will only inherit her family's fortune if a DNA test proves he is descended from the Verger line. Margot's ovaries have shriveled because of her steroid use, and Mason has promised to let her use his semen to impregnate Judy, ensuring the child's future. Lecter reminds Margot that Mason will never give her his semen, and that she could use some of the semen that his body would emit upon death were she to kill him. He offers to take the blame for the murder, thereby protecting Margot from any incarceration. Though she initially dismisses the idea, Margot kills her brother after the escape of Lecter by shoving Mason's prized eel into his disfigured mouth. She then plants evidence that Lecter provided her, and Lecter leaves a voicemail taking the credit for the crime. In return, Margot delivers Paul Krendler into Lecter's hand.

In his secluded rented beach house, Lecter begins treating Starling with a mixture of psychotherapy and psychotropic drugs in an attempt to get to know her better to see if he should get rid of her to make a place for his late sister, Mischa. He gives her an injection of morphine and dresses her in an elegant evening gown. Lecter captures Krendler, puts him in a wheelchair, and sits him at the dinner table with Starling and himself: he has already prepared Krendler by removing the top of his skull. Lecter slices off parts of Krendler's frontal lobes and sautés them in a chafing dish and serves the brains to Starling and himself. After dinner, Starling and Lecter speak about his failed attempt to transform her into his dead sister. Realizing the pain and shame that her life with the FBI has brought to her, Starling offers herself to Lecter and disappears with him. The couple are sighted in Buenos Aires, Argentina three years later by Lecter's former orderly, Barney Matthews.

[edit] Characters in Hannibal

[edit] Factual Errors and Changes to Previous Characters

In his narration, Thomas Harris refers to a coin as an "Australian Quarter", this is an error as the coin in question is actually a 20 cent piece, not a 25 cent piece.

The name of Jack Crawford's wife is different from Red Dragon. In Red Dragon his wife's name is Phyllis, were as in Hannibal her name is Bella.


v • d • e
Thomas Harris's Hannibal series
Novels

Red Dragon • The Silence of the Lambs
Hannibal • Hannibal Rising

 Main Characters

Hannibal Lecter
Will Graham
Clarice Starling

 Films

Manhunter • The Silence of the Lambs • Hannibal
Red Dragon • Hannibal Rising
Secondary Characters

List of minor characters in the Hannibal series
Buffalo Bill • Francis Dolarhyde • Frederick Chilton • Jack Crawford • Mason Verger • Lady Murasaki