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You won't miss out on any essential plot you would need in order to read Silence of the Lambs, but you will miss out on an amazing book with pretty cool characters and interesting murders.
The only upside I can see to not reading this book would be that you don't experience the emptiness of no longer reading from Will Graham's perspective once you're done with this one, even though Clarice is great too :)
The only upside I can see to not reading this book would be that you don't experience the emptiness of no longer reading from Will Graham's perspective once you're done with this one, even though Clarice is great too :)
Doris N
I would recommend skipping Silence of the Lambs and reading this one, if you have to pick.
Charlie Kruger
while it is possible to read SotL without RD s a bedrock, it really sells the whole arc short. the way the trilogy moves, the way it builds and morphs is integral to the long game that Hannibal is playing. personally, i think Red Dragon is the best in the series, and am thus quite drenched with bias, and that while the victories in the other books are less overwhelming and, frankly, devastating than in this one.
Elizabeth A Detrich
I was going to go immediately to book 2 but (thankfully) took the advice of a good friend and read book 1 first. In truth, I would read it if only to set the stage for the magnificence of Hannibal Lecter's grip into others' psyche.
The author paints a masterful portrait of his characters in gripping language, it's truly a fun read.
The author paints a masterful portrait of his characters in gripping language, it's truly a fun read.
Celenia Pendygraft
I read it first, then watched the movie. That is the reason I read Silence Of the Lambs. Took me a while to finish Silence because it was so scary-and that and Anne Rice’s Mayfield Witches are the only two books that have really scared me. When I finally finished both, I loved them. Both are well written.
Tim
You "can", in that it won't extensively lessen Silence of the Lambs (it might lessen it a bit, just not a lot), you'll still enjoy it.
With that being said,
DON'T.
You'd be depriving yourself of possibly the best book of the series, and missing out on the most raw writing Harris offers in the series.
Seriously, if you're interested in Hannibal, don't skip this one just because he's a side character. This entire book is an embodiment of the exact spirit of what makes Hannibal so fascinating, and we get to get some of that same fascinating Hannibal-like thinking through the main character, who is about a million times more interesting than Clarice.
Do yourself a favour and don't skip it just because of name recognition.
With that being said,
DON'T.
You'd be depriving yourself of possibly the best book of the series, and missing out on the most raw writing Harris offers in the series.
Seriously, if you're interested in Hannibal, don't skip this one just because he's a side character. This entire book is an embodiment of the exact spirit of what makes Hannibal so fascinating, and we get to get some of that same fascinating Hannibal-like thinking through the main character, who is about a million times more interesting than Clarice.
Do yourself a favour and don't skip it just because of name recognition.
Sue
I read Silence of the Lambs 22 years ago. I felt I was in the situation imaging that I was watching the story unfold. I recommended it to a few friends and remarked "this would make a great movie" . Little did I know that the book had been written a few years, and there was a movie at the local movie outlet. Got it immediately.
bellhopbooks
I read silence of the lambs first mainly because I couldn't find a copy of Red Dragon. Didn't make much difference to the plot.
Anna
Even if I don't recommend it (because I really like this book), you can enjoy the silence of the lambs without reading any other books from this series.
Alexandra Alexyna
My opinion exactly. You can skip it aldoght it's a great book
Raquel
I believe you can skip it. You will lose a bit of backstory (specially about Jack Crawford) tough.
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