Hannibal
by Thomas Harris
Thomas Harris's 'Hannibal' is suspense at its finest. Harris is able to capture a 'sense of the sinister' with precision and textual economy, sustaining the mood throughout the story. From the genesis to the denoument, the novel's potency is preserved.
Three vignettes are worth mentioning. The first, on pages 65-68, is a brilliant case study of the psychotic mind. Here we see Lecter exercising his pathological disdain for accepted social behaviour by openly flossing after eating Steak Tartare at Maxim's. To compound his plunge into darkness, Lecter refuses to tip the waiter, stating coldly, "Two hours I waited for my meal! The only thing rarer than this meat is your service!"
The second, on pages 145-157, demonstrates the author's dexterity with character development. In this defining passage, Clarice Starling declines Lecter's invitation to go ballroom dancing in a skilfully constructed interplay that includes the line, "But Hannibaby, I've heard you trip not only the light fantastic but everything else on the dance floor!"
The final excerpt validates the author's reputation as a master of both conflict and pathos. On pages 212-236, Mason Verger, one of Lecter's surviving victims, is hospitalized, and the mood is taut. The intensity develops, eventually exploding when Verger shouts to the trembling nurse, "Will you get this pelican out of my nightshirt! I said I wanted a bed-bath, not a bird-bath! If that creep hadn't eaten my hands, I'd wring its neck!".
Thomas Harris is a wiley wordsmith and his book is a classic. And it seems apposite here to clarify the reason my close friend, Harrison Ford, turned down the lead role in the film. It wasn't the money, as reported in 'Rolling Stone'. It was because Harry hadn't played a pelican before and his agent said he'd never get the walk right.
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