Thomas Harris Books In Order

Publication Order of Hannibal Lecter Books

Chronological Order of Hannibal Lecter Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Anthologies

Thomas Harris is one of the most popular authors of the mystery and thriller genres, hailing from America. He is best known for his series of suspense books related to the most famous character developed by him named Hannibal Lecter. The novels featuring the character have been published in the form of a suspense series called as Hannibal Lecter series. Almost all the books written by author Harris have been adapted into movies and the most notable and popular among them is the multiple Academy Award winning film called The Silence of the Lambs. This movie went on to become only the 3rd movie in the history of the Academy Awards to win all the Oscar Awards in the major categories. Author Harris was born on April 11, 1940, in Jackson, Tennessee, United States. When he just a kid, his family shifted to Rich, Mississippi. During his grade school days, author Harris was pretty much bookish and introverted, but as he reached high school he started blossoming overall.

After the completion of his school studies, he joined the Baylor University, located in Waco, Texas. He obtained his major in the subject of English and completed his graduation in the year 1964. While he was still studying in college, he had started working as a reporter for one of the local newspapers called as the Waco Tribune Herald. His works as a reporter were mainly related to the police beat at that time. In the year 1968, author Harris shifted to the New York City in order to start working for the Associated Press. He remained there until 1974 and then left to focus on the development of the plot of his first book titled ‘Black Sunday’. Even though author Harris is quite famous all over the world for his suspense and mystery novels, very little is known to the common people about his personal life. The main reason behind this is that author Harris does not like to share the details about his personal life in the public and tries to avoid publicity quite often. In fact, he has not appeared for an interview since the year 1976.

When he was studying at the Baylor University, he met and fell in love with one of his fellow students named Harriet. The two eventually got married and have been blessed with a daughter named Anne. However, author Harris divorced his wife during the 1960s. One of the fellow authors named Stephen King has praised author Harris by saying that when other writers find it tedious to write sometimes, Harris continues to write as if he is writing on the floor in the agony of his frustration. He has said so because according to him, Harris considers writing to be a form of torment. The one person, that author Harris remained close to all his life was his mother Polly. He used to call her each and every night repeatedly from wherever he used to be and often used to discuss the scenes of his books with her. He even lost her in the year 2011. As of today, author Harris lives in South Florida and also has a home located in Sag Harbor, New York. Currently, he spends most of his free time with his long time partner named Pace Barnes, who is described by the USA Today as totally opposite to the nature of Harris. He is described by his friend and agent Morton Janblow as a big, jovial, bearded, and good person. Other than writing suspense books, author Harris likes cooking food. He has even passed the Le Cordon Bleu exam and likes to try different dishes at his home. Another novelist named John Dunning has described author Harris as a talented writer of the first rank.

The Hannibal Lecter series written by author Thomas Harris consists of a total of 4 books published between the years 1980 and 2006. One of the initial books in this series was published under the title ‘Hannibal’. It was released by the Dell publishers in the year 1999. The main characters depicted in this book are Clarice Starling and Hannibal Lecter, and the plot is set in Florence, Italy, and the United States. At the beginning the story, it is shown that Hannibal has started living a good life after escaping and posing as Dr. Fell. He has begun working as the curator of a grand palazzo in Florence, Italy. Hannibal appears to have changed completely as he had not killed anyone for a long time. On the other hand, Clarice is shown as getting involved in a shootout which goes wrong. Following that, she is made to look wrong by his nemesis named Paul Krendler. Eventually, she gets suspended. An Italian cop named Pazzi becomes the first one to come across Hannibal. He himself appears to be on the trail of a scary character named Mason Verger. This criminal once jailed for raping children when he was young, but his enormous wealth had saved him at that time. Now, he takes psychotherapy treatment from Hannibal Lecter. Slowly, he became paralyzed because of the treatment and lives on a respirator. Verger only wish is that he wants to feed Hannibal to brutal pets for what he had done to him in the name of psychotherapy treatment.

The other initial book in the Hannibal Lecter series written by author Harris was titled as ‘Hannibal Rising’. This book was released by the Dell publishers in the year 2006. When the plot of the book begins, it is shown that Hannibal Lecter has returned in his previous form as he is found all covered with snow and chained from his neck. His uncle, who is a painter by profession, takes him to France in order to let him live with himself and his beautiful wife named Lady Murasaki. She helps Hannibal to heal quickly. Soon, he flourishes completely and with the help of his uncle and aunt, he becomes the youngest person to have ever been admitted in a medical school. However, his demons begin to visit and torment him once again. With the passage of time, Hannibal tries to overcome his demons and in the process, learns that he is gifted beyond his academic performance. In the epiphany, he goes on to become a prodigy of death. This book serves as the last book in the Hannibal Lecter series of novels written by author Thomas Harris. Just like all the other previous books in the series, this book too became highly successful and helped author Harris to add more stars of name and fame to his writing career.

Thomas Harris is a well known American author of the mystery, thriller, and suspense novels. He is particularly famous for the suspense book series, which showcase the most popular character penned down by him known as Hannibal Lecter. The books in which this infamous character makes appearances have been released as a series of suspense books titled as the ‘Hannibal Lecter series’. Each and every book that author Thomas has written with respect to this character have been developed into films. The most popular and successful one among them is the numerous Oscar Award winning movie titled as ‘The Silence of the Lambs’. This film achieved the unique feat of being only the third film in the Oscar Awards history to get nominated and win the awards in all the important categories. Author Thomas was born on 11 April, 1940 in the town of Jackson, located in Tennessee, The United States. As a small kid, he was shifted along with his family to Rich in Mississippi. At the time of his grade school days, author Thomas was more of an introvert and a bookish child. But, he started opening up and began spending time with other students as soon as he reached high school. After graduated from high school, Thomas went on to attend the Baylor University in Texas. From there, he graduated in 1964 and earned his major degree in the English subject. Author Thomas had begun working as a journalist during his college days. He had joined a local newspaper agency known as the ‘Waco Tribune Herald’, as a reporter.

A major portion of his work at that time were mainly associated with the police beatings. In 1968, author Thomas relocated to New York City as he was hired by the Associated Press to work there. He worked there for a period of 6 years and then resigned in order to give his full time for the development of the story of his debut novel called ‘Black Sunday’. Over the next few years, author Thomas gained a lot of popularity all over the world as a writer of mystery and suspense books. But, he did not let people know much about the things related to his personal life. It is said that he does not like people to know about his personal details and often tries to get himself publicized. The only thing that he wants other people to know about being his work and his writings. To everyone’s surprise, the last time author Thomas had given an interview was in 1976. During his time at the University of Baylor, Thomas came across his future wife and fellow classmate named Harriet. They got married very soon after their graduation. Later, Harriet gave birth to a girl child who is named as Anne.

During the 1960’s, Harriet and Thomas got divorced. Author Stephen King has said about author Thomas that sometimes his style writing show that he is trying to get over the frustrations of life. He believes so because author Thomas had once described writing as a type of torment. All through the lonely years of his life, author Thomas remained close to his mother named Polly. She used to be the first person whom he used to narrate the stories of his books and even used to take suggestions from her. Thomas was so much attached to his mother that he used to make a phone call to her everyday no matter which part of the world he used to be, in order to her state of well being. Currently, author Thomas divides his time between his homes located in South Florida and Sag Harbor in New York. He has a partner in the form of Pace Barnes, with whom Thomas has been living for a very long time. The close friends of author Thomas often describe him as a jovial and good-hearted person. Besides writing mystery and suspense novels, he likes to cook food and often tries to make a variety of dishes. After the death of his mother Polly, Pace Barnes is the only person remaining in the life of author Thomas. But, she is not believed to have a nature like that of author Thomas.

The 4 books that Thomas Harris wrote in the Hannibal Lecter series were released from 198 to 2006. The first book of this series is called as ‘Red Dragon’, which was published by the Dutton publishers in the year 1980. Its story is set in St. Louis, Missouri, The United States, and features the primary characters in the form of Francis Dolarhyde, Jack Crawford, Hannibal Lecter, and Will Graham. As the story starts, Will Graham is depicted as standing in a corner of an empty house, silent, and communing with one of the brutal murderers. As an FBI instructor, he is blessed with a unique gift of hunting down the madmen. As for this killer, Will Graham very well knows what he looks like as well as the limits of his thinking power. He even knows what he had done to the previous victims after killing them. Now, Will is required to catch him at any cost. In order to so, he is needed to feel his brain’s heat. Following the advice of the mental patient Hannibal Lecter, Will did everything possible to reach so close to the killer. Now, he must follow the trail of the important clues to a place where the killer has kept a whole family to die. Will Graham must also find the Red Dragon before anyone else, which is believed to be the final clue for hunting down the brutal killer.

The next book that Thomas Harris wrote in the Hannibal Lecter series is titled as ‘The Silence of the Lamb’. It was published in the year 1998 by the Arrow publication. This book’s story takes place in Washington, DC and Memphis, Tennessee in The United States. The central characters that feature in this book include Clarice Starling, Hannibal Lecter, and Jack Crawford. The main plot of the novel deals with a deadly killer who is out of reach from the FBI. The killer believes that the beauty of a woman lies only in her skin and therefore, he peels the skin off from the body of each of his victims. He usually targets young and attractive women with whose skins, he intends to make a unique garment for himself. The task of stopping this mentally unstable killer is given to a trainee investigator named Clarice Starling. She has a secret of her own from her past life and tries to keep her mind away from it by focusing on the case. Clarice comes to know that Hannibal Lecter, who is locked in one of the asylums, knows the mode of operation of the killer. When she goes to him for help, he does not agree. But later, he makes a deal with before helping her catch the killer. And she agrees that she will help him escape from the asylum if she becomes successful in catching the brutal killer as per his instructions.