"The Silence of the Lambs" is a psychological horror-thriller novel by Thomas Harris, first published in 1988. It is the sequel to Harris's 1981 novel "Red Dragon." The story follows Clarice Starling, a young FBI trainee, who seeks the advice of the imprisoned Dr. Hannibal Lecter, a brilliant psychiatrist and cannibalistic serial killer, to apprehend another serial killer known as "Buffalo Bill," who skins his female victims' corpses.