This is the book that deals with a huge amount of challenging imagery, profiling technology, and the effects of emotional abuse, but we shouldn't forget about the fact that this is also the book where they got an impression of the killer's teeth because he decided to eat a piece of cheese on his murder trip, just saying.

Aside from all of the questionable things that were being eaten, seeing Will reverse engineer the case step by step was incredibly entertaining. His consultation with Hannibal may have only been short, but it set the scene for the future novels very well. 

Now, did I enjoy myself when reading this book? For the most part, no. It was vile, disgusting, or just plain disturbing at times, but that‘s also partly where this story's strengths lie. Thomas Harris did not flinch back from challenging topics, which is partly the reason why his writing has this huge potential to be remembered. 

I, for my part, will certainly be thinking about those characters for a long time.