Harris enjoys his high reputation because of the successful films adapted from his suspense fiction. Washington Post criticized him that “The Best Suspense Fictionist that Still Writes Now”. So Thomas Harris undoubtedly acquires a high reputation in the field of modern suspense and thriller fictions. He has been the authority in this field. 

In the story of Red Dragon, FBI profiler Will Graham interviews Lecter about one of his patients who was murdered by a serial killer, before realizing that Lecter is the culprit. Lecter realizes that Graham is on to him, creeps up behind him and stabs him, nearly disemboweling him. Graham survives, however, and is hospitalized. Lecter is charged with a series of nine murders, but is found not guilty by reason of insanity. He is institutionalized in the Baltimore State Hospital for the Criminally Insane under the care of Dr. Frederick Chilton, a pompous, incompetent psychologist whom Lecter despises. Some years later, Graham comes out of retirement and consults Lecter in order to catch another serial killer, Francis Dolarhyde, known by the nickname “The Tooth-Fairy”. Through the classifieds of a tabloid called The National Tattler, Lecter provides Dolarhyde with Graham’s home address, enabling Dolarhyde to disfigure Graham and attempt to kill his family. At the end of the novel, Lecter sends Graham a taunting note saying that he hopes Graham isn’t “too ugly”. 源]自=751-·论~文"网·www.751com.cn/

In the sequel The Silence of the Lambs, Lecter assists FBI agent-in-training Clarice Starling in catching a serial killer known as “Buffalo Bill”. Lecter is fascinated by Starling, and they form an unusual relationship in which he provides her with a profile of the killer in exchange for details about her unhappy childhood. Lecter had previously met Buffalo Bill, the former lover of his patient (and eventual victim) Benjamin Raspail. He does not reveal this information directly, instead giving Starling vague clues to help her figure it out for herself. In return for his assistance, Lecter is transferred to a lower security facility, from which he later escapes, killing and mutilating his guards and using the face of one of them as a mask to fool paramedics. While in hiding, he sends a letter to Starling wishing her well, and another to Chilton swearing gruesome revenge. Chilton disappears soon afterward.