In Red Dragon we learned who he was. In Silence of the Lambs we learned how he did it. Now comes the most chilling chapter in the life of Hannibal Lecter - the one that answers that most elusive question of all - why? Hannibal Rising takes us back to finally explain the origins of Lecter's evil. Beginning in World War II, this dark and intense story follows Hannibal's survival of the horrors of war, his formative years in the fields of medicine and forensics and finally a journey of revenge against the predators who changed his life forever. Above all it reveals the mind of a monster and shows us just what would drive a man to cannibalism.