For the love of god…

Jennifer Jordan’s eagle eyes found this first, and frankly, I’m still recoiling in horror:

NEW YORK — Readers hungry for a good thriller can get ready to welcome an old friend:. A new Hannibal Lecter novel, “Behind the Mask,” is coming next fall.

“Thomas Harris is the premier novelist of psychological suspense of our time,” said Irwyn Applebaum, president and publisher of the Bantam Dell Publishing Group, which announced the book’s release Thursday.

“Millions of readers in 25 languages have wondered how Dr. Lecter developed his particular appetite for evil. This novel will satisfy their curiosity.”

Film rights for “Behind the Mask” have been acquired by the Dino DeLaurentiis Company, which produced the Hannibal movies, “Red Dragon” and “Hannibal.”

Now, it isn’t that much of a surprise, considering the prequel’s been in the works as a movie for some time now, but come on. And I can think of a much more appropriate title: CASH COW.

UPDATE: Publisher’s Marketplace provides some more relevant info:

Thomas Harris’s BEHIND THE MASK, the fourth book to feature Hannibal Lecter, to Irwyn Applebaum at Delacorte, in a two-book deal, for publication beginning in fall 2005, by Morton Janklow at Janklow & Nesbit (NA). Film rights have already been sold to the Dino DiLaurentiis Company, producer of Red Dragon and Hannibal.

So someday, Harris will write another book. And maybe, just maybe, he’ll move on to something else already…