Ever wondered what made Hannibal a cannibal?

The answer will come when Thomas Harris' new novel about serial killer Hannibal Lecter, " Behind the Mask," is published next year.

" Millions of readers in 25 languages have wondered how Dr. Lecter developed his particular appetite for evil. This novel will satisfy their curiosity," publisher Bantam Dell said in a statement announcing the book would be ready late in 2005.

Chillingly brought to the screen by Anthony Hopkins in the 1991 film " The Silence of the Lambs" Hannibal Lecter is due to be back on movie screens for another outing based on the new novel. Film rights for the book have been acquired by The Dino De Laurentiis Company, producer of " Red Dragon" and " Hannibal."

" Behind the Mask" will be the fourth book about Hannibal, who first appeared in " Red Dragon."

" Hannibal," the third book in the series, was a number one New York Times hardcover and paperback bestseller, with sales of nearly 1.5 million hardcovers in 1999 and more than 3 million paperbacks.

Irwyn Applebaum, president of Bantam Dell Publishing Group, part of Random House, called Harris, " the premier novelist of psychological suspense of our time" and said Lecter was " the literary figure to whom all other villains are compared."