The unnamed 2019 novel will be Harris’s first book since 2006’s Hannibal Rising, but will also be his first in more than 40 years without his famous cannibal

More than a decade since his last book, Thomas Harris – author and creator of one of literature’s most famous monsters, the sophisticated, psychopathic cannibal Hannibal Lecter – is set to release a new novel.

The as-yet-unnamed novel has long been anticipated since 2004, when Harris signed a reported eight-figure deal for two books. The first was 2006’s Hannibal Rising, but no details of a second have ever been revealed.

In 2007, his agent Mort Janklow told Entertainment Weekly: “I have no idea what Tom’s next book will be. It may not involve the Hannibal character at all. His deal does not require that. He is an important American novelist and writes what he chooses, when he chooses.”

The novel, which was announced on Wednesday by publisher William Heinemann, is set for a global release on 21 May 2019. The publisher described it as “standalone”, and confirmed that it will not involve Lecter.

Jason Arthur, publisher at William Heinemann, said: “There is no doubt in my mind that Thomas Harris remains one of the most notable writers of the last four decades, and the publication of his first novel in 13 years – his first non-Hannibal novel in over 40 – will be a significant publishing event.”

Harris has only written one non-Lecter book before: his 1975 debut Black Sunday, a thriller set around a planned terrorist attack on the Super Bowl, which was inspired by the 1972 Munich Olympics hostage crisis.

His next four novels focused on the “great fictional monster of our time”, as horror author Stephen King once described Lecter. In his first appearance, Lecter played a small but memorable role in 1981’s Red Dragon, advising FBI profiler Will Graham from his prison cell as the agent struggles to identify a serial killer. Even Harris found himself unnerved by his creation, recalling in 2000 that he was “not comfortable in the presence of Dr Lecter, not sure at all that the doctor could not see me”.

The novel was a hit, as was the 1987 sequel, The Silence of the Lambs, which also starred Lecter in a supporting role to FBI hopeful Clarice Starling. After the 1991 adaptation starring Anthony Hopkins as Lecter and Jodie Foster as Starling became one of only three films ever to win the “Big Five” Oscars, Harris became a bestselling author and Lecter went front and centre. In 2000, Harris’s sequel Hannibal saw Starling track down Lecter in Italy, while the 2006 prequel Hannibal Rising, revealed the makings of the character while escaping the Nazis as a child in Lithuania.

Hannibal Rising had an astronomical initial print run of 1.5m copies, but did not receive the same critical acclaim as the others. In the Guardian, Steven Poole said he had the “dismaying thought that, after the brilliantly taut and claustrophobic procedurals earlier in the series, Harris has finally morphed into an upmarket version of Dan Brown”. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, the producer of the film version Dino de Laurentiis implied he had pressured Harris to write the prequel, saying: “I say to Thomas, ‘If you don’t do [the prequel], I will do it with someone else ... I don’t want to lose this franchise. And the audience wants it.’ He said, ‘No. I’m sorry.’ And I said, ‘I will do it with somebody else.’ And then he said, ‘Let me think about it. I will come up with an idea.’”

Despite his bestselling status, Harris has not been in the public eye for some time, as he does not do interviews and divides his time between homes in south Florida and Long Island. In a 1991 telephone conversation with New York magazine, he said that though he was happy to answer fan mail and pose for pictures, he didn’t enjoy interviews: “So I just work and I try to put things in my books that I want to say.” In a characteristically brief statement with the announcement of his new book, Harris described himself as “very pleased”.