Get ready to spend your summer vacation scared out of your wits.

Grand Central Publishing just announced that Cari Mora, the first novel in 13 years by Thomas Harris, will be published May 21, just in time for summer reading lists.

Harris' best-known novel is The Silence of the Lambs, published in 1988 and made into a classic 1991 film, renowned for Anthony Hopkins' nightmare-inducing performance as the brilliant serial killer Dr. Hannibal Lecter. Harris' most recent book was Hannibal Rising, in 2006.

Harris, 78, who lives in South Florida, has a gift for writing novels that are irresistibly terrifying — I'm still not over Red Dragon.

Here's Grand Central's tease to Cari Mora:

"Twenty-five million dollars in cartel gold lies hidden beneath a mansion on the Miami Beach waterfront. Ruthless men have tracked it for years. Leading the pack is Hans-Peter Schneider. Driven by unspeakable appetites, he makes a living fleshing out the violent fantasies of other, richer men.

"Cari Mora, caretaker of the house, has escaped from the violence in her native country. She stays in Miami on a wobbly Temporary Protected Status, subject to the iron whim of ICE. She works at many jobs to survive. Beautiful, marked by war, Cari catches the eye of Hans-Peter as he closes in on the treasure. But Cari Mora has surprising skills, and her will to survive has been tested before.

"Monsters lurk in the crevices between male desire and female survival."

Don't know about you, but I'm scared already.

Contact Colette Bancroft at cbancroft@tampabay.com or (727) 893-8435. Follow @colettemb.