In Cold Blood

There is wayyyyyy too much detail provided about everyone, even those who are only peripherally involved. It seems as if no one has been spared from the overly exhaustive description. This excessive detailing can sometimes be overwhelming and may cause the reader to lose focus on the main points. While it is important to have a certain level of detail to provide a comprehensive understanding, this goes beyond what is necessary. It might be beneficial to streamline the information and focus on the most relevant aspects and individuals. By doing so, the article could become more concise and easier to follow, without sacrificing the overall essence and importance of the topic at hand.

Too often, crime is unfortunately perceived as being one dimensional. It is as if criminals emerge from some mysterious and unexplainable realm. However, Capote had an extraordinary gift. He was able to chip away at both the criminal and the victim, gradually uncovering a deeper truth that was often hidden for a specific reason. This particular book truly managed to capture my interest to a great extent. In fact, it was one of the very first 'true' books that I can vividly remember reading, and it had such an impact on me that it made me actively seek out other books about crime. It opened up a whole new world of exploration for me, making me eager to understand the complex nature of crime and the individuals involved.

This book is indeed one of the very first, if not the absolute first, true crime novels. According to Wikipedia, only "Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders" has outsold "In Cold Blood" in the True Crime category. While true crime enthusiasts might read this today and think it sounds like a typical true crime story, back then, detailing a crime in such great detail and in a novel-length format was truly groundbreaking.

One aspect that this novel seems to have set a precedent for, and which I've noticed in other true crime novels as well, is that the author not only researches the story but also gets actively involved and talks face to face with the criminals, as seen with Ann Rule for example. Sometimes this leads to relationships and emotions that are evident in the retelling. After finishing this book, it's fascinating to look up online and explore some of the theories about how Capote approached this crime and the people involved.

Speaking of Capote, I've never watched any of the movies about him, but it seems that all of them focus on this particular part of his life – and there are at least three of them! I might need to check them out to see what I think. Additionally, I need to watch the classic film that was released shortly after the book's publication.

One thing I found extremely interesting is that when it comes to what criminals could do on death row in Kansas, basically everything – every form of comfort, entertainment, and ways to pass the time – were taken away from them. The justice system went to great lengths to make things as uncomfortable as possible for those awaiting death. However, they were allowed to read as much as they wanted. I'm wondering why reading was the one acceptable pastime they were given?

One thing I forgot to mention when I initially wrote this review was that having read both this and "Breakfast At Tiffany's", it's hard to believe they are by the same author. It's probably the most diverse writing I've ever come across from a single author.

True crime fans! Non-fiction enthusiasts! Fans of must-read classics! You absolutely must add "In Cold Blood" to your list.

This book is, without a doubt, one of the best I've ever read. It is, without question, the best non-fiction book I've ever come across.

I was completely and utterly captivated by it from the very beginning to the very end. The writing style was simply perfect and fitting. It was incredibly suspenseful, yet matter-of-fact, with just a touch of emotion.

I think the official term for this book is "non-fiction novel." While I understand why it gets this label, I personally wouldn't call it that. Yes, it has the qualities of a novel and shares some characteristics, but there's something else there, something that makes this book unique. Even though it's as captivating as a novel, it doesn't read like fiction. I was always acutely aware that this is not a made-up story, that everything in it actually happened. The whole thing was told with such intensity that you just know it has to come from real life.

It was extremely easy for me to picture everything in my head, literally everything! There was an entire movie playing in my mind while I was reading, and I loved every single second of it.

Another thing I really appreciated was that Capote didn't insert himself into the story. If you do some research, you can find out how interesting his research journey was. He drove to the area of the crime shortly after it happened, accompanied by his childhood friend Harper Lee. They talked to residents and investigators and collected over 8,000 notes. Later, Capote also talked to the perpetrators directly. Altogether, he worked on the book for six years.

I'm sure he would have had a lot to say about this whole journey, and I'm sure it would have been interesting. However, it would have been inappropriate in a book about such a serious topic. Capote focused on what was important - why and how these murders were committed, and who the killers and, more importantly, who the victims were. The whole thing seemed really respectful, and everyone got the amount of time and space they deserved.

I'm making such a big deal out of this because I've seen it happen before, someone writing a non-fiction book and making a lot of it about themselves and their own life, making the whole thing part-memoir. When I pick up a book about a certain topic, I expect to read about that topic and not about the author's life! So, yeah, I'm very grateful that Capote focused on the right things here.

All in all, this was truly a magnificent book. Seriously, I could list every positive adjective in the English language, and they would all express how I feel. I recommend it to everyone, even those who aren't particularly interested in true crime, just so you can experience some wonderful and well-thought-out writing.

In Cold Blood is an excellent novel that, although it has its share of fiction, mainly attempts to document a real event. In 1959, in the quiet town of Holcomb, Kansas, the Clutter family - a married couple and their two children - were brutally murdered in their own home. The novel then follows the subsequent investigation to find the culprits.

There are many elements that make this classic a fascinating read. It has an agile prose, a good rhythm, perfect characterizations, and is extremely well-documented. However, for me, there are two elements that stand out above the rest and that Capote was able to combine very well. On the one hand, he elaborates a meticulous chronicle of everything related to the case, from the life of the Clutters on the farm, to the crime and the subsequent investigation. On the other hand, Capote delves into the deepest aspects of the lives of the assassins and focuses on their more human side, showing the misfortunes of their lives from childhood, the lack of resources and opportunities they had, and how all of that played an important role on the night of the crime, without this meaning to victimize them or justify the murders.

This is a highly recommended book that is enjoyable from start to finish, although the pace slows down a bit towards the end, where the author takes the opportunity to reflect on the death penalty more as vengeance than as the just punishment for a crime.

The quote "No tenía intención de hacerle daño alguno a aquel hombre. Pensé que era un hombre muy amable. De voz suave. Así lo creí hasta el momento en el que corté su cuello." adds an interesting perspective to the story.

Overall, In Cold Blood is a remarkable work that combines true crime with literary artistry.

4.5

Astonishing! This remarkable thing holds and keeps all its power.

It is truly a wonder to behold. Its strength and energy remain intact, unwavering in the face of any challenge.

Whether it is through the passage of time or the tests of adversity, it continues to maintain its might.

One can't help but be in awe of its ability to hold onto its power with such tenacity.

It seems as if nothing can diminish its force or take away from its inherent capabilities.

This astonishing entity stands as a testament to the power of perseverance and the indomitable spirit within.

It serves as an inspiration to all, showing that with determination and a firm grip on one's power, anything is possible.

Truly, it is a remarkable phenomenon that leaves us all amazed and inspired.

As I pen this review, I find myself approximately 60 miles away from the Clutter house in Holcomb, Kansas. Holcomb, a small farming community situated just west of Garden City, is a place where everyone in the entire county not only knows your name but also has an in-depth knowledge of your family history dating back fifty-plus years.

I typically shy away from reading true crime books. I don't desire my mind to be filled with tragedy. I prefer to go about my life with a certain degree of caution, yet not be ruled by the fear that such books might instill.

I picked up a copy of this book at the Dodge City Library. The librarian at the checkout desk, a woman in her mid-sixties, slender, elegant, and still attractive, ran her finger along the edge of the spine. I noticed a shiver travel up her back and ripple her shoulders. She looked up at me with pinched blue eyes and whispered, "I remember when this happened."

She witnessed her father install locks on the doors for the first time. The murders became a demarcation line in her life; there was life before the Clutter murders, and then there was life after. Her response astonished me. We live in an era where any crime anywhere in the country is broadcast nationwide, and something tragic that occurs in Illinois, Virginia, or Alaska impacts our lives. I would have thought that over time, some of the significance of the Clutter murder would have been buried beneath the avalanche of murder and mayhem that the news cycle presents to us 24/7. However, for this community and all the small communities dotting the map of Kansas, and even in the surrounding states, this was something that wasn't supposed to happen in a small town. It was big city crime that occurred in their own backyard.

As I conversed with people about the Clutter murders, most everyone had some sort of physical reaction. They flinched as if dodging a blow, took a step back from me, or developed a twitch along their jawline. Their eyes gazed through me or beyond me as the fears and anxieties of 1959 came flooding back into their minds. Most of them attributed more deaths to the crime, each citing six deaths rather than four. I'm certain they remembered that there were six family members, but two older girls had already left the home to start their own lives. They were not present on that fateful night when their family was murdered.

In Cold Blood was required reading in many schools in this region until around the 1970s, so even people who were too young to remember the crime have experienced the tragedy through Truman Capote.

In the description above regarding Perry Edward Smith, there is a reference to Phillips County. This holds special significance for me as I was born and raised in Phillips County. The family farm is located there. My father and I graduated from Phillipsburg High School. In 1955, when Perry Smith decided to burglarize the Chandler Sales Company in Phillipsburg, Kansas, my father was a sophomore in high school. This seemingly insignificant act was truly the beginning of this story. Smith and his accomplice, also named Smith, stole typewriters, adding machines, etc., and left town with their ill-gotten goods in the backseat of the car. Later, they ignored a traffic signal in St. Joseph, Missouri, and were pulled over by a police officer. The cop was very interested in what was in their backseat. They were extradited back to Phillipsburg, where, through an open window (imagine my embarrassment for the law enforcement of my home county), they escaped. Later, Perry was caught again and sent back to Phillipsburg, where the law enforcement fortunately did a much better job of keeping track of him.

Perry Smith received 10 years in the Kansas Penitentiary in Leavenworth. Richard Eugene Hickock was already serving time in Leavenworth for fraud. The two met and became friends. The final piece of the puzzle that not only determined the fate of the Clutter family but also the fates of Smith and Hickock was snapped into place when they met Floyd Wells. Wells, serving time for some act of stupidity, had worked for Herb Clutter back in 1948. He told Hickock and Smith that Clutter was a wealthy farmer and kept a safe full of cash in his house.

Wells was absolutely full of shit. There was no safe. There was no pile of cash. There was absolutely no reason for four people to lose their lives for $40.

After the murders, they went to Mexico for a while, but even though they could live cheaply down South, the money still trickled through their fingers. After they exhausted the goods they had acquired through the Clutter robbery and through defrauding a series of retail stores, they found that working in Mexico didn't pay well either. They returned to the United States, and there was this baffling moment when Perry Smith was reading the paper and saw an article about a family that was tied up and shot to death. "Amazing!" Perry glanced through the article again. "Know what I wouldn't be surprised? If this wasn't done by a lunatic. Some nut that read about what happened out in Kansas."

WTF? Some nut? How about the original coconut heads that murdered the family in Kansas?

Perry does have a moment or two where he weighs what happened in Kansas. "Know what I think?" said Perry. "I think there must be something wrong with us. To do what we did." "Did what?" "Out there." "Deal me out, baby," Dick said. "I'm a normal."

Truman Capote had been seeking the right story for an experimental form of writing he'd been considering attempting. He wanted to blend fiction and nonfiction. The Clutter murders struck him as the perfect story to launch this new form of writing. I have to admire his fortitude, for a man of his sensibilities not only spending that much time among farmbillies but also having to befriend them as well. It must have been somewhat of a painful experience.

Floyd Wells eventually came forward and told what he knew about the murders. He had always liked Herb Clutter and felt ashamed that what he had told, in a moment of prison bonding, had led to such a vicious conclusion. Without his statement, I'm quite sure that Smith and Hickock would have gotten away with the murders. The slender evidence tying them to the murders would have made it almost impossible to prosecute them. Their sentencing could have only one conclusion... death.

As they were being led back to their cells, Smith said to Hickock, "No chicken-hearted jurors, they!" They both laughed loudly, and a cameraman photographed them. The picture appeared in a Kansas paper above a caption entitled: "The Last Laugh?" When I consider their bravado, the last vestiges of any sympathy I may have been harboring for their plight dissipated.

This is a beautifully written book. I want to thank Harper Lee for her role in helping Capote bring this book to completion. I'm not sure Capote would have had the perseverance to see it through without her holding his hand. I was surprised by how many connections I have to the events in this book, many of which I had no idea about until I read them in the book for the first time. I was long overdue to read this book, and this experience has certainly convinced me to add more of the classic True Crime genre to my reading queue. This book is legendary not only because of the heinous nature of the crime but also because Capote was ushering in a new way to tell a story.

If you wish to see more of my most recent book and movie reviews, visit http://www.jeffreykeeten.com. I also have a Facebook blogger page at: https://www.facebook.com/JeffreyKeeten

Chilling

This is an outstanding and extremely powerful work of literature. What makes it even more impressive is that it conveys true crimes with a profound investigative insight, a vivid sense of time and place, and an atmosphere that shrouds the evil events that took place on November 15, 1959, in Holcomb, Kansas. Truman Capote is truly an artist. He painted every detail of the story with such a meticulous flow that it compels us to stop and appreciate the surroundings, rather than longing for the story to progress at a faster pace.

When looking at America in the 50s from the perspective of a foreigner, we often envision a Hollywood version of an innocent age, filled with affluence, white picket fences, apple pie, and rock and roll permeating the airwaves. If anyone were to ask me when and where I would have liked to live, it would have been the US in the 1950s. However, In Cold Blood shatters that image with the harsh reality that cruelty can snatch away life, a community's character, and the idyllic vision I had imagined.

The murders of four members of the Clutter family by Dick Hickock and Perry Smith for a mere $40 stunned not only the people of Holcomb but also ultimately a worldwide audience. My idealized vision of the US, which I so wanted to believe in, could not have been better exemplified than by Holcomb in the 1950s, where families rarely locked their doors and the safety of the neighborhood was never questioned. Hickock and Smith not only brutally ended the lives of four innocent people but also shattered the fundamental promise of safety in our own homes.

The story delves into the background of the murderers, what drove them, how they rationalized what they had done, the investigation into the crimes, and the community that became filled with fear and suspicion, not knowing for a long time who was responsible. To create this nonfiction novel with such beautiful prose is a seminal moment in literature, and it is arguable that Capote created a new genre.

I have long been fascinated by the relationship between Truman Capote and Harper Lee and how they assisted each other in researching and drafting their renowned classics. It is interesting to note that Harper Lee was inspired during her collaboration with Capote on ‘In Cold Blood’ to research and use the case of Robert Burns, who shot dead the serial killer, Reverend Willie Maxwell, to write her own true-crime novel - which, unfortunately, never came to fruition. Another relationship that Capote damaged during his years of self-destruction.

I truly believe that this is a must-read novel, surely a classic, and a powerful combination of true crime with such remarkable writing talent. I am grateful to my wonderful friend Julie Grippo, who encouraged me to read this book and read along with me when I had the opportunity. Thank you so much, Julie, and please check out her excellent review at https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...