In Cold Blood by Truman Capote

In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
Pg 343

In 1959 four members of a rural family were seemingly killed without cause. The house was broken into, phone lines cut, each person bound gagged and shot. Nothing of significance was stolen. Who was it? Why did a sleepy town become the center of national attention?

Capote takes the Clutter Murder and shows you what happened through the point of view of all sides of the story. You start meeting the family and learning about their daily lives. You see how popular they were with the local people and experience the down home feel of their rural lifestyle. Then you enter the lives of Dick Hickock and Perry Smith. Both paroled felons roaming through the Kansas countryside with evil intentions.

Soon the family is slaughtered and the murders are on the run. The reader then becomes a part of the investigators lives. Trying to find the killers. Talking to hundreds of people following an equal number of false leads. Locking your doors at night because you can't trust your neighbors anymore.

Then you join the care free killers. A long drive down to Florida leads them back across the US into Mexico . Hickock and Perry become acquaintances that you have meet and then feel compelled to know their entire story. How can these cold hearted killers so casually disregard their past deeds and try to start up a new life?

Capote paints each of the characters from a very realistic light. He doesn't make the murderers out to be these sadistic homicidal maniacs; the men chasing them aren't knights in shining armor. Each person is presented as they are. Real.

3 Intellectual: This book has elements of intellectual impact. His use of words and sentence structure are at times engaging in interesting. It depends what type of reader you are this could be either Intellecually and/or emotional appealing.

4 Emotional: Capote makes the facts come alive. You don't feel like this is all derived from research but as if the writer was a part of the entire situation. You are with the investigators. You go into the house with the murderers. Very compelling.

3: Long Term Impact. Books like these make it easier to rate. The book has been a classic for 50 years. I think it is safe to say that it will continue to stand the test of time. When written it stood more alone. Sadly, as our society has more and more of these terrible events happen the more a book like this loses its impact.

A total of 11. If you think a story of murder would be interest you then you can't go wrong. It is a depressing book so take that into consideration.