My understanding is that Truman Capote was already an established and famous writer, but that this book rocketed him to super-stardom on the literary scene. It is a non-fictional story of a gruesome murder in rural Kansas, but told in a fictional manner. Beautifully written, and presented with some real suspense.

The story: 4 members of the Clutter family are killed on their farm- we learn about their lives, and their last hours on Earth in excruciating detail. Separately, we follow the subsequent journey of the two men, Perry Smith and Dick Hickock, who apparently killed them in a robbery, as well as the lawmen working to figure out who did it and then to track them down.

The book isn't too long, but I thought it could have wrapped up a little sooner- Capote quotes lengthy letters between the killers and various family and acquaintances that could have been abridged, for example. But that's a minor quibble- the book deserves its place as a masterpiece. ( )

Slow. Would not recommend. Could not finish. Listened to audio but own a hard copy (classic covered book).

Chilling ( )

Una historia brutal que además está muy bien contada. ( )

In Cold Blood (1965) by Truman Capote. This is the story that Capote had been waiting for. This was to be his greatest achievement but it also led to his downfall. His addictions eventually overcome him, leading him to his own grave. After this fact based novel there were only a few short stories mainly based on the “Jet Set” crowd who looked upon him as their darling Tru, until he began biting their hands, naming names in increasing revelatory tales of his “friends.”
There was a small article in the New York Times that talked about the murder of the Clutter family in west Kansas. Most people may have tsk-tsked the news item but Capote knew he had found his next book. With In Cold Blood he discovered the basis for his, and Harper Lee’s, idea for a “Nonfiction” novel. He would somehow report the story of the family, the killers, and what happened in November of 1959 on that large farm. But it was also the story of the aftermath of the murders, the tale of the hunt for the killers, their capture, conviction and finally, years later, their deaths.
We know this is going to be a gruesome story about that Saturday night on the quiet farm when the sleeping family was awakened by two men and a shotgun. Capote doesn’t try to tell us what thoughts the father, mother, son and daughter might have had, passing beyond that speculation to the crime itself. The local police give way to the Kansas Bureau of Investigation and we meet and follow much of the work done by these men.
But Truman Capote also gives us the other side, the view from the black Chevy that had crossed back and forth the width of Kansas twice in a long might’s drive. Richard “Dick” Hickok and Perry Smith, with a tale spun to them by another convict, know the Clutter farm had to contain a big safe full of money and they were determined to not only get all the cash, but leave no witnesses alive.
It was a good plan. They were in no manner connected to the farm or the family. They had most of the details of the farm, the family and the money that awaited them.
Except there was no money. Mr. Clutter used checks almost exclusively, no matter what he was paying for, be a few dollars for gas or paying the workers on the 3800 acre spread. There was no safe, no bundles of cash, nothing of value except for the lives of the family.
Hickok and Smith ended up with about $40, an old radio and a pair of binoculars for their trouble. Also the blood of four innocent people and the wrath of the entire state Kansas.
The were soon caught and thankfully confessed to the murders, but not exactly who pulled the trigger. At one point Smith said he had killed three, later recanting saying he killed all four. It didn’t matter in the end as both were found guilty and sentenced to hang.
This book ushered in the “True Crime” phenomena that is still going strong today. It was quickly followed by a movie filmed in and around Holcomb, Kansas, including the Clutter farm itself. Many of the locals were extras on the set, lending a bleak air of realism the the depicted events. The main characters, including a veiled version of Capote himself, were actors playing their roles very deeply. It has been said that Robert Blake, who portrayed Perry Smith, suffered deeply because of the depth he went to to become one of the killers.
There is also the film Capote which tells the In Cold Blood story as Capote was writing it. You get another look at how the author wormed his way into both the investigation and later, into the prison lives of the two. It is not a pleasant portrayal of the author, showing the depths he went to to get the story as complete as possible. It is a recommended addition to the reading of the novel and the viewing of the original movie.
Combined the book and the movies paint a grim portrait of what humanity is capable of. ( )