This is Truman Capote's recounting of the savage murder of the Clutter family in Kansas in 1959. Capote's descriptions of the characters, both the victims and the killers, gave me insight into their lives. His details of the investigation into the suspects thoughts and actions will cause you to shiver. A must read for true crime fans.

In Cold Blood was, for me, not quite the book I expected it to be. It was very well researched, critically and wonderfully written, but it never really grabbed me like Capote's short stories have. Perhaps I just "wasn't there" in the moment while reading the book.
I never really felt like I got a handle on the characters. I wasn't even able to wrap myself around the two killers and that seemed strange to me.
The book itself is a true story about a chilling homicide that took the lives of four family members in Kansas in 1959. From the very few clues found and the many interviews conducted over time, the police eventually track down the murderers. The two killers who, thinking the family had a great deal of money hidden in the house, planned to rob them and leave no witnesses. But there was no money and the family died for naught.
The most memorable part of the book for me was that, while incarcerated, Perry (one of the two murderers) befriended a squirrel that he named Red. He lured Red off a tree branch onto the window sill of his cell. He would feed him leftover scraps and he taught him to play with a paper ball, to beg, and to ride on his shoulder. The lady who cooked for the inmates said afterward that she attempted to befriend the little squirrel, but all he wanted was Perry.
Most of the hardened material of the book has already left me. I think my psyche didn't really allow it in. Hopefully one day in the future I will read this gifted book again and be able to appreciate what Capote's brilliance had to offer through it.
I think that I just wasn't mentally in a place to "get into" In Cold Blood at this time. ( )

This is a fascinating and densely written book and rightly deserves the controversy surrounding it and Capote's relationship with the two murderers. This book has raised many questions for me about the morality of journalism and the death sentence, which I suspect will occupt my mind for many months if not years. The two films based on these events are interesting but this is a must read book. ( )

A bit of a slow read, but extremely well written. Even minor characters are as tangible as if you'd met them yourself. ( )

25. [In cold blood] by [[Truman Capote]]
Wow, what a book and what a story. And maybe the most amazing is that it really happened. How can two people even get in mind to kill a family they don't even know? A terrifying story about a terrible murder and the way the killers feel about it. They don't seem to think that they can be sorry about it. Impressive and a good read, although it might keep you awake at night....

http://boekenwijs.blogspot.com/2009/0... ( )