Title: In Cold Blood
Author: Truman Capote
Published: 2007 by BBC Audio Books
Read By: William Hope
Format: Audio Book
Source: Borrowed From Library
Length: 12 discs,14 hours & 32 minutes
Genre: Non Fiction; Crime; True Crime; Mystery; Classic
Goodreads' Rating: 4.04 / 5 stars
My Rating: 💜💜💜💜
Goodreads' Synopsis:
On November 15, 1959, in the small town of Holcomb, Kansas, four members of the Clutter family were savagely murdered by blasts from a shotgun held a few inches from their faces. There was no apparent motive for the crime, and there are almost no clues.
As Truman Capote reconstructs the murder and the investigation that led to the capture, trial and execution of the killers, he generates both mesmerising suspense and astonishing empathy.
Book Review:
I have heard really amazing things about this book so when I noticed that it was on my Goodreads' TBR shelf I reserved it from the library in audio book format and began listening to it in the car.
I will start off by saying that I am glad that I got this book. I really enjoyed it.
Capote has done an extensive amount of research in order to write this book and it shows. The writing is thorough and informative. It is good, if not a little creepy, to get into the minds of two cold blooded killers in America's history.
I am fascinated by true crime stories and this one kept me interested. As much as the detail and the amount of research that has gone into it was impressive, in parts I was wishing that there was not so much as it seemed to go off on tangents in places, for example, when talking about the prisoners on death row, Capote went into details about the crimes that a number of the others committed - which was terrible - but it was not part of the story that was being told currently. It went back and forward from the current story, to other stories along the way. For me this made it drag along a bit, but I didn't mind completely as what I was reading was interesting.
It followed the complete process from the family's life, and the lives of the murderers, before the crime was committed. The crime itself and the discovery of the victims. The investigation from the police point of view as well as what the criminals did in the time between committing the crime and getting caught; and finally, their time in court and in prison before their execution. I can't imagine the time it took to gather all the information and then write this amazing piece of literature.
The reader of this audio book, William Hope, was amazing. His voice was not boring at all which was great, he changed his voice for all of the main characters, so you could keep up with who was speaking by just listening to the voice. It made the experience of listening to an audio book all the more entertaining.
Reading (or rather, listening to) this book, made me realise how much I missed true crime stories. I think I need to get my hands on books in this genre more often.
Thank you for reading my review of In Cold Blood by Truman Capote. If you have not read this book, I highly recommend that you get onto it, ASAP! If you have read it, I would love to hear your thoughts on it in the comments below!
About the Author:
Truman Capote was an American writer whose non-fiction, stories, novels and plays are recognised literary classics, including the novella
Breakfast at Tiffany's (1958) and
In Cold Blood (1965), which he labelled a "non-fiction novel." At least 20 films and t.v. dramas have been produced from Capote's novels, stories and screenplays.
He was born Truman Streckfus Persons. His parents divorced when he was four and he went to live with his mother's relatives in Monroeville, Alabama. He was a lonely child who learned to read and writeby himself before entering school. He was then adopted by his mother's new husband, Joseph Capote, and his name was changed. He graduated from high school in 1942 and he began working as a copy boy at The New Yorker. During which time he also began his writing career, publishing many short stories.
He remained prolific in the 1950's and 60's producing both fiction and non-fiction. His masterpiece, In Cold Blood was published in 1966 and became a worldwide success. After this success, he published rarely and suffered from alcohol addiction. He died in 1984 at the age of 59. (Goodreads)
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