In Cold Blood

I loved this book. It was so detailed, it was as though it was a fictitious novel. I can't wait to watch the movies.

This novel by Truman Capote has been hailed as the best true crime story ever written, and it definately lives up to the praise.
It was originally published in 1965 and delves into a homicide that took place in a small farm town in Kansas.
The murder is that of the Clutter family who were brutally gunned down in the middle of the night by two career criminals, the shy Perry Smith and the more brazen Richard Hickock.
Richard Hickock comes up with the scheme to rob the Clutter's after he hears that they have money hidden in a safe at their farm house. When come to get their big score in the middle of the night, they soon learn that the money does not exist and are left with a house full of witnesses.
Once they have killed the family, the story then follows them as they try to outrun the law and make their way out of the country.
Truman Capote soon catches wind of the story and becomes so enthralled with it, that he travels down to Kansas with his friend Harper Lee (who went on to write To Kill A Mockingbird) to follow the happenings more closely.
What makes this story so well written is the fact that it did consume Capote so much. He even went on to develop a friendship with Perry Smith that last until his hanging.
In Cold Blood is a compelling and suspenseful read from cover to cover. The story is full of intriguing characters who are so well written that putting the book down becomes an impossibility as you become invested in what will happen to them next.
Capote is also able to achieve the difficult task of making the reader feel empathy towards the one criminal, Perry Smith. Now whether this is because he was actually a decent person led astray by Hickock, or if it was due to Capote's own feelings for Perry, that is left up to the reader.
I would recommend this book to anyone who not only loves true crime stories, but anyone who has an apprecitation for a well written and enthralling story.
In Cold Blood is a literary masterpiece that will continue to be relevant through the years.

Got me interested by the time I got to the discoveries of the murders(1/4 way into book)...story of a couple of degenerates who senselessly murder an entire family for a mere $50.00 cash, their rebellious cross-country journey and their inevitable demise at the gallows.

This is a true story about the 1959 murders of Herb Clutter, a wealthy farmer in Holcomb, Kansas; his wife, Bonnie; his daughter, Nancy; and his son Kenyon by two ex-cons and would-be robbers - Richard Hickock and Perry Smith.

Capote spent six years of his life on this book and it shows. It's compelling, engaging, great prose and a real page-turner. Capote, with this novel, created a new genre of writing -- literary journalism. It reads like a mystery novel with "clues" and "build-ups" that you often forget that it is based on actual events. Also, the characterization is just brilliant -- he gives the readers a chance to get to know the Clutter family before the murders, and even kept a non-biased opinion about their killers. Great book. Great writer. I recommend it.

I first time heard about this book was after reading a review about the movie Capote starring Philip Seymour Hoffman. Because of its acclaim I decided to watch the movie myself. I was immediately immersed into the movie, and I can totally understand why Hoffman won his academy award. Inspired to learn more, I decided to go straight to the source. I took out In Cold Blood from my local library. From the moment I read the first page, I knew this book was different from the rest. The way it was written made me feel as if I was actually there every step of the way. And all the words flowed fluently without any missteps along the way. I never felt comfortable reading a book this professionally written. By the time I finished the last page, all I could do was sit back and reminisce about everything I had read. This was the first I have ever felt satisfied with an ending of a novel. So expertly written, the ending didn't leave me crave for more or feel it was too much. It actually made me say out loud, "now that's an ending." And I still agree.

Truman Capote was destined to do great things with his writing and ''In Cold Blood'' was not disappointing. He captured the global psyche with his character renderings, his surreal descriptions of the Kansas wheat fields and the faces he put to the monsters behind the horrible Clutter murders.
If you want to read something that is out of the ordinary and completely encapsulating, then you should definitely read "In Cold Blood"

Don't be turned off by the hype--this will exceed what you expect. Brilliant.

This is a truly great book. I read it actually after seeing the recent film 'Capote'. I had meant to read it for years but never did. It was SO hyped and highly praised that I really felt that there was no wayit could live it to the billing. Well, I was wrong. My fear was that it may have been ground-breaking at the time but no would seem not as good. That may actually be somewhat true but the book is written in simple prose with a straight factual narration and I really loved the book. I would recommend to all - well most. Some scenes and the general subject matter may be a little much for small children but it is far from gruesome. A book for the ages.

Like many, the recent film Capote drew me to this book. My expectations were high, and were fulfilled as I completed the first chapter, and soon after, the entire book. Like all Truman Capote's novels, In Cold Blood was fantastically written. What stood out about this book is the creation of the genre that it is famous for: the non-fiction novel. Every character Capote writes of actually existed, and it is within the telling of this story that his talent is revealed. Everything, from the town of Holcomb, to the lives of Perry Smith and Dick Hickock, is described in minute detail, stimulating a fascination of the events and people that led to the Clutter murders almost half a century ago. In short, it is an amazing book.

Truman Capote's non-fiction book on a Kansas murder of a farm family has several aspects in it in which are excellent. It is of course very well written. However the aspect that I find amazing is that it is a true story. One's analysis of the book is not of a novel with fictional characters - a piece of imagination (although those can be quite interesting). The emotions one feels in reading are based on an event in the world that is quite important.

When he wrote In Cold Blood Truman Capote set out to consciously change the world of literature. He succeeded in ways he never imagined. While his main goal - to spawn the nonfiction novel - resulted only in a handful of memorable books (the new journalism of Hunter S. Thompson and Tom Wolfe), the book gave birth to an industry of lurid true crime books, few as good as the original. Still, Capote's prose ( she was not spoiled but spared, led to suppose that life was a sequence of agreeable events) will live long after lesser books have been forgotten.

"In Cold Blood," by Truman Capote is a heart-shaking thriller that left me in a cold sweat. I am an addicted fan of murder mysteries, and I have read many novels of gruesome crimes. What I have never done was read a novel of such descriptive details and personal thoughts on such a horrific crime. Truman Capote invited us into the minds of not only the family that was murdered, friends of the victims and the detectives, but he brought us into the conscience of two cold-blooded murderers by the names of Perry Smith and Dick Hickock. Truman Capote did such a fantastic job portraying every type of character. I fell in love with the murdered family and was heartbroken when the crime was committed. I was also heartbroken when I had fallen for the charm of one of the murderers, Perry. Perry Smith was such a sweet man that I sympathized for, and admired him. Dick, on the other hand, I did not sympathize for - I detested him with a passion.

I suggest very much that you read this novel.

Even though I knew right from the start who the killers were, I still look forward to reading the rest. I guess this was because it is really craftily constructed. I especially enjoyed the part how Capote, in order to describe Billy's visit to the Clutter home, used Billy's testimony to show him being there.
Also Capote leaves out the murder scene and later, when the killers finally confess, Capote simply includes their description of what happened. Capote leaves the details of the murder out of the book, encouraging the reader to guess exactly what happened, as in a detective novel. He also chose not to reveal the motive of the crime until the killers confess.
The best part of the book is t the end when the reader actually gets to see the execution of the killers through Dewey's eyes.
Since this is based on a true story we see that throughout the novel, he has painted detailed emotional portraits of many of his characters, making it obvious that he has interviewed them at length.I would recommend this book to readers if they enjoy a detective type book.