I’ve always heard about this book. May it be a movie, show or someone pretentious saying oh you like true crime and haven’t read this?
I just finished it at this moment and wow one of the best books I have read. The introduction of Holcomb. The personalities of the Clutter family and everything to set it all up was a beautiful setting.
I was sort of dissatisfied we knew about Perry and Hicock in the beginning. I was expecting a police who done it. But yet it was interesting to see what they got up to after they ran away. Their adventures and the asking of sympathy of Perry’s upbringing.
The part of the book that hit me most and kept me reading into the middle of the night was Perry’s confession. What happened on his account we got to imagine the clutter family’s final moments. Perry knowing Dick snitched.
It was a bittersweet ending with the final par. With the different death row inmates. How they grew fond of Andrew.
Dewey walking that cemetery and meeting Susan as those 6 years passed. All you heard was the wind cried. Wow. What a closure.
Any other book Recs like this and killers of the flower moon?! This might be my new favorite genre.
I teach this book. It’s the details. The everyday life that is captured in the book up until the murders that gets me. Like how the neighbor girl was going to learn how to make a cherry pie. How Mr. Clutter paid for everything in checks, etc. In case OP didn’t read the dedication page, Capote’s childhood friend, (Nell) Harper Lee, helped with researching the book. She went on to write To Kill a Mockingbird. Capote is the basis of Dill. Capote has been credited as creating the true crime novel genre.
Wow, I read it in hs a million and 4 years ago.
If you loved this and “Killers of the Flower Moon,” you might enjoy “Helter Skelter” by Vincent Bugliosi for another true crime classic.
Just finished it about 2 weeks ago. What a terrifying and enthralling read. For me it was the constant teasing between how psychopathic Perry and Dick were and how normal their ambitions could be at the same time. I’m still having trouble figuring out who the worse of the two is, though I’m sure the general consensus would be Perry based on his actual actions. I would lean toward Dick. He’s manipulative, calculating and really had no environmental reason to explain his behavior. A thoroughbred monster.
Yeah the book is a disturbing masterpiece. There’s a whole study of killers who work in pairs like that, and it’s not usually that one of the other is worse but that the dynamic between the two of them accounts for this, especially if they are young. There’s a Hitchcock movie that explores this too (Rope) but real life famous examples are the boys that tortured and killed James Bulger. See Heavenly Creatures also which is a true story but also Peter Jacksons best film imo though it fucking haunts me.
People are messed up.
Any other book Recs like this and killers of the flower moon?! This might be my new favorite genre.
the executioners song by Norman Mailer is remarkable.
I lived in the house Capote wrote this book in! We put a picture of him on our mantle just to make sure we were on his good side haha.
Capote made most of it up.
I mean, yeah the actual murders took place as they did.
But all the psychological and other stuff, it’s all bullshit, Capote did a couple interviews where he stated this.
this captivated me more than i ever could have imagined
The Stranger Beside Me by Ann Rule is a good one. Lots of details and a different perspective on Ted Bundy, as Ann was a friend of his.