In Cold Blood by Truman Capote

In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 3 days

Pages - 343

Publisher - Penguin

Source - Bought

Blurb from Goodreads

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 were 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 mesmerizing suspense and astonishing empathy. At the center of his study are the amoral young killers Perry Smith and Dick Hickcock, who, vividly drawn by Capote, are shown to be reprehensible yet entirely and frighteningly human. In Cold Blood is a seminal work of modern prose, a remarkable synthesis of journalistic skill and powerfully evocative narrative.


My Review

One of my workies, Martin has been raving about this book for AGES, I bought it after another gab about it and the movies (I haven't seen them, yet!). Taking all the materials available and Capote had access to he reconstruct everything that happened in the murders and people affected or directly involved in the murder and case.

I have read a ton of true crime books, seen shows galore and a few movies. This one struck a different chord, when I started it I wasn't sure why it was so loved. As I got into it though I started to appreciate it the way so many others have.

The book has very few chapters which really put me off, however within the huge chapters there are some page breaks so you can stop there. I am not a huge fan of long chapters however the book does engage, I would just say pick it up when you have time to read it in long sittings.

We follow Dick and Perry on their seemingly unrelated journey in the day(s) running to and the murder. We meet the Clutters and how they were in the community and then everything is laid bare. You hear in the killers own words what happened and words spoken by the victims which really punch an emotive punch. It isn't often you hear exactly what happened when someone is brutally murdered let alone a whole family and the why.

It is a really sad case and you learn about the killers, their backgrounds and who they are/were as people. It makes an interesting read as you get to "see" the victims, the community, the police involved, the killers - it covers so much, 4/5 for me!

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In Cold Blood by Netta Newbound and Marcus Brown

In Cold Blood: Discovering Chris Watts: The Facts - Part One by Netta Newbound
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - in and out over a few days

Pages -

Publisher -

Source - Amazon Prime ebook

Blurb from Goodreads

We guess it’s safe to say most people will have heard of the Watts case.

Christopher Lee (Chris) Watts, the dashing, seemingly genteel, affable man who murdered his entire family in a calculated attack that shocked the entire world.

Shanann Watts, his pregnant, incredibly beautiful wife whose life was snuffed out because her doting husband decided he wanted a fresh start.

Bella Marie and Celeste Cathryn (CeCe) Watts, adorable sisters who worshipped their father, the very man who suffocated them both in cold blood using their comfort blankets against them. He then went on to dispose of their tiny bodies into huge tanks filled with toxic crude oil.

Nico Lee Watts, Chris and Shanann’s unborn son.

No doubt, most of you watched the story unfold on the news, open-mouthed, in total shock. What could push a loving father to brutally murder his family? Surely there was some mistake? We all have preconceived ideas of how a monster should look–grotesque, hideously deformed, a crazed madman–not this handsome, mild-mannered, shy, polite gent who was often portrayed as the perfect husband and father.

So, what happened?

During this series we will look at the facts, the police investigation, the evidence, hear Chris Watts’ explanation and his reasoning. We will try to make some sense of what occurred during the early hours of August 13th 2018.

We will endeavour to present to you all aspects of the case, right from the initial investigation and how it unfolded, to the first and subsequent confessions all transcribed word for word (where possible) from actual video and audio footage obtained from the FBI’s Discovery Files.



My review

So I haven't seen the FBI Discovery Files footage but I did watch the Netflix show on the Watts family and what Chris did. This book has the word for word transcriptions of the interviews with the police & Chris, Chris's secret girlfriend, the lie detector test and the conversation Chris has with his father when he confessed to killing Shanann.

They have transcribed the interviews pretty much verbatim, if there was ums and ams they are exactly as they were spoken. The book opens with a brief intro to the authors, then a look at definitions of sociopaths and the different kinds and which they feel is relevant to Chris. Then the rest of the book is all of the interviews. At the end of each there is maybe a paragraph or two from the authors with speculation on what has just been said.

It is interesting, as I said I hadn't seen the files, the authors stress if you have then the book is not for you. I assume because the majority of what you see if what they have scribed in the book, if you haven't seen the files and are drawn to true crime then you will be fascinated and shocked.

The text can be a bit heavy going and monotonous but it is exactly what was said, I would have expected much more input from the authors but there is really not much. It is largely the interviews which is shocking and we seen some from the Netflix but apparently it is much more in the files.

Now the title does say part one but I hadn't appreciated it would stop where it did, it ends abruptly just as Chris tells where he put the wee girls. Part two is £8.99 (at time of posting) and despite having seen the Netflix documentary and knowing exactly what happens I had to get part 2, I hate being left hanging. There is a third part but there isn't much to it, less than 100 pages I think but I will look at it properly when I finish book two, 3/5 for me this time.

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