I haul my copy out every 2-3 years just to remind myself how wonderful the rhythms and nuances of the American language can be at the hands of a master. I am totally drawn into the lives of the prosperous and completely unsuspecting Clutter family of western Kansas and the two drifters, Perry and Dick, who by themselves didn't amount to much but together proved lethal that fall night in 1959.

A trivia note: Capote's research assistant on this book was Nell Harper) Lee, who shortly after would become famous as the author of "To Kill a Mockingbird."

I'd recommend Gerald Clarke's excellent biography "Capote" to learn about this one-of-a-kind book, its creation, reception, and how it affected the author's life.


Thank you Mr. Capote!   July 22, 2001
 92 out of 122 found this review helpful

For various reasons this is a book that is hard to review.

If you are looking for a book that will take you into the minds of killers, then this is the book for you.

A great classic that will have you sleeping w/the lights on and looking at criminals and questioning why. You will question your personal view on the death sentance as well.

To say much more about this book may sway you or give you to much information.

Capote take you to where no other book can. A sensless murder and semi biography of the killers and a journey you will NEVER forget.


A true classic...   July 7, 2006
 19 out of 21 found this review helpful

I received Truman Capote's In Cold Blood as a gift, and this book is a true gem in the true crime genre.

Herb Clutter was a wealthy rancher and prominent citizen of Holcomb, Kansas. In 1959, Clutter, his wife, and his two teenaged children were brutally murdered in their home. The killers are two paroled criminals, Dick Hickock and Perry Smith, and they think that they have executed the perfect crime. Their involvement is no surprise as Capote introduces them at the beginning of the book. Capote chronicles the search for the killers by the Kansas Bureau of Investigation (the KBI).

Capote writes In Cold Blood in a folksy, easy going style. He goes from one character to another, seamlessly switching from the third person to the first, and then back again. His down-home descriptions mirror Kansas in a simpler time. Capote writes about the jury "Not everyone was attentive; one juror, as though poisoned by the numerous spring-fever yawns weighing in the air, sat with drugged eyes and jaws so utterly ajar bees could have buzzed in and out." Capote also shows surprising empathy for the murderers, and Hickock and Smith accumulate a few fans.

Although In Cold Blood is 41 years old, reading it now couldn't be more timely. First, the film, Capote, was recently released. In Cold Blood became his most successful book. Also, Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee by Charles J. Shields was just published. Lee and Capote were neighbors, friends and collaborators. Lee did much of the research for In Cold Blood, and Capote rewarded her by dedicating this book to her (along with Jack Dunphy). I'm sorry it took so long for me to read this classic and I now have to follow up In Cold Blood with these two works.



"The Book I Was Born To Write"   October 2, 2005
 15 out of 19 found this review helpful

The NYC movie theater was sold out today for every performance of 'CAPOTE' and not surprisingly so. The age of the audience was 50's, 60's, 70's. Also not surprising. Truman Capote was an important literary light in our lives. I read 'In Cold Blood' when it came out in Atlanta and it scared me to death. After that book, I followed his life until it ended sadly in Palm Springs 20 years ago. Philip Seymour Hoffman's 'Capote' is astonishing. He is the Brando of his generation. When the film ended and the house lights came up, I shed tears of sadness that this incredibly gifted man self-destructed after this book came out. What potential he had to write many more books and live to a ripe old age. Did 'In Cold Blood' so envelop his soul that he couldn't rid himself of the ghosts? It's obvious from the film that he was more concerned that this book was taking years to finish than he was the fate of the two men whom he was writing about. Tipsy on a barstool at Harper Lee's party after the premier of the film based on her book 'To Kill A Mockingbird' he says: They're just tormenting me! Translation: The two men in prison have been given more time to live. He could not finish his book until their deaths. Riviting scene. Incredible film. An incredible book that will endure through the decades. It's was a frightening book to read back in the 60s because we had not had a true crime book like this before. He paved the way for the genre we take for granted today. 48 HOURS and CITY CONFIDENTIAL among other TV shows, would not be around today were it not for 'In Cold Blood' and Truman Capote. I miss him SO much!


It made my blood run cold...   April 11, 2006
 15 out of 16 found this review helpful

On November 15, 1959, in Holcomb, Kansas, the four members of the Clutter family were dragged from their beds in the early hours of the morning and tied up. All four were shot in the head with a shotgun at close range. None survived. The killers left few clues, and there was no apparent motive for the slayings.

On assignment from the New Yorker, author Truman Capote, along with his assistant Nell Harper Lee, traveled to Holcomb in late 1959 to investigate the killings for an article. The article was completed, but still Capote remained in Holcomb. He conducted interviews with every person in town; he poured over police records and statements. Once the killers, drifters Perry Smith and Dick Hickock, were caught and sentenced, he even interviewed them on Death Row. The Clutter killings became an obsession for him; and that obsession turned into a book that would become a literary milestone, that would singlehandedly introduce a new genre to the literary world: the nonfiction novel. He called his piece of creative nonfiction IN COLD BLOOD, and it so consumed him that it would be the last thing he'd ever write.

I didn't expect this book to move me so deeply. In most true crime books that are written today (at least in my experience), the evidence is presented straightforwardly, unemotionally; the facts are dry and textbook-like. Such is not the case with IN COLD BLOOD. Capote's prose is mesmerizing. His descriptions of Holcomb and its inhabitants are vivid and lively. His research is impeccable, presented flawlessly, lushly, sweeping the reader away on waves of vibrant language.

And his imagery is heartbreaking: Nancy Clutter teaching a neighbor to make a cherry pie, Dick Hickock deliberately hitting a dog on the highway, the Clutters' old mare standing alone in an overgrown pasture. With startling empathy, Capote transports his readers to the Holcomb, Kansas, of late 1959: We feel the tension and sorrow clouding the town; we watch as the police nearly crumble under the weight of their investigation; we're with Dick and Perry as they flee across the United States to Mexico, leaving a trail of bounced checks in their wake, and we're with them in their cells on Death Row. We're right there the whole time, from the day before the Clutters are killed to the day after their murderers are executed. And Capote is unflinching; he keeps us there, even when the honesty of his prose makes us uncomfortable, even when we can't imagine reading on but somehow can't seem to stop.

And this is the genius of IN COLD BLOOD: It is a violent, unflinching account, sorrowful beyond belief (and made even more so because it's true); but, in the hands of a master like Capote, it's really hard to stop reading about this unfortunate family and their motiveless, pathetic murderers. This book made me sad, it made me shiver; but I'm glad I read it.