–review by Kara, teen reviewer
In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
This is the story about the murder of four members of the Clutter family, some of the most prominent and respected people of their community (a community that, prior to the murders, never locked their doors). It is an account of the lives of the murderers and the police trying to find them.
I picked up this book because it was in the “like The Devil in the White City.” It was like The Devil in the White City in that they were both nonfiction novels about murders, but the narration is a little different. While there were a few adjectives in The Devil in the White City that kind of inserted the author’s opinion of H.H. Holmes (serial killer), Truman Capote never breaks from purely non-fiction narration. The same voice that is given to the police, victims, and witnesses is given to the murderers, allowing you to form your own opinions about people without any herding from the author.
This book isn’t very fast paced, which I never expected of it. It took a while for me to get into it, but once I started to get into it, it was entrancing. This is a very thorough account of not only the murders, but also the murderers. You get a full account of what they did after the crime was committed and the events that led them to it.
Overall I recommend it to anyone who’s looking for a chilling but quiet read, but not to anyone who wants something that moves quickly. 5 stars. –Kara, teen reviewer
Find the book in our library: In Cold Blood