In Cold Blood
A truly compelling story that humanizes both the victims and the killers.
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. In Cold Blood’s mission is to lay out the motives of the crime, all the actors involved, and to really uncover the mental process of the killer duo. Capote turns a horrid crime into a story to make the how's and whys accessible to the average American.
In Cold Blood is written by a cold, distant narrator in the sense that Capote had no connection to Kansas or the Clutter family; he randomly heard about the murders and went to make a quick article on the subject. He soon gets swept away by the mystics of it all, and dedicates years to writing In Cold Blood. It’s almost like Capote got swept away in the tragedy to become part of the tragedy as well, as In Cold Blood soon became the last book he would ever write due to him allegedly becoming so obsessed with the case that he couldn’t focus on any other subject matter. He also became close to Perry Edward, one of the two killers, when interviewing him for his book. He was asked by Perry to watch his execution, which Capote has described as being very emotional strenuous for him.
Having never heard anything of the Clutter murders prior to reading this book, the experience of reading it was intense, gripping, and suspenseful from beginning to end. Capote, with his impartial writing style, relayed facts and details in such a way as to give a complete character illustration of everyone involved: from each of the Clutters, to the investigators, lawyers, and even the murderers themselves. He did not reveal his personal sentiments or biases, or even presume to know right from wrong. In what he coined a “non-fiction novel,” Capote brilliantly combined the elements of a fictional murder novel with factual journalism and psychological analysis to show the moral dilemmas surrounding the act of murder. In Cold Blood is a beautifully haunting story that rightfully sits at the forefront of the most distinguished true crime books of all time. Very few true crime books are capable of challenging In Cold Blood’s position as one of the most well written, well researched, and most engaging stories reporting on something as gruesome as a beloved family being murdered in what was supposed to be simply just a robbery.
