Rating: 
Summary: A Good book, but a slow read!
Review: This book was great in that it dealed really well with what went on in the murderers heads when they were killing the Clutter family. The only turn off to this book that I have is that it is a VERY slow read. It goes into so much unneeded detail that some of the pages are not even relevant to the story. I think that this book would of been better if there would of not been as many unneeded details dealing with characters that do not even need to be in the story. Truman Capote obviously knew a lot about this story and its murders and family. This bood is very moving and sad in knowing that these two men took the lives of a whole innocent family and did not feel any remorse at all. I am glad that in the end they got the punishment they deserved.
Rating: 
Summary: the slashing of a Norman Rockwell painting...
Review: I first read 'In Cold Blood' in the late 1960s as a young teenager, didn't think much of it, and subsequently forgot all about it. However I when I discovered a copy at a secondhand bookstore I decided to give it a try - after all, I am a fan of true crime books (especially those from Ann Rule). I'm very happy I made the purchase.'In Cold Blood' reads entirely like a novel, which is good since Capote writes beautiful prose but it's also bad because the reader has no idea what is fact and what is conjecture on the part of the author. While the crime involved, the brutal slaying of a rural Kansas family circa 1960, is horrific it is not the main focus of the book. The author concentrates on the wasted lives of the murderers, a stark contrast to the picture-perfect lives of the victims. So 'In Cold Blood' is more of a character study rather than an exercise in police investigative techniques, courtroom drama, or forensic science which seem to be prevalent in modern true crime stories. Bottom line: rural Americana of years gone by like we never knew or simply chose to forget. Recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Intriguing and disturbing, well-written
Review: This is a non-fiction account of a murder that reads like a novel. Capote writes this and develops the characters and plots as if he is creating the whole story. He writes a comprehensive journalistic account of all aspects of this murder. It is a very revealing book about the criminal mind and about community. It is a worthy book to read and was innovative for its time. Instead of reaching for the latest best-selling thriller, read this one first.
Rating: 
Summary: The Horrible Truth
Review: If you have been a victim of a family murder, or of a friend's murder, please do not read this book. For the facts are that although Truman Capote made a clear indication of what happens in this true story, there are very touchy parts where he details information about the two killers of the lovely Clutter family fom Holocombe in the Sunflower state of Kansas. In this quiet area of Kansas, where the only sounds one hears are those of the not so silent winds from the hills above them, this true story is told of a God-fearing family of husband and wife; sister and brother killed in cold blood while awakened out of their sleep one November night.....for what??? Forty dollars. The part of this true piece of non-fiction that really caused me alarm was the fact that the killers were never repentant or remorseful of their crime. They laughed about it, they slept after they had committed their crime and ate their bellies full. They had no care for anyone but themselves, and then again I'm a bit doubtful of that myself. The book is well written and actually there is far more detail about the hunted than the dead. I would have appreciated being told much more about the Clutters who fell victims because of two uneducated....unreasonable men who thought the world owed them so much more. May God have mercy on them!!!
Rating:
Summary: Pinnacle of the True Crime genre
Review: The smelly, hairy armpit of every bookstore is its True Crime section, shelved with scores of Ann Rule-styled mass-market paperbacks with black covers and fluorescent-lettered titles intended to shock, promising pages of murder and mayhem illustrated by grainy black-and-white photos, ultimately delivering banality in a glossy package. However, Truman Capote's "In Cold Blood," although sharing the purpose of the company it keeps, is a diamond in the rough. With sharp psychological insight and prose that is lithe and sophisticated without assuming an opulence that risks overdressing its grisly subject matter, Capote writes like he sincerely cares about not just the victims and the murderers, but everybody involved in the investigation of the case and then some. The case is fairly simple: On a November night in 1959 in the tiny western Kansas prairie town of Holcomb, two ex-convicts, Dick Hickock and Perry Smith, entered a farm house belonging to the Clutters, one of the richest and most respected families in the county, tied up Herb Clutter, his wife Bonnie, his son Kenyon, and his daughter Nancy with cords and killed them with a shotgun. The motive is not difficult to deduce from the outset; by introducing the killers early, Capote fashions the book not as a mystery but as a study of criminal behavior. In leading up to the crime, the narration alternates between the domestic tranquility of the Clutter family, a picture so innocent and wholesomely American it belongs on a Christmas card, and the sinister machinations and bizarre delusions of the killers as they travel hundreds of miles to Holcomb to do their deed. After the murders have been committed, leaving the town horrified and puzzled, the book follows Dick and Perry's cross-country trips in search of the next big score while special agents from the Kansas Bureau of Investigation probe the crime scene for evidence (the killers cleverly leave almost none) and interrogate the few witnesses who have anything to say. Capote manages to relate something valuable about every person the investigation encounters, from a gas station attendant to the woman who runs Holcomb's post office, so the book reads like a novel of rich characterization. An inevitable breakthrough in the case leads to the arrest of Dick and Perry, who have not covered their tracks well. From here, Capote examines the relevant details of their trial, in which they are convicted, and their appeals while they await execution on Death Row. Even to the very end we are continually informed that the book's devotion is to its killers' life stories, given clinical treatment during the trial in which we hear (off the record) professional psychoanalyses that attempt to explain how a man might become a monster. Although "In Cold Blood" could be criticized for apparently sympathizing with the killers, it manages to acknowledge their humanity without apologizing for or attempting to justify their violent actions.
Rating:
Summary: In Cold Blood
Review: In Cold Blood is a chilling and true tale of a family, the Clutters, murdered cold-heartedly in their house. The killers, Perry and Dick, are complex and ever-changing characters. They are incredibly strange, considering that they are heartless and remorseful all in one. Perry is a part Native American who had a very bad childhood and wants to rob the Clutters in order to travel to Mexico. Dick is feigning interest in Mexico in order for Perry to go along with the plan of killing the Clutters. Dick wants to kill the family in order to, "Leave no witnesses". Dick also seems more wicked than Perry towards the beginning of the book as he not only tells Perry of the plan, but he also likes to rape younger women. Perry was in a motorcycle accident earlier in his life and is now hooked on aspirin. He can't stop taking them and his knees are in constant pain. His knees also become more and more achy when he gets nervous or gets, "Bubbles in his blood". Perry had enough run ins with the law that he is not even allowed back into Kansas anymore. Dick is a drunk who has been in jail for a while for check fraud. He met a man in jail who told him about the Clutter home and how they have a safe in their house full of money, at least ten thousand dollars worth.
When the two finally reach Holcomb, Kansas, the hometown of the Clutters, they creep up to the Clutter's house quietly. When they get in the house and look around for a while, they realize that there is no safe and eventually have to kill the Clutters for the grand total of forty dollars. While on the run from the law, the killers take you from Kansas, Mexico, Las Vegas, and back again as the book takes a climatic turn and we find out the real story of what happened in that house on November the 15th, 1959.
Rating:
Summary: Real Life Horror
Review: Truman Capote has done a splendid job of making the story of the Clutter family come to life in this book. I had never read this book, but was prompted to purchase and read it after hearing just enough about the story to interest me. This doesn't read like the majority of true crime books. It reads like fiction. It is so easy to forget that what you are reading isn't just a story, but that it happened to real people and the actions of Smith and Hickok destroyed a family and a small Kansas town. All I can say is Read It! It's a bit macabre to say, you'll love it, but you will. Very good book!
Rating:
Summary: My review of Cold Blood
Review: In the story "In Cold Blood" by Truman Capote, I found out that this man performed very extensive research to create this book. He was very particular when he described the characters and the surroundings of the city. When he would identify areas of the city, Truman would describe it well enough that anyone who visited there could find a street, a building, or anyplace else in Holcomb. He told how the character looked, what they did, and even what some of them were wearing. His eye for detail made this book very exceptional because it made me want to read even more. I felt like I knew each and every character and what their hopes and dreams were for themselves and their families. Truman had a unique way of writing each and every paragraph of the story. He would start off one of the paragraphs talking about the Clutters, and the next paragraph would be about Perry Smith and Dick Hickock. Sometimes it was confusing because I would be reading a paragraph about the men planning the murder and the next paragraph would be about Nancy helping a little girl learn to bake a pie. I realized that this was the way Truman would help his readers to identify what was going on in the story by letting you get to know each of his characters. He told how the investigation went on for months and how the detectives were able to crack the case. I will not go into any detail about the case because this is such a masterpiece of nonfiction. Everyone who has a chance should read this book because I think it was one of the best books that I have ever read and I hope to read more of his books in the future.
Rating:
Summary: Very well written true crime story
Review: This was a very well written true crime story in the form of a novel, which was an original concept at the time it was written. Truman Capote is a master of vivid, concise, easy-to-follow prose, and it's no wonder he is regarded as such a great 20th Century writer. In Cold Blood is a chilling tale of the murder of an entire family in rural Kansas who had no apparent enemies. The book takes us into the minds and adventures of the killers, and only reveals towards the end what the killers' motives really were in the murder, and their connection to the victims. Very effective story-telling. The only reason I give it 4 stars instead of 5 is because I think people have built this book up too much. I was expecting to be absolutely blown away, but what I got was merely a good read. Still, I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in either true crime stories or murder mysteries.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Portrayal
Review: Capote does a great job of showing the horror of the real life murders in a small town in Kansas. He takes us through the lives of the Clutter family and the criminals in alternating chapters until they meet. Capote also shows how the murders caused neighbors to be suspicious of each other in this small town. Shows all sides and aspects of the case.
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