Rating: 
Summary: Can't Stop Reading
Review: I've read this book by a suggestion of an American boy(I'm Turkish). What influenced me most about this book was that you may guess who the murderer is easily or you may find the outcoming events very expectable but you can't stop reading. That's most probably because of your arousing feelings for the players of the novel and the tremendous desire to become a player in the story to change somethings. I think that the book consists psychologic inside rather than detectiveness or homicide.
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Summary: IN COLD BLOOD ENDURES THE TEST OF TIME
Review: As a crime fiction writer with my debut novel in its initial release, I admire books that stand the test of time. Truman Capote's IN COLD BLOOD clearly endures this test. In this famous "nonfiction novel", Capote tells the tale of the cold-blooded murder of a Kansas family. The images Capote presents still remain fresh. The consequences of the murderers' crimes are also given vivid play. All in all, IN COLD BLOOD remains a powerful book decades after it was written.
Rating:
Summary: Thank you Mr. Capote!
Review: 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.
Rating: 
Summary: Engrossing
Review: I loved reading this non-fiction "novel" just as much as I loved reading "The Executioner's Song" by Norman Mailer. Both books were moving and thoroughly got into the heads of the criminal, yet they further confirmed my belief that the death penalty is necessary and an important feature of American justice. "In Cold Blood" is beautifully written with as many lovely images and lines as in "Breakfast at Tiffany's" or the Christmas short-story. The only reason I gave it 4 instead of 5 stars was because Truman seemed to speed up toward the end of the novel and, in my opinion, didn't really spend to much time with Dick or Perry during their final days. For instance, after learning about Perry's horrible family life, the bird dream he repeatedly has, and many other fine tidbits in his life, Truman never really discussed how Perry felt about his upcoming execution. I felt a cheated out. (Also, Truman tried to hide his own character in the novel by referring to himself as "a journalist" -- a bit tacky.) Finally, I just want to remind readers that this is a true story about real people. In many ways, regarding the characters involved, it is much more fascinating, in-depth, and "human" than any fiction novel could be.
Rating:
Summary: A clearly framed horrifying account of cold-blooded murder.
Review: The murders that are graphically depicted in Truman Capote's In Cold Blood -which is now universally recognized more for its writing than anything else- are nauseating, grisly and malicious; these words do not aptly describe the frightful overtone, essence and nub of the book - that violence is not purely restricted to inner cities and to metropolises. The murders that occurred on 15 November 1959 in Holcomb, Kansas is the exclamation point to that alarming fact. Violent murders can happen in places like Holcomb where, "The village (of Holcomb) stands on the high wheat plains of western Kansas, a lonesome area that other Kansans call 'out there.' Some seventy miles east of the Colorado border, the countryside, with its hard blue skys and desert-clear air, has an atmosphere that is rather more Far West than Middle West. The local accent is barbed with a prairie twang, a ranch-hand nasalness, and the men, many of them, wear narrow frontier trousers, Stetsons, and high-heeled boots with pointed toes. The land is flat, and the views are awesomely extensive; horses, herds of cattle, a white cluster of grain elevators rising as gracefully as Greek temple are visible long before a traveler reaches them." [Page three] That image of oridinary middle America with traditional homspun values that predated the golden age of Camelot dose not seem like the appropriate setting for a bloody quadruple homicide. But that in fact is cold, hard reality that can not be altered, irrelevant of society's wish for the prevention of outside ills to seep into the homogeneous and community-oriented sub-societies like Holcomb. The murders, which are a strong facet in this book, goes beyond senseless evil; it is outside human intellectual and logical reach, because during the latter part of fifties and early sixties, the study of criminology, sociology and the psychological sciences was nowhere near as honed and accurate as it is today. It was just four gruesome unsolved murders. The cure: get the person or persons responsible and punish them to the full extent of the law. Case closed. In Cold Blood is writtien in that same straight-forward, stick-to-the-facts fashion. Capote stuck to the actualities at hand; he did not interlace the act of murder with scientific/psychological reasoning as to why it happened. He knew that it was not for simple financial gain; there was something deeper and more profound involved. I think Capote was curious about that aspect of it, but it raised questions regarding his standard of objectivity when writing about the wondering and soulless lives of Perry Smith and Richard Hickock. In Cold Blood is representative of a true American tragedy on all counts, for you have the horrid slaughter of the Clutter family, and in another way, you have the death of two men who could have become something more than what they ended up if their circumstances early in their life had been just a little bit different. Ultimately, the punishment for the crime was well deserved, if not a tragedy in its own right. All told, there are no words that can appropriately express the emotions that are evoked when the book is entirely read through. For me, I did not know what depleted my emotions more: the fantastic breadth of writing adroitness or the vividly detailed vicious massacre of the Clutter family and the muddled lives of its two very sad criminals. I now realize that it is a definate hybrid of the two - a true but grim American classic where the act of murder and its consequences is stunningly written and astonishingly articulated.
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Summary: Beautifully Described Horror
Review: This was my first exposure to Truman Capote, and I must say I loved it. Capote's style, language, and pacing was amongst the best I have ever experienced. If for no other reason than to read exquisite writing, this is an excellent book. As a bonus to readers, however, this book also contains a chilling, though engrossing true-story, of two men who murdered four of Kansas' finest citizens. I love programs such as Law and Order that profile the police work and courtroom drama that follow a crime, so this was right up my alley. Capote recreates the lives and actions of everyone involved in these crimes (sometimes it is obvious that some details were fictionalized as no survivors could have actually testified to them) and makes everyone compelling, including the two murderers. It is a fantastic book and one that I would recommend to anyone interested in fine literature, human psychology, true crime, or just a quick, unforgettable read.
Rating:
Summary: A Triumph!
Review: This is the best thriller I've ever read, bar none. Capote's acclaimed "non-fiction novel" is just that: a true-crime masterpiece that turns "immaculate facts" into remarkable prose. It reads like a movie-in-prose with its numberless chapters and ominous intercutting between the lives of two pathetic drifters with those of their poignant victims. It's perhaps the best account of American violence ever written.
Rating: 
Summary: A Novel off the beaten path
Review: I read this book along with a slew of other classic modern authors -- hemingway, fitzgerald, steinbeck -- as well as with classic japanese authors such as tanazaki. I guess I was expecting a fiction book from a fiction author, and instead got a rather long-winded book written with what seemed to be little imagination. As I read it, I realized that non-fiction does not lend itself well to imaginitive writing. So, while the book is well written and an 'interesting' change from fictional novels, I found it less interesting and suspenseful. I mean, the book starts with the slaying of the most interesting characters in the entire book. It is tough to recover into an 'interesting' story from that plot line. I will read other Capote books, but stick to his Fiction in the future. 2 stars deducted for high "boring factor".
Rating:
Summary: A Masterpiece
Review: Truman Capote's In Cold Blood was one of the greatest non fictional masterpieces I have ever read. The suspenseful detail in this book will make you want to keep turning the pages to find out what will happen next. Each character was clearly described well. The suspense will leave you "hanging" on every word. You will want to read until midnight...or at least until you feel too scared to go on. Perry and Dick will haunt you even after you finish it. Were their deaths just?
Rating:
Summary: Great
Review: A great and influential book. It's influence was shown when Gore Vidal and Norman Mailer both criticized Capote for writing a nonfiction novel, instead of a fiction novel, when he was writing it. But once this was out and they read it, Mailer and Vidal bother turned around and wrote nonfiction novels themselves.
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