Title: In Cold Blood.
Author: Truman Capote
Publisher: Penguin Books
Pages: 336

I had heard a lot about this book and wanted to read it long before the movie Capote was nominated for a bunch of Oscars. I was lucky when my Criminology/Sociology professor picked this book to write a Sociological paper about. We were able to buy the Dutch version with the rest of the books for the third trimester. I, however, wanted the English version. And so I got it.

It reads very easily. He does not use complex sentence structures and not much fancy words. The way he wrote it makes you want to turn the page and see if the bad guys get caught.

For those unfamiliar with the story here’s a summary: A family of four, Clutters, get killed by two men: Hickock and Smith. The story is told from different perspectives: the killers’, the family’s, the investigators’ and several other people. That way you a great sense of what people are going through and what impact it had on people.

I, however, started to dislike the family at some point. They seemed too perfect. The kids were good in school and Kenyon, the son, was good at making furniture and the daughter, Nancy, was good at sports and baking things. They were described as the perfect 'Christian' family(of course that does not give anyone the right to kill them) and that made me want to barf at times. It’s like going to a funeral and hearing people talk about the deceased as if he/she were a saint. I went through that with my Grandpa’s cremation and the two-facedness made me sick. No one is perfect, no one is a saint. Everyone has got their cranky moments where they act like total bastards and I'm sure this family had too. Apart from the mother being ill, there was nothing that indicated they were a normal family, who fight and get angry with each other. Who sometimes just don't have Lady Luck on their side. That was a shame.

The killers were also described vividly and I hated Dick from beginning until the end. He did his name justice. Perry, however, made me feel torn. Yes, he was a cold-blooded killer, but there was something about him that was sad. That made you sympathise with him. At times I hated him, but he seemed to be the decent one. He prevented Dick from raping Nancy and another young girl. He seemed to be the less ‘evil’ one and more of a guy who was in the wrong place at the wrong time. I thought that was very well-done on Capote’s part. He really made you feel torn and sometimes angry with yourself for feeling sorry for a killer.

I give the book an 8/10.
P.S. Also check crimelibrary.com for more information of the case.