Book Review: In Cold Blood by Truman Capote

In Cold Blood tells the story of the 1959 murders of four members of the Clutter family in Holcomb, Kansas. Capote called the book "creative non-fiction" because, I think, he gets inside the minds of the characters and relays their thoughts to the reader. As far as I've been able to find out, Capote got all the facts straight.

I was somewhat disappointed in the book, mainly because I had very high expectations. For some reason I had the notion that Capote helped solve the crime, when in reality it was an inmate in the Kansas penitentiary who provided the information that put investigators on the right track. This is, of course, a fault with the reader (me), but it does show how our attitudes and assumptions can help ruin a book.

Not that In Cold Blood was a bad book. I enjoyed it, just not as much as anticipated. Capote does a nice job weaving the stories of the criminals and investigators together to give the book some degree of drama, even though you know what's going to happen. Certain parts, particularly after the arrests were made, were bogged down by detail. I had read that Capote was able to build sympathy for the murderers, but apparently I missed that part. The two killers came across as crass, unlikable, evil men, and I didn't have one bit of sympathy for them. I am moderately, but not completely, against the death penalty, but even when Capote narrated the hanging of the murderers, I still had no sympathy. Either I'm cold-hearted or Capote's ability to arouse compassion is over-rated.

Overall, I'd rate In Cold Blood a 7. If I wasn't in a good mood today, I'd rate it a 6.