Hi friends and happy Wednesday! I hope you’re all doing well. I’m back with another classic read! Today I’m posting my reading update thoughts on In Cold Blood by: Truman Capote.

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.

As Truman Capote reconstructs the murder and the investigation that led to the capture, trial, and execution of the killers, he generates both mesmerizing suspense and astonishing empathy. In Cold Blood is a work that transcends its moment, yielding poignant insights into the nature of American violence.

Goodreads synopsis

What I didn’t realize before starting this was that this book is non-fiction. Knowing that this story is real now gives a new sense of thrill to this. I’m not very far (20 pages in) and I can tell it’s going to be slow paced. The way Capote is already drawing out the story and the facts hopefully won’t make for a long, boring read. So far, it’s kept me on edge, and he’s captured my attention and I’m curious what the crime is and where this is going to go.

I now have a better understanding of what is happening. Before I had no idea who had died; I had an idea of who the killer was (and I still only kinda do since he hasn’t come out and said that’s who did it) but now all the players are on the table and everything has been set up nicely. I like that we’re given a part one to understand who the family was before they died. Now I need to know motives because it’s not even alluded to as to how everything is connected or why.

I’m now at the end of part two and I have to say, it was a bit of a slog to get through. We learn more about the people who “supposedly” committed the crime (since it hasn’t been confirmed) but it hasn’t really done much to move this along. How is learning about the guy’s home life and backstory related to why he killed this family? What’s the motive here? How are they connected? Part three is called Answers, so I’m hoping that brings some closure to all these questions I have. Hopefully it’ll be a little more fast-paced too.

As I started part 3, Answers, I was beginning to wonder if I was actually liking this book – it’s been a slow chug up to this point and I’m still not really getting it, but then in the last few pages I read today, things started to pick up and now I’m sorta invested again. Like, these two guys were just out there pretending to be the dead guy they killed – like that isn’t suspicious, I thought it was kinda comical to flat out do that. So now the detectives are on their tail and I can’t wait to find out their motives. Why kill a guy who they thought was rich, who turned out not to be… but killed anyway?! 🤔

Alright so I’ve just finished up part three and I can see how Capote is moulding and forming the story. It’s slowly, slowly coming together what happened and why. The one guy gives us a play-by-play of how it all went down, in his words mind you, and we learn that yes this was all for the money, but his partner didn’t want to admit defeat and so instead of cutting their losses, kill the family. The irony is how much money they ended up getting because it was basically pennies, that made me shake my head and laugh – this poor family lost their lives for less than 50 bucks. I believe part four is their trial; I’m interested to see how that goes.

I’m over halfway through part four and it’s been fascinating to read because we’ve now gone down the rabbit hole of trying to figure out who of the two accused, actually pulled the trigger. We’re now psychoanalyzing each of them, trying to find their motives and reasons and if their past has any indication on how they acted. This part has definitely been more interesting and it’s going by so quickly. I’ll be finished next week with final thoughts but as of right now I’ve gone back to being invested in this book. 

I’ve finally finished reading In Cold Blood and I can understand the appeal that people have to this, especially those who enjoy true crime, but I don’t think this book was for me. I’m rating it 3 stars because I didn’t hate it, but nor did I like it either. There were parts that I found intriguing and parts that I found a bore. Capote writes the accounts well, but there were times he added in so much detail that I really felt didn’t need to be there. I did like that he gave us a good picture of who the Clutter family were and even if I didn’t like it, he gave us a picture of who Perry and Hickock were; at least it was an all around balance of who the players were. By the end this felt more like Perry and Hickock’s story than the Clutters as this gave an interesting look into the minds of killers and a fascinating perspective to the justice system in the US in the 1950s and 60s in the later half of the book. Again, not for me, but I’m glad I read it once.

 Have you read In Cold Blood? Let me know in the comments!