I finished reading this today. I figured I would launch into this disturbing tale on the immediate heels of the other disturbing tale, Lolita, which I had just finished. Although, this one is based on a true story which makes it more disturbing in a way, getting into the minds of such brutal characters. I have never ventured into true crime thrillers, but figured this one is a classic and the best choice for the genre. The storytelling is superb, perfectly paced, and brings to life the people and events of this horrible crime. To me, the most disturbing part, aside from the description of the grisly murders, is how unsympathetic these criminals are about the acts they have committed. There is this part where Perry Smith is describing in great detail the night of the murders and how they learned there was no money in the house. He finds a silver dollar in the daughters room and drops it. He tells how he had to get on his hands and knees to find this silver dollar and at that moment realized how ridiculous this whole thing was, killing a whole family and he's crawling around on the ground for a measly dollar. Then how they drove away from the house just laughing and in the best spirits. Crazy that there are people in the world like that. And the other people who were sharing death row with them at that time were equally devoid of human compassion. Capote does a great job telling this story and kept me invested and wanting to keep reading chapter after chapter, the sign of a great story.
