Truman Capote’s 1965 account of the real life Clutter murders- a family brutally murdered in rural Kansas in 1959- is as raw and as eloquently emotive as any other crime book of its ilk published today.
This semi-fictionalised novel, compiled at the time of the events, starts slow as we’re introduced to this upper class farming family, and told of the parents’ roots and coming together. But before long, their deaths at the hands of two gunmen are discovered, and the soon-introduced murderers are already on the run.
There have been countless murders just like this one over the years, and there are no clever twists or narrative tricks. There’s no need when the original story – told with a decent amount of accuracy – is as tense and as devastating as this one. Brilliantly researched, the book takes in the perspectives of neighbours, law enforcement, judiciary and other folk who crossed paths with the Clutter family, and the murderers.
Chris Sullivan at (folded) lads’ mag Loaded says, ‘this book has not dated one iota.’ He’s right.
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