Reviews - Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders

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Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders

If a slasher movie could be a book, with all the gratuitous violence that entails...

Obviously the Manson family crimes were atrocious, but the particular descriptions of the killings in this book felt too salacious to me. I think that's because the way the narrative unfolds means that the author keeps revisiting the night of the Tate and LaBianca murders from different perspectives to share more details in the order that they were received by the prosecutors.

Okay also I admit, since this was written by the prosecutor, I was looking forward to some of the boring legal nitty gritty, but it actually skips through most of the procedural stuff. I can't even conceptualize a nine month trial and I want to know SO many more details about what it looked like.

All and all, this is like, a soft three stars. Maybe a 2.5? Eh, whatever, I don't feel that strongly about it. Probably a great read for a real true crime junkie, not so much for boring law nerds.

marinadelibrosyalgomas's review against another edition

5.0

Hace años que quiero leer algo sobre los crímenes de la familia Manson, y que mejor que un libro escrito por Vincent Bugliosi, el fiscal de la causa?
Este libro cuenta básicamente como fueron los crímenes de Sharon Tate y sus acompañantes, cometidos el 9 de agosto de 1969, y los de la familia La Bianca, perpetrados un día después.
El fiscal narra de manera muy interesante el proceso de investigación, con todos los errores cometidos por la policía en el mismo, como por ejemplo tocar el botón de entrada del porton eléctrico en el que los asesinos habían dejado una huella ensangrentada al salir de la vivienda, permitir que la mucama de la casa de Cielo Drive lave la sangre de las puertas y pisos, o no hacerle caso a un nene que encontró el arma asesina en el jardín de su casa, un tiempo después.
Describe las declaraciones de los principales acusados y condenados por estos crímenes, y explica el funcionamiento de la "familia" y la manipulación psicológica que Charles Manson hacía de sus miembros.
Si te gustan los libros sobre crímenes reales, no dudes en leerlo.

Mi puntaje: 5 Marinas

popofcolor1213's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

retrodoll's review against another edition

3.75

dark informative mysterious tense fast-paced

joyliminal's review against another edition

4.0

I absolutely devoured the first half of the book. Prior to this, I really only knew the most basic headlines of the Manson story so I was able to read the book genuinely having no idea what would happen next. I found it to be accessible, well written and interesting. I’ll admit that reading everything after Part 6, the beginning of the trial, in this long and detailed book, started to feel a little bit more like work. And by the time I got to the lengthy Epilogue and the Afterword, I was definitely dragging myself through just to finish; the Epilogue in particular, I think, didn’t add much of substance at all and probably could have been cut down to a third of its size. Overall, a fascinating and well told story that I’m glad I took the time to read, but also a bit of an exercise in endurance.