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1.5k reviews for:
Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders
Curt Gentry, Vincent Bugliosi
4.05 AVERAGE
1.5k reviews for:
Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders
Curt Gentry, Vincent Bugliosi
4.05 AVERAGE
Another example of how some true crime novels are scarier than any fiction that’s out there. Vincent Bugliosi was a brilliant lawyer & writer. This is a classic for a reason. A fully satisfying 26 hour experience. Narration by Scott Brick, who is absolute perfection here.
OMG (kidding)--I remember checking this book out of the public library one summer when I was much younger. I don't think I read much of it, bit I have the most vivid memory of looking at the disturbing pictures while sunbathing in a lawn chair in my backyard, experiencing chills while sweating in the sun. Deliciously creepy.
What a trip! I have done a lot of research on the Family and the murders and it was definitely useful in reading this book. If I didn’t have the pre-existing knowledge, I do not think I would have understood, appreciated, or enjoyed this book so much. (“Manson” by Jeff Guinn is a wonderful antecedent to this book and I highly recommend you read it before this one).
This is a thorough detail of the trials and murders providing anecdotal details that richly illustrated the events and individuals concerned. It is important to know that this was written by the prosecuting attorney in the state-LaBianca trials do it is a bit bias, but Bugliosi really does a beautiful job of trying to explain all aspects of the trial.
This was a book that was extremely educational but riveting at the same time. All I wanted to do was read it and I truly was sad when it ended!
This is a thorough detail of the trials and murders providing anecdotal details that richly illustrated the events and individuals concerned. It is important to know that this was written by the prosecuting attorney in the state-LaBianca trials do it is a bit bias, but Bugliosi really does a beautiful job of trying to explain all aspects of the trial.
This was a book that was extremely educational but riveting at the same time. All I wanted to do was read it and I truly was sad when it ended!
challenging
dark
informative
sad
medium-paced
We all know the CliffsNotes version, but this full account is too wild for the human imagination to take credit. Of course some time is spent on the actual murders (described gruesomely, yet respectfully), but the text is really more a psychological examination of the Manson Family. Embellishment is always a possibility, but the authors appear transparent and fully reliant on trial transcripts. Gripping from the first word to the last, it's a long read, but I found myself picking it up whenever I had a free moment. Sometimes real life truly is the strangest fiction.
Helter Skelter is everything a true crime book should be and then some. This is not just a recount of the Manson Family murders; it’s an absolute rollercoaster. Bugliosi drags you straight into the investigation, the courtroom, and the twisted mind games Manson played with his followers, all while you’re sitting there wide-eyed and holding your breath like it’s fiction.
Bugliosi’s writing? Pure gold. He somehow manages to weave in gritty details and intense legal drama without losing that “thriller” vibe. It’s horrifying, fascinating, and downright unputdownable. And the fact that Bugliosi was the prosecutor himself—That’s like the true crime equivalent of backstage VIP access. Every time you think it can’t get darker, it does, and the psychological exploration here is on another level.
This book took me to the eerie heart of the ‘60s and dropped me right into the insanity of Manson’s warped cult—and I loved every page of it. If you want a book that will make you stay up all night questioning humanity and clutching your blanket, Helter Skelter is it.
Bugliosi’s writing? Pure gold. He somehow manages to weave in gritty details and intense legal drama without losing that “thriller” vibe. It’s horrifying, fascinating, and downright unputdownable. And the fact that Bugliosi was the prosecutor himself—That’s like the true crime equivalent of backstage VIP access. Every time you think it can’t get darker, it does, and the psychological exploration here is on another level.
This book took me to the eerie heart of the ‘60s and dropped me right into the insanity of Manson’s warped cult—and I loved every page of it. If you want a book that will make you stay up all night questioning humanity and clutching your blanket, Helter Skelter is it.
adventurous
dark
informative
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
A bit wordy in places, dry (especially the latter 2/3), and overlong, but still the gold standard of Manson books. Required reading for anyone interested in a Manson narrative based (more or less) exclusively on official police and court records.
Good grief! Helter Skelter shocked me in many ways! I had no idea that so many people were murdered or how batshit crazy and evil the Family was.
Charles Manson was not only an evil, little man but was extremely manipulative and cunning. He was a con man, a racist and a misogynist. He had the ability to read others from being in the prison system for years before he started the Family at Spahn Ranch which is located in the South Los Angeles area.
He would figure out the weaknesses and issues with a person and manipulate that into controlling and isolating them. He took these skills along with drugs and sex to influence and control women and men coming into the Family.
I do believe that some of the women and men that came into the family were already foul to begin with and Manson just pushed them over the edge.
"You can convince anybody of anything if you just push it at them all of the time. They may not believe it 100 percent, but they will still draw opinions from it, especially if they have no other information to draw their opinions from." - Charles Manson
Was this the best true crime book that I’ve read? No, it’s not.
Helter Skelter is not light reading nor does it lack in details. There are so many details in the investigation and trial.
I just took my time with the book. Know this going in if you decide to read this book.
I still enjoyed all of the investigation details and the prosecution’s case against Manson and the Family. I was amazed at how lazy and imcompetant the LAPD was back in 1969. I'm glad they've gotten a bit better!
I’m glad I finally read Helter Skelter since it’s fascinating and creepy read. I've always wanted to read this retelling of a brutal, historical period in America during the 1960s.
"Whenever people unquestioningly turn over their minds to authoritarian figures to do with as the please-whether it be in a satanic cult or some of the more fanatic offshoots of the Jesus Movement, in the right wing or the far left, or in the mind-bending cults of the new sensitivity-those potentials exist. One hopes that none of these groups will spawn other Charles Mansons. But it would be naïve to suggest that that chilling possibility does not exist." - Vincent Bugliosi
Charles Manson was not only an evil, little man but was extremely manipulative and cunning. He was a con man, a racist and a misogynist. He had the ability to read others from being in the prison system for years before he started the Family at Spahn Ranch which is located in the South Los Angeles area.
He would figure out the weaknesses and issues with a person and manipulate that into controlling and isolating them. He took these skills along with drugs and sex to influence and control women and men coming into the Family.
I do believe that some of the women and men that came into the family were already foul to begin with and Manson just pushed them over the edge.
"You can convince anybody of anything if you just push it at them all of the time. They may not believe it 100 percent, but they will still draw opinions from it, especially if they have no other information to draw their opinions from." - Charles Manson
Was this the best true crime book that I’ve read? No, it’s not.
Helter Skelter is not light reading nor does it lack in details. There are so many details in the investigation and trial.
I just took my time with the book. Know this going in if you decide to read this book.
I still enjoyed all of the investigation details and the prosecution’s case against Manson and the Family. I was amazed at how lazy and imcompetant the LAPD was back in 1969. I'm glad they've gotten a bit better!
I’m glad I finally read Helter Skelter since it’s fascinating and creepy read. I've always wanted to read this retelling of a brutal, historical period in America during the 1960s.
"Whenever people unquestioningly turn over their minds to authoritarian figures to do with as the please-whether it be in a satanic cult or some of the more fanatic offshoots of the Jesus Movement, in the right wing or the far left, or in the mind-bending cults of the new sensitivity-those potentials exist. One hopes that none of these groups will spawn other Charles Mansons. But it would be naïve to suggest that that chilling possibility does not exist." - Vincent Bugliosi