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citizen_noir 's review for:
Helter Skelter
by Gentry Curt, Vincent Bugliosi
In literature a murder scene is often likened to a picture puzzle. If one is patient and keeps trying, eventually all the pieces will fit into place. Veteran policemen know otherwise. A much better analogy would be two picture puzzles, or three, or more, no one of which is in itself complete. Even after a solution emerges—if one does—there will be leftover pieces, evidence that just doesn’t fit. And some pieces will always be missing.
With sincere apologies to Phil Thoden, my good Goodreads friend who hates true crime, this book deserves its ranking as one of the greatest true crime novels of all-time. HELTER SKELTER: THE TRUE STORY OF THE MANSON MURDERS by Vincent Bugliosi details the horrific 1969 Tate-La Bianca mass murders in Los Angeles, California, in a way that I'll never forget.
By now we know most of the grisly details of the crimes, seared as they are in the zeitgeist of 1960's lore. Charles Manson and his "family" went on a two night murder spree in Los Angeles. It started on August 9th, 1969, with the slaughter of the 8 1/2 month pregnant actress Sharon Tate (wife of director Roman Polanski, who was traveling overseas) and four others in her home, followed by the murder of the Leno and Rosemary La Bianca a night later. In both cases, the perpetrators used the blood of the victims to smear words on the walls of the murder scenes, including the bizarre (and misspelled) term, "Healter Skelter." The phrase would become one of the most important pieces of evidence used to convict Manson and his murdering cohorts, referring to Manson's hope that the murders would spark a race war.
Judgment Day, Armageddon, Helter Skelter—to Manson they were one and the same, a racial holocaust which would see the black man emerge triumphant. “The karma is turning, it’s blackie’s turn to be on top.” Danny DeCarlo said Manson preached this incessantly. Even a near stranger such as biker Al Springer, who visited Spahn Ranch only a few times, told me he thought “helter skelter” must be Charlie’s “pet words,” he used them so often.
While I am a fan of crime fiction and true crime, I wouldn't normally seek out a book like this. Believe it or not, I don't enjoy violence. Instead, I am intrigued by its causes and reverberations - how a violent and unexpected event has the power to expand outwards, larger and larger, like a rock thrown into a still pond.
Recently, I read a top five list of greatest true crime novels of all time and this was cited as one of the best. After reading it, I have to agree. This is the second best true crime novel I've ever read, preceded closely by IN COLD BLOOD by Truman Capote. What makes this book so powerful is the perspective of its author, Vincent Bugliosi,who served as the prosecutor against Manson and the other perpetrators. The first 1/3 of the book is all that is dedicated to the crime. The rest is dedicated to the prosecution of it. I would imagine that any aspiring lawyer, especially in criminal defense, would love to read the ups, downs, ins and outs of a high profile murder case like this one.
The other reason why I loved this book is that it explains a bit about the world I came into in the late 1960s. When I think back to the events that were happening in November 1967 onward, I can hardly believe how frightening it must have seemed to my parents, bringing a baby into the world. This is a book about the dark side of sex, drugs, and (yes) rock and roll (the term Helter Skelter coming from the Beatles White Album). I remind myself of this every time I think about how chaotic and frightening the world seems today; it's nothing compared to the late 1960s.
A view that's enjoyed some currency is that the murders represent a watershed moment in the evolving social structure of our society. This view holds that the Manson case was the "end of innocence" (the '60s mantra of love, peace and sharing) in our country, and sounded the death knell for hippies and all they symbolically represented. In Joan Didion's memoir of the era, THE WHITE ALBUM, she write: "Many people I know in Los Angeles believe that the Sixties ended abruptly on August 9, 1969.... and in a sense this is true."