alliepiippo 's review for:

Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders by Vincent Bugliosi

1.0

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This started off with intrigue and drama but as it continued on it introduced too many people, droned on about legal proceedings and arguments, and conflated the timeline between the lead-up to the murders, the murders themselves, the trial, and the time during which the book was written. It is comprehensive, but it is also WAY too long. I was extremely disheartened to get to the "end" after 598 pages and find that there was an additional hundred pages of epilogue, follow-up, afterword, and more for EACH of the bit-part characters involved. It also seemed like the author wanted to a) show how brilliant they were in trial b) slam Kanarek, defense attorney for Manson, and c) elaborate on every single detail of the case ad nauseum to support points a and b. In the end, this resulted in a disjointed, confusing, long-winded account that needed an editor.