First of its kind: Truman Capote's "In Cold Blood"

In Cold Blood by Truman Capote

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


True crime fiction is now everywhere, in books and films. We accept writers creating plausible dialog for characters who depict real persons. Truman Capote did it first. In Cold Blood was a completely new genre, and a lot of people objected to it when the book came out. Capote had to speak for characters he never met and never interviewed - the members of the Clutter family. "How dare he," people thought. But, this book grips the reader's attention as no third-person, documentary reporting could. The reader invests emotion in the characters because they become real - loving family members and terrified victims. We quickly realize, this is a family we could have known; what happened to them could happen to any one of us. When you read In Cold Blood, remember that no one had written a book like this before, and you will see the genius in the work.



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