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Customer Review
- Reviewed in the United States on July 19, 2005Quoting the words of the author, "If this murders have never happened and someone wrote a novel with the same sets of facts and circumstances, most people would put it down after a few pages because as I understand it, to be good fiction it has to be somewhat believable and this story is just too far out." but it did happen in the year 1969.
This book by Vincent Bugliosi who prosecuted the Manson murders and eventually got the maximum penalty for the perpetrators (death later commuted to life imprisonment) chronicles the murders at the Tate residence to the LaBianca murders, the preliminary investigation, trial and eventual incarceration of the perpetrators.
What makes this book stand on its own is that it provides a glimpse of the case from the prosecutor's point of view. Bugliosi is a master of detail as he builds the case brick by brick such as the rope used to tie Sharon Tate and Jay Sebring, the bloodwork on the victims [not as easy as they show it in CSI, mind you] and the .22 handgun used as the murder weapon. Still, he had different challenges when the case reached trial from Manson and his followers' courtroom theatrics to establishing motive which proved to be very bizarre.
Aside from providing details of the case, Bugliosi also provides the history of the Manson group, speculates on other murders the group may have committed and draws the societal repercussions of the murders. Updates are also provided on the people involved in the case (Charles Manson, Sadie, Linda Kasabian, Tex etc...). All credit to the author for giving fair treatment to Manson and his cohorts despite the crime's vile nature.
Indeed, the writing style and attention to detail makes this the definitive work on the Manson murders.
