What would you do if you found out that an entire family was murdered in your small town? Would you feel terrified, curious, outraged? That?s what happened to the inhabitants of Holcomb, Kansas, in 1959, when four members of the Clutter family were brutally executed on their farm. This is the true story that Truman Capote tells in his acclaimed non-fiction novel In Cold Blood.

Capote learned of the crime before the killers were captured and traveled to Kansas to write about the case. There he interviewed dozens of witnesses, relatives, friends and police officers who gave him a deep insight into what happened that fateful night and how it affected the community. He also approached the two criminals, Perry Smith and Richard Hickock, two ex-convicts who had planned to rob the wealthy farmer Herb Clutter, but ended up killing him and his wife Bonnie, and their teenage children Nancy and Kenyon.

Capote masterfully narrates the facts from different perspectives, alternating between the lives of the victims and those of the perpetrators, between the police investigation and the escape of the guilty, between the trial and the execution. His style is agile, precise and enveloping, creating an atmosphere of suspense and intrigue that keeps the reader on edge until the end.

In Cold Blood is a masterpiece of literary journalism, which explores the motivations and consequences of an act of extreme violence. It is also a fascinating portrait of American society in the mid-20th century, with its contrasts between the American dream and the criminal nightmare. If you like stories based on real facts, psychological thrillers and human dramas, you can?t miss this book.