Helter Skelter, the bestselling true crime book of all time, certainly deserves a 5/5 star review.⁣
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This book was daunting for two reasons: the sheer length of it (674 pages), and the looong list of people’s names at the beginning of the book. My approach was to read about 20-30 minutes of the book at a time over several weeks, and instead of trying to memorize everyone’s name, I trusted that I would start to recognize the most important names after a while (which I did).⁣
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Helter Skelter was written by Vincent Bugliosi, the prosecutor in the Manson trial. This isn’t immediately apparent because Bugliosi chooses to use third-person narration in the beginning, then switch to first-person narration later on. I was introduced to the crime scene right off the bat, and the critical moments that followed as law enforcement began their rather disappointing investigation into what happened.⁣
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Bugliosi’s attention to detail is astounding, and I can see why he had an almost-perfect trial record (105/106) over the course of his career. Bugliosi helped me tease apart the various timelines that made the Manson murders and trial so complex.⁣
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This book mainly focuses on the investigation and trial of Charles Manson and his followers, but it also touches upon their psychology to a certain extent. If you’re looking for a more in-depth analysis of what made Charles Manson the person he was, you may want to look for another book after reading this one.⁣
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Overall, I feel the pacing of this book is good. There’s some repetition, but I don’t know how that can be avoided when there is so much overlap with the numerous timelines. My one recommendation is to pick up a physical copy of this book, if possible. My Kindle version (which I borrowed from the library) had to omit the book’s photos for copyright reasons, and I think it would be helpful to have them available when learning about different people and locations.