Upon arriving in Holcomb, a small congregation of buildings on the
             high wheat plains of western Kansas, Perry and Dick, two men recently
             paroled for petty crimes, left almost no evidence behind except for a
             bloody footprint and a radio they stole from the Clutter house. In the
             investigative nonfiction murder story "In Cold Blood" by Truman Capote, the
             story of Perry and Dick and the night of November 15, 1959 is relived.
             This fast-paced and straightforward documentary talks about the nature of
             American violence, and details the motiveless murder of four members of the
             Clutter family and the investigation that led to the capture, trial, and
             execution of the killers, but not before the reader gets to know Dick and
             While reading Truman Capote's nonfiction novel, "In Cold Blood,"
             Capote's presentation of the facts surrounding the murders of an obscure
             Kansas farmer and three of his family members becomes almost frightening.
             At many times, the author of this paper was left wondering why this book
             was having such an effect on him and why it seemed so realistic to him.
             Initially, one may think the answer to be that the book was a true account-
             because these things had actually happened, and they were not simply a
             fictional story produced by some author's overactive imagination. However,
             it becomes apparent it wasn't just the horrific story of these murders that
             is troubling, but the aspect of how Capote tells the story that makes
             Unlike many other murder stories, Capote not only discusses the
             criminals and their role in the crime, but their childhoods, their lives
             right before the crime, and their lives after the conviction until the
             executions. This may be because he was able to establish such rapport with
             these two men through countless hours of interviews over many years. The
             reader of "In Cold Blood" is given the cold, hard facts about the murderers,
             and the effect of...