Cold Blood by Truman Capote

Truman Capote termed In Cold Blood a non-fiction novel, which he wrote to prove that a writer could bring the art of a novel to factual reporting. By adopting such a technique, Capote succeeded in blurring the lines between works of fiction and non-fiction. More important, he succeeded in "...taking the reader deeper and deeper into characters and events," (Shaw, p. 85) and thereby managed to bring to vivid life the horrific nature of the Clutter murders in Holcomb, Kansas. Indeed, perhaps Capote's non-fictional work is a disturbing one precisely because of the fact that it is an exhaustively researched, in depth report of not just the events but also the characters of the victims and their killers. In particular, Capote's portrayal of the two killers, Perry Edward Smith and Richard Eugene Hickock, as socially dysfunctional personalities capable of cold blooded killing ends up shaking...
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