Reviews tagging 'Blood'

Helter Skelter by Curt Gentry, Vincent Bugliosi

10 reviews

alexxrose's review against another edition

challenging dark informative medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Toxic relationship, Racism, Child death, Murder, Blood, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Infidelity, Pregnancy, Adult/minor relationship, and Drug use

This book entirely centre's around Charles Manson's cult called "The Family" and the famous murders they committed in 1969. There's a lot of uncomfortable sexual content described by former cult members and of course the members were experiencing brain washing at Manson's hands. I didn't think gaslighting is the correct way of describing it as it's far deeper than that.

meow_meow68's review against another edition

challenging dark informative mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Antisemitism, Sexual assault, Xenophobia, Blood, Cursing, Death, Racism, Body horror, Toxic relationship, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Murder, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Grief, Sexual content, Violence, and Racial slurs

babs4205's review against another edition

dark sad medium-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Child abuse, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Blood, Cursing, Death, Gore, Hate crime, Racism, Racial slurs, and Violence

cuppajoy's review against another edition

dark informative medium-paced

4.5

The book is a top seller for a reason. I recommend it for someone wanting to understand the Manson murders. It gives a lot of details, including the motive, that many people may not have fully seen explained but which are fleshed out in this book 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Torture, and Violence

anmariefweeks's review against another edition

dark emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Sexual content, Rape, Racial slurs, Physical abuse, Pedophilia, Gun violence, Gore, Body horror, Violence, Torture, Mass/school shootings, Hate crime, Emotional abuse, Blood, Antisemitism, Addiction, Murder, Drug abuse, and Mental illness

eldritch_flower's review against another edition

challenging dark informative sad medium-paced

3.5

 Looks like I'm still on my true crime kick. And honestly, I'm not sure why I read this book over one about a more obscure case. Goodness knows Manson gets more attention than he deserves, and yet here I am reading this book anyways. Don't worry, my therapist and I are working through why I enjoy books like this so much(and no, I do not glorify these disgusting people and if you do, go fuck yourself).

Anyways, this was a well written book for the most part. There's a lot of information about the murders, the reasoning, and inside court details. What really got me was the respect for the victims in this book. I find that a lot of books on true crime forget that the victims are people with families, lives, dreams, fears, and everything like that. This author doesn't forget it.

It was good over all. Not too graphic for people who might be new to true crime, but still doesn't shy away from how disgusting Manson is. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Antisemitism, Blood, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Murder, Racism, and Racial slurs

woodlief's review against another edition

dark emotional informative slow-paced

5.0

i love this book because it makes me hate cops even more than i already do. LAPD is stupid and i dont respect them. this book is really long but every sentence adds on information and drives it forward. I have never been so interested in a story I know the ending of. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Sexual violence, Blood, Body horror, and Injury/Injury detail

livimw's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, and Murder

taylorrski's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Mental illness, Murder, Racial slurs, Rape, and Violence

angelicathebookworm's review against another edition

dark informative tense slow-paced

4.0

Since Bugliosi was the prosecuting attorney in the Mason trial he had unique first-hand insight into the case and all of the proceedings. Because of this fact, this is probably the most meticulously written, well researched and presented True Crime story I have read to date. I don’t think anybody else could’ve written this book better. It is so detailed, in fact, that the actual crimes are described in such graphic detail and even saying that isn’t enough to prepare you for how shocking and heinous the content of the text is. Bugliosi uses clear and simple language in an incredibly objective way which is not only important for factual accounts but helps the reader to navigate this detailed text as easily as possible. While it is an insightful read, I do need to stress the graphic nature of the text as that’s an important factor to consider before adding it to your TBR.

This isn’t actually a criticism but rather something important to note about this book. While the book covers the actual crimes in vivid detail, the majority of the text covers the trial with all of the evidence and witness statements etc. It’s definitely not the True Crime read to start off with if you’re new to the genre. It’s a beast of a text and so I’d recommend taking your time with this one as it’s quite dense and there’s loads of information that you’ll need time to digest properly.

 For more reviews like this one, check out https://angelicacastilloking.wordpress.com/ 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Mental illness, Medical content, Sexual content, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Gore, Incest, Physical abuse, and Blood