Reviews tagging 'Murder'

Helltown: The Untold Story of a Serial Killer on Cape Cod by Casey Sherman

20 reviews

idkimoutofideas's review

dark medium-paced

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Kidnapping, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail

ruthypoo2's review against another edition

challenging dark informative sad tense medium-paced

3.75

This book felt like an odd construct for me. I struggled through the initial chapters that interrupted the flow of the crime story to introduce renowned authors Kurt Vonnegut and Norman Mailer who have peripheral connections to the time and location where the murders took place. The story of their lives are interwoven throughout the book and while I get the author’s intention in including them, I can’t say it added to my enjoyment while reading the book since I often skimmed over the chapters dedicated mostly to Vonnegut and/or Mailer.

Otherwise, when the book was telling the story of the perpetrator of a series of horrible murders, it was interesting. While a lot of liberty is taken to fictionalize the dialogue and actions of many characters, the basics are faithful to real life events and historical record. I really didn’t mind that the author, Casey Sherman, “created” possible scenarios and dialogue between the killer, their victims, and others. As long as the reader understands this is something of a hybrid combining true crime and fictionalized actions and encounters, it does bring the story to life.

I liked that the layout is familiar: crime - discovery - police investigation - trial - outcome. These are the elements I enjoy learning about, as well as the incidents being set in the late 60s/early 70s in a part of the United States with its own unique identity.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Sexual violence, Suicide, Blood, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Child abuse, Confinement, Gore, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Car accident, and Death of parent

mstjohn813's review

dark emotional informative sad medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore and Murder

akaymayday's review

dark informative sad slow-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault and Murder

apersonfromflorida's review against another edition

dark informative tense slow-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, and Murder

Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Homophobia and Outing

ghostcoffeeshop's review against another edition

dark informative reflective medium-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence and Murder

jessies's review against another edition

challenging dark informative sad tense medium-paced

3.0

Before the infamous Manson killings, a killer terrorized Provincetown, murdering and butchering young women.  This book goes deep into serial killer Tony Costa and intersperses the literary battle between Normal Mailer and Kurt Vonnegut, local authors who were both writing about the murders.  I enjoyed the back and forth between topics, it made the book move faster.  

While the hunt for Costa and the resulting trial are detailed, most of the book is about Costa himself.  While the author is respectful of the victims and their families, I found the depictions of the brutal murders from Costa's perspective gratuitous.  This book is written much like an Erik Larson book, in which it is a "fiction" non-fiction book.  I took the dramatized parts with a grain of salt. 

The author narrates this book and he did a great job. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Sexual assault, and Murder

makcrowley's review

dark mysterious sad medium-paced

If you read this as a fiction book with a few facts, it’s interesting, though a little chopped up. 
Because the author meshes facts with fictional convos, it is hard to determine which are real facts based instances and which are fictional. So it should not be read as true crime. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Medical content, and Murder

hhanock's review

dark tense medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Drug abuse, Gore, Blood, and Murder

cath518's review

dark

3.0

I have decided to read books this year (2023) that are either true stories, based on true stories, or about real people.  This will include reading some books about real serial killers, like this one.  Helltown tells the story of Antone "Tony" Costa, who was convicted of murdering 2 women in Provincetown, located at the tip of Cape Cod.  He murdered more but there was not enough evidence to support those murders.

Be forewarned - this book is graphic.  The author very graphically describes the murders of these two women.  I actually had to skip over those parts.

Tony Costa's murder spree took place in 1969 and 1970.  He was a drug dealer in Provincetown but also snitched to the local cops as to who else was dealing drugs in town.  He was called "Sire" by his followers in town and had even drawn the attention of authors Kurt Vonnegut, Jr and Norman Mailer.  The chapters that included these 2 authors was not necessary, in my opinion, but I kind of see why the author included them.

There is a brief mention of the Sharon Tate murders and Chappaquiddick as these events both take place during the timeframe of this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder