Helltown

I received a copy of this title in exchange for an honest review.

I normally enjoy the true crime genre, but had a very difficult time getting into this one. The pacing felt extremely slow and most of the time I didn't know if I was reading a book that was intended to be historical fiction or biography and whether it was meant to be about Tony Costa, Kurt Vonnegut, or Norman Mailer. Any one of these people would have made for an interesting topic, but a book that continuously shifts gears and shuffles between all three was difficult for me to keep my head in.

I am a lover of true crime and used to watch the ID Channel every day. I started reading true crime novels and found I enjoy it more than watching TV.

Serial killers have always fascinated me. I know there are a lot I haven't heard of and Tony Costa is one I know little to nothing about. If you enjoy true crime and serial killers you NEED this one.

It flows and reads like fiction. Really captivating and immersive writing. You get Tony's POV (which is freakish and mind-boggling) AND during this time Kurt Vonnegut was struggling with his writing career and we get to see into his world. We also get snippets into Norman Mailer's realm of craziness which is just wow LOL. I really enjoyed the differing POVs and how the vastly different worlds, collided. You'll have to read to see what I mean.

Tony Costa is one sick puppy and again shows just how “normal” someone may seem but on the inside? A whole other twisted and mangled up world and sense of being. Whew....Horror books and movies don't hold a candle to this type of evil.

This may be a 400+ page book, but it definitely doesn't read like one. Go...grab...this! I sincerely appreciate Sourcebooks and NetGalley for providing me with a review copy. All opinions expressed herein are mine and mine alone.

As a lover of true crime books/documentaries, I do enjoy them most when not set in my time. So, seeing as this was set in the 60s, I knew I had to read it. Unfortunately, when I did start reading it my excitement quickly died down. When I read nonfiction, I want the facts as they are known. This read way too much like fiction with its endless speculative conversations. I understand that sometimes civil liberties must be taken to make a story flow better, but this was too much. I also found entire chapters on Kurt Vonnegut and Normal Mailer unnecessary and just made the book that much more frustrating. Half of this book is fictional and it shouldn't be especially since it is labeled as NON FICTION. It was taking away even more victims which I found to be extremely disrespectful.