In the summer of 1969, in Los Angeles, a series of brutal, seemingly random murders captured headlines across America. This was the high point for me, learning more about Susan Atkins, Patricia Krenwinkel & others, and the main reason I'd give it give a 5/5.The #1 True Crime Bestseller of All Time-7 Million Copies Sold When it comes to Manson-from what I gathered he was an attention seeking charlatan and one of the most contradictory people I've ever come across yes, learning all his life was very interesting, but the real reason I wanted to read this book was my fascination with his clan his family of followers-especially the young women and those who actually committed the Cielo Drive murders.

' Ah, Charlie's a madman we're not interested in all that' Someone would come forward with information regarding Manson as a suspect and we'd get answers like this. Time and time again I was amazed with the detectives in charge. I mean, was somebody spiking their coffee & donuts with horse tranquilizer? Even Roman Polanski discovered pieces of evidence that had been overlooked-one being right next to the front door. Errors were made there, but here was just beyond belief. This is the second time in a few weeks where I've found the LAPD to be something of a laughing stock-the other book being The Night Stalker the hunt for Richard Ramirez. It was all incredible really-incredible in the sense of just how incredibly incompetent the detectives turned out to be. Knowing the basic rundown of how it played out, but obviously this goes into way more details specifically the crime scene on discovery of the bodies and the early police activity in regards getting the case of the ground. We get thrust straight into the Tate–LaBianca murders at 10050 Cielo Drive, and this is the only part of the Manson saga that I really knew anything about.

This is everything you need to know about Manson & his family, their history, their crimes, arrest and subsequent trial. (The book surely would have been shorter had it not been for the LAPD, but more on that in a minute). I thought with it being quite long that at some point it might start to dilly-dally or get side tracked by less important information, but not a page was wasted. A thoroughly engrossing true-crime read, that easily surpassed my expectations.

Helter Skelter by Vincent Bugliosi