Welcome to Litsy!

Helltown has a lot going on within the pages. The reader is taken on multiple journeys as they experience events in the lives of Tony Costa, Kurt Vonnegut and Norman Mailer. While I appreciate the connections between these three men, I really would have been happier if there had been less time devoted to the two writers and more to the killer, his crimes, and his victims. The novel flowed well, even with the jumps between the major players.

2.5 stars- I don't think authors should narrate their own books most of the time, but this author did okay. However, the book was at least 5 hrs too long with all the Norman Mailer and Kurt Vonget stuff. Also, the gruesome narrator of the crimes was graphically described WAY too many times, it was just over and over again. I did appreciate the amount of research the author put into the book.

I think Sherman is trying to do too many things with this book and therefore does none of them well. There‘s the serial killer who‘s supposed to be the focus, but also a rivalry between Kurt Vonnegut and Norman Mailer, detailed discussions of “hippie culture” and of the area where the murders occurred. It also crossed the line between nonfiction/fiction with all of the dialogue that can‘t be substantiated, presented as gospel. Bailed at 30%-ish.

Why did I read this whole book? It was so GRUESOME! I'm probably going to have nightmares.

I love True Crime, which y'all know if y'all have followed me at all, but this was nothing like I have ever read before. Sherman wrote it in what he calls, True Crime/Fiction. I didn't care for it.

#netgalley
#sourcebookd

Now Available! 🥳🎉📚

Book Review- https://www.boleybooks.com/2022/06/25/213365/

#boleybooks #helltown #caseysherman #pubday #bookreview #bookbeast #bookjoy #netgalley #bookbuds

I love True Crime! Starting this afternoon!

Tackle the TBR 🤓📚
#boleybooks #caseysherman #helltown #bookbeast #netgalley #bookbuds
What are you reading? 😊

DNF - abandoned at 20%

Although I appreciated the Cape Cod history of the late 1960s and all the cultural references of the time, I just couldn‘t get past the brutality of this serial killer. I particularly enjoyed the rivalry between Norman Mailer and Kurt Vonnegut. But the chapters about Joe Costa and his murder sprees actually made me rather sick to my stomach. I decided to stop reading at 20% because it just wasn‘t worth torturing myself.