In 1959, the Clutter family was brutally murdered, changing the face of a small Kansas town forever. Two men were caught and hanged for the crime. 
 It seems like a simple story, perhaps worthy of a paragraph or two in the newspapers. But in the hands of Truman Capote, it became the strange beast known as "In Cold Blood" -- a true-crime book written with the conceits and style of fiction. While the facts are sometimes smudged, this is a beautifully-written, haunting American Gothic that lingers in the mind long after it ends. 
 The Clutters were a fairly normal, well-off farming family, living in the seemingly idyllic town of Holcomb. They were scandal-free, respected by their neighbors, and lived a pleasant life despite Mrs. Cutter's mental health issues. In other words, they were the complete opposites of Perry Smith and Dick Hickock, two young men with troubled pasts filled with injury, alcoholism and violence. 
 Having heard that the Clutters had a large cache of money in their house, Smith and Hickock carefully planned a robbery. After the robbery, the Clutters were found bound and brutally murdered. The horror of their deaths fragments the small community, as citizens wonder who among them could have committed such a crime -- and at first, the cops don't seem to have any leads. But after a tip points them at Smith and Hickock, the two men are arrested and imprisoned. 
 Truman Capote did a staggering amount of research for this book -- not the usual poring-through-books-and-journals type, but research into people. Over the course of several years, he interviewed the murderers and learned intimate details about their lives, their minds, and what turned them into cold-blooded murderers. In the 1950s and early 1960s, it was shocking and revolutionary to show any compassion or understanding for people who had committed this kind of crime -- or even to acknowledge that they were human beings. 
 But Capote himself is not in this book. At all. He's the omniscient narrator who floats from place to place, seeing into people's heads and hearts, and recounting the story as it unfolds. And that is how "In Cold Blood" is both a nonfiction story and a "novel." 
 Capote uses his skills as a fiction writer to transform gritty reality into an almost cinematic story, avoiding the dryness of most true crime. He follows a small group of people through the days and years that follow, using his insights to craft thoughts and scenes reflecting what he was told. And his writing is not the sort you usually see assigned to real-life events -- it's lyrical and intimate, drifting through a loose narrative. Scenes that are not strictly necessary are woven in, like people attending the auction of the Clutters' belongings -- it's very poignant. 
 In fact, the fictionalization is both a blessing and a curse. It's pretty obvious that -- despite his protestations -- Capote had to make some stuff up for dramatic effect. And he definitely has a slant on the story of Perry Smith, whom he regards almost with a crush -- lots of stuff about his artistic aspirations, his sensitivity, the way he was abused, etc. Never mind that lots of people suffer as he did, and manage to not shoot children in the face. 
 And through him, the killers as well as the townspeople become full-blown characters whom the reader learns about intimately. You probably won't LIKE them -- they're both murderers and one is a pedophile -- but you get some idea of what makes them tick. The Clutters are more ambiguous, except for Nancy (whose diary Capote obtained), who is perhaps the most tragic figure -- a bright, outgoing young girl with love, talent and a bright future. 
 "In Cold Blood" is a strange work that blurs the border between fact and fiction -- and that is both a blessing and a curse. But whatever its flaws, it is a brilliant, almost hypnotic book.