Truman Capote
A sangue freddo

Certain events in life, which we hope will never concern us, exert a morbid fascination. Like highway accidents: you slow down, you look, you shiver, then you gently accelerate, with the warning imprinted in your mind - but perhaps only for a short while. This book talks about just such a fatal collision. Six victims, although the responsibility belongs to one single "vehicle": that of the two murderers.

In November 1959, the Clutter family - father, mother, and two teenage children, Nancy and Kenyon - were slaughtered by gunfire in their home in Holcomb, Kansas. The New York Times published a brief article. Truman Capote, a snobbish and sophisticated writer, decided to delve deeper. And from that investigation was born In Cold Blood, a book with a crystalline structure, divided into four parts and written with a clinical and disturbing tone.

In the first part, significantly titled The Last to See Them Alive, the Clutters' last hours intertwine with the arrival in town of the two killers, Perry Smith and Richard Hickock. Capote immerses us in the well-ordered respectability of the Clutters and the chaos of the two drifters roaming Kansas preparing the assault. The two central parts follow the investigation and the trial; the last one, written only after the execution of the two guilty, tells of the death sentence. Capote deliberately awaited the end of the story to complete the work: he could not - or would not - close the circle before the fate of the murderers was also sealed.

One of the reasons for the lasting success of this book is the relentless analysis of the psychology of the two killers. Hickock, raised in a poor yet somewhat ordinary family, is a manipulative pedophile, seemingly perfectly integrated. Smith has a tragic past - two suicidal siblings, an alcoholic mother - and exhibits deep narcissistic traits. Neither of them feels empathy or remorse. From the first confession, they admit to having planned not only the robbery but also the systematic elimination "of everyone present."

Smith prevents Hickock from raping Nancy but then shoots her in the face without hesitation. Yet, Capote shows a certain fascination with him, highlighting gestures like placing a pillow under Kenyon's head "to make him more comfortable" before killing him. However, during numerous interviews, it emerges that the two murderers only feel sorry for being caught, never for what they did. No remorse. No evolution. Only emptiness.

The question that emerges is fierce: what to do with violent criminals without the possibility of redemption? Capote condemns the death penalty as brutal, but offers no answers. Only the sheriff of Holcomb, in the final scene, finds a glimmer of peace in the cemetery, meeting a friend of Nancy's who lays flowers on the grave.

Some critics accuse Capote of embellishing the facts, putting words into Smith's mouth that were never spoken. But the fact remains that In Cold Blood is a classic, a disturbing and masterful text that offers no easy consolations or pre-packaged answers.

I recommend reading it in the original, to grasp its lexical precision and cold and tight rhythm. Otherwise, look for a translation that does not tame it too much.