Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders Review

In August 1969 - a few weeks after the successful landing of astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin on the moon and almost coinciding with the Woodstock music festival in rural New York state - the Los Angeles area was brought to a state of panic by a series of "ritualistic" murders which took the lives of seven human beings in a two-night period.

The killers? A group of young men and women - most of them from middle-class families - who had fallen under the Rasputin-like spell of a career criminal who had a bizarre obsession with the world-famous Beatles, Hitler, drugs, sex, rock music, and leading his followers - the so-called "Family" - through a hellish version of the Hippie Counterculture movement of the 1960s.

The leader's name? Charles Manson.

The horrifying story of how Manson twisted his followers' hearts and minds and conceived the infamous Tate-La Bianca murders (which, incredibly, were the tip of the bloody iceberg as far as the Family's murderous rampage went) is told vividly in Vincent Bugilosi and Curt Gentry's Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders.

First published in 1974 and reissued several times since then, Helter Skelter is perhaps one of the most famous true-crime books ever written, 

Though the press and police didn't know it at the time, the case now known as the Tate-La Bianca Murders actually began with the savage murder of music teacher and sometime-Manson friend Gary Hinman in July of 1969.

The Family's violent actions then escalated into the even more savage murders of Steven Parent, Sharon Tate, Jay Sebring, coffee heiress Abigail Folger and her lover, Wojciech Frykowsky on August 8, 1969.

Hardly had Angelenos digested this bit of news when, the next day, supermarket chain owner Leno La Bianca and his wife Rosemary were murdered by Charlie Manson's followers, this time, with Charlie himself at least supervising the process. 

How and why these crimes - as well as several others which preceded and followed the Tate-La Bianca murders - were committed are the main subjects of Helter Skelter, whose main author (Bugliosi) was the Los Angeles Assistant District Attorney who tried and helped convict Charles Manson and his accomplices.

The book starts (after a brief reflection on how quiet the night of August 8 was in Los Angeles) on an ominous note on the morning of August 9, as the woman in charge of cleaning the house at 10050 Cielo Drive arrives and sees a horrible tableau. "Murder! Death! Police!" 

The crime scene is described in graphic and indelible detail, and the authors walk us through the initial investigation.  Then the La Biancas are discovered murdered, and panic hits L.A., particularly among the wealthy jet setters and show biz community.

The book begins with a third person narrative, but once the investigation and trials get underway it is told in the first person by Bugliosi.  He describes the whole process, including the Bizarro-like "Helter Skelter" motive, in a clear and gripping fashion.