This is the fourth book about Charles Manson I've read, and this one had more detail about other members of the family and what happened to them after the trial, and up to the present. One interesting theory is that Manson and an unnamed family member returned to Cielo Drive after the others returned and tidied up and moved Sharon Tate's body around. Another theory was that it was supposed to be a drug theft, but since the large quantity of drugs in the house were not taken, I cannot believe that idea.

Thanks to NetGalley for an advance copy of this book.

In the late summer of 1969, the nation was transfixed by a series of gruesome murders in the hills of Los Angeles. Newspapers and television programs detailed the brutal slayings of a beautiful actress--twenty six years old and eight months pregnant with her first child--as well as a hair stylist, an heiress, a businessman, and other victims. The City of Angels was plunged into a nightmare of fear and dread. In the weeks and months that followed, law enforcement faced intense pressure to solve crimes that seemed to have no connection.

Finally, after months of dead-ends, false leads, and near-misses, Charles Manson and members of his "family" were arrested. The bewildering trials that followed once again captured the nation and forever secured Manson as a byword for the evil that men do.

I have read and watched all things Charles Manson so I already have a pretty good background of who he was and what he did... I thought the author did a great job with this book and I even learned a few new things... Charles Manson was an evil psychopath, I hope the victims are resting in peace and the families are healing.

Thank you #NetGalley for the ARC of #HuntingCharlesManson
Pub Date: 05 Jun 2018

I will admit I have been reading books on Charles Manson since I was a young teen and now I am over 40. Most of this book I already knew but there is some new information that I did not know. Also the way the author wrote it sometimes I thought well maybe I did not know this information but then thinking about it I did. It was a very interesting and informational book. I highly recommend it if you are interested in Charles Manson.

This is a must read for all readers intrigued by true crime and for those who what to learn about all the layers they thought they knew about with this creep!! I kept reminding myself I wasn't reading a thriller or suspense novel; THIS GUY REALLY WAS THIS EVIL. SOOOOOO good!!!!

I thought Hunting Charles Manson: The Quest for Justice in the Days of Helter Skelter was an interesting read. I would recommend it for those who enjoy reading true crime.

Hunting Charles Manson by Lis Wiehl

As I started reading this book, I truly thought I knew much of what the details were that surrounded Manson’s life and the murders of those his followers did. The author did a great deal of research and investigation to deliver accurate information to us, the reader. While I do not like what Manson did or what he had others do, his life was pretty interesting. I wondered how he was able to make those women and men do what they did on those horrific days and hours. The book is well written with everything in chronological order as well as interview information from others who had knowledge of what happened. You see more of Manson than you do in some of the other books written either about him or about the crimes that he was a part of. I enjoy reading about true crime and this was probably one of the best written books I have read about a killer. There are details that were not known by a lot of media either because it just was not pointed out or it was lost in translation but Wiehl, whomwas a reporte, has done an excellent job at going through everything and putting the important parts in this book. There is no doubt that the killers are where they belong.

Thank you to netgalley as well as the author for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my honest review.

I never read Helter Skelter so this book had a lot of new information about Manson, his followers and their killings that I didn’t know. I enjoyed the details regarding the various parole hearings and Manson’s own children and grandchildren. I was very surprised to learn that Manson wasn’t a Trump fan during the 2016 elections. I thought sociopaths would be drawn to each other but I guess not.

I don't read too much non-fiction, but "Hunting Charles Manson" was one of the most compelling reads I've experienced in a long time. Charles Manson was, and still is, a person many people find fascinating for so many reasons, and I'm no exception. I remember watching a made-for-tv movie about him and his "Family" and I was horrified. Reading Lis Wiehl's very detailed account about Manson and his crew was equally horrifying, but very hard to put down. The details were plentiful, but not in a sensational way. I was shocked and appalled by the actions of Manson and his followers, not by Ms. Wiehl's writing about the events. She was clear about what was done to Manson's victims, the craziness of the trial that followed, and the absolute ineptitude of the police before the cult leader and his followers were finally brought to justice.

"Hunting Charles Manson" is definitely a must-read and I would recommend this book to anyone, especially readers of non-fiction.

I've read at least five other books about Charles Manson, his family, and the Tate/LaBianca murders, so I'm pretty well versed in the family and their crimes. I was hesitant to read this only because how much more could there be for me to learn about the crimes at this point? I was pleasantly surprised that this contained plenty of information I had either forgotten or never knew in the first place.

I've seen this book referred to as a "regurgitation of Helter Skelter" and I completely disagree, for a few reasons. Probably the biggest one is the perspective. Vincent Bugliosi had a very rigid stance when it came to the Manson family, especially as far as the motive of "Helter Skelter" and how the killings were carried out to incite a race war. The author of Hunting Charles Manson, Lis Wiehl, had a more open minded approach, thoughtfully examining all the possibilities. There is a convincing argument made for the crimes being part of a drug burn instigated by Charles "Tex" Watson. It certainly gave me more to think about.

Helter Skelter is a very detailed book, whereas Hunting Charles Manson is broader and less specific in scope. For example, in this book you're not going to be overwhelmed by a rehashing of the 1970 trial, which is merely outlined. I appreciated this approach because for one, I learned more about different circumstances and killings that, in my recollection, weren't as detailed in Helter Skelter (the deaths of Gary Hinman and Shorty Shea, for example). There is also a lot more current information included as well, although up until and immediately following Manson's death in 2017.

It's obvious that Hunting Charles Manson was thoughtfully researched and reviewed. I think it would be a great choice for those who aren't familiar with the case as well as those that already have vast knowledge on the crimes.

This book is fantastic! It is thoroughly researched and goes into extraordinary detail. Most of the timeline is well known to readers of other books about the Manson murders, but the insight into his early life, as well as the early lives of his followers, was very interesting. I would definitely recommend this book to friends.

I've always been fascinated with Manson. This book goes in great detail about Manson, the people he took in and the trial. I have read a lot of books involving Mason and this is one of the best so far.

This book is comprehensive and well-written, as well as unsettling (as many crime books tend to be). I found the trial information to be very interesting, as I'd never read anything about the attempted mistrials before. Law students might like that part, even if they don't intend to be criminal defense attorneys or prosecutors.

For me this was an interesting read because I was 17 when Manson was just getting The Family together. I was 3000 miles away from it but watched as it unfolded. I turned over a newspaper on a train in Mexico and the headlines were "Polanski Wife, 7 Others Killed L.A.". So I feel very uncomfortably close to the subject matter in this book.
The interesting thing here is that it is very detailed as per life on the Spahn Ranch. I think the masterminding of the crimes and of course, the crimes themselves have been all talked out. What has been missing all along has been any understanding of how average, healthy, cared for young American kids could become involved to this extent. This book goes some way into explaining that.

I have read a few books about Charles Manson both fiction and non fiction but this one sticks out as the most readable and enjoyable. Although it is hard to keep everyone straight because of their real names and Family names and the ones that come in and out of the Family, but this one felt the most full and encompassing of both life during their rise the murders and the post.

I liked that this book showed a full picture of both Charles Manson and all of the people he took in. There was just as much background and information on Charles Manson as there was about the members of his "Family." There were so many things in this book that I wasn't aware of and the way it was presented it was easy to read and learn so much.

I think I liked most the post murder/trial part of the book. I never knew how nutty Charles acted during his trial and then during his many parole hearings. It was so interesting to hear how they tried to create mistrials and how the judges avoided them. I liked that there was a large number of chapters that focused on this time of his life because I think that was the part I knew the littlest about.

I have read Lis Wiehl's fiction and loved them, so I was pretty sure going into this one that I would enjoy her writing, but I liked it even more than I predicted.

Once you have read Helter Skelter you imagine you know everything there is to know about the Manson case. Wiehl proves the readers wrong and created a fascinating and gripping read about the infamous man. Well written and researched.

This book did answer a lot of questions about the psyche of Charles Manson. I found the content to be interesting and it did explain why his 'family' would do literally anything for him. He lived on the Spahn Ranch in California, which was an abandoned movie location. Although he claimed that he never actually told any of his followers to go out and kill, he had enough influence over them that they believed that they were doing it for him. It was a tragic series of murders of innocent people, some just being at the wrong place at the wrong time. Charles Manson himself had this impression that he was Christ and so whatever he thought or did, had to be, what was meant to be. I would have given this book more stars except that I thought the writing style to be rather rigid and did not flow. It was more like reading a documentary and that could be because the author is a legal commentator.

I was 18 when the Manson family was arrested for the Tate/LoBianco murders. As a “hippie wannabe”, I was fascinated by this case and read all the newspaper and magazine coverage of the murders, arrests and trials. I have read several books on the case, including “Helter Skelter”, by Vincent Bugliosi, the prosecutor. I also have followed through the years the various prison interviews and parole hearings of those involved, so I thought I knew pretty much everything there was to know about what many consider to be “the crime of the century” and basically the end of the idealism of the sixties. However, “Hunting Charles Manson” by Lis Wiehl actually contained some information I hadn’t known previously. The author is a former TV news analyst and also adjunct law professor, so she knows how to present an interesting story and is also obviously familiar with the complex legal ramifications of the various cases involved. Among the areas where I learned something I hadn’t known before are the details of the Gary Hinman murder, the lives of Manson’s son and grandson, the details of the deals various family members made with the prosecution and the allegations of drug dealing by the victims, Jay Sebring and Voytek Frykowski, which gave rise to a theory that the murders were actually a drug rip-off gone bad. I would recommend this book to those who are still interested in the bizarre machinations of the mind Charles Manson and his role in this nearly 50-year-old chapter in history. The book is obviously well-researched and written in a coherent and cohesive way. The only jarring note was that the author switches back and forth in referring to Manson family members by their real names and by their Manson-given names – she sometimes refers to Susan Atkins by her real name and then other times refers to her as “Sadie”, which might be confusing to someone not that familiar with the family members’ various alter egos. Other than that, this is a well-written book with a lot of detail, some of which I read about for the first time.

As Helter Skelter was the first true crime book I ever read, and one that will permanently sit on my list of best true crime books, I have a lifelong interest (sounds better than fascination) in the so-called Manson murders. No book can truly be held up to Helter Skelter, nor should it.

Hunting Charles Manson is a notable and strong entry of the books on the infamous summer of 1969. It doesn't cover as much ground as Helter Skelter, which gives us a lot of information on the criminal trial, but it also doesn't have its intimidating (for some) page count.

Hunting Charles Manson starts with background information on Manson himself, giving the reader an exploration of his home life, mindset and how he started down the road that would lead him to the Haight-Ashbury and the birth of "The Family." I found the sections of the inception of The Family particularly interesting; the result is beneficial insight into why he managed to attract so many females to his coterie who remained loyal to him for years.

Many of his Family members are also given page time. Rather than being portrayed as merely Manson's bloodthirsty minions, the authors demonstrate they were real people with real lives before becoming part of Manson's contingent. It will make you think about what might have happened had they never met up with him; was the Family was little more than a drug-addled cult? The authors' descriptions of daily life on Spahn Ranch are extremely well done. I could visualize the hot dust blowing on the old movie sets and Family members grouped around, listening to Manson playing guitar. It brings on a wistfulness -- even sadness -- that this communal living, instead of bringing love and peace, spawned violence and death.

The murders themselves are each recounted. The details, if you are sensitive, can be agonizing to read and envision. Gary Hinman, Steven Parent, and Donald "Shorty" Shea are often given the short-shrift of the verified Manson victims; Parent is the forgotten victim of the Tate-LaBianca crimes while Hinman and Shea are very nearly forgotten as victims at all. More details are provided on Hinman and Shea as people versus just murder victims; it makes their loss, and the violent actions of Manson and the Family, all the more poignant and effective. Thanks to this book being recent and published after Shea's body was discovered, a long-held legend within the Family that Shea had been "chopped up" into pieces and scattered in multiple graves can be discounted as well as providing a solid account as to Shea's final movements and day of life and who was involved in killing him.

The convicted killers' convoluted and tangled web through the legal system is also explored and this is one of two points in the book that I didn't agree with. Sections on Charles "Tex" Watson, the man involved in every murder save Gary Hinman and the self-professed "right hand man" of Charles Manson, read almost sympathetically. Even if you do believe that Watson is paying his debt to society and has become a born-again Christian, I cannot forget that he brutally stabbed to death Sharon Tate, who begged for the life of her unborn child, and then went on to marry and father four children while incarcerated. I find that particular irony distasteful and revolting. While Watson may have taken so many illegal drugs as to hinder his thinking, it didn't affect his ability to torture and kill and I simply cannot grant any sympathy to him; only to his victims.

The other point in the book that I didn't agree with - - and this is more my opinion than anything else -- is a motive for the Tate murders put forward in Hunting Charles Manson. I've heard of the motive previously and this book does an excellent job in breaking it down and presenting it. The problem I have with it is that it doesn't explain how and why Steven Parent became a victim, if you believe that Parent was the first person on Cielo Drive to die that night. (And there has never been evidence to suggest otherwise.) But again, that's simply my opinion and motive is something we may likely never get a firm answer on, especially now that Manson is dead.

Hunting Charles Manson does something that many books in the Manson library have not been able to do and that's provide a fresh look on crimes that have been written about, debated and dissected for nearly fifty years. I appreciated the view inside Manson's life for the last ten or so years of it -- something rarely written about. I also like that Ms. Wiehl and Ms. Rother showed the determination and strength of Debra Tate, Anthony DiMaria and Kay Martley as they attend and have attended parole hearings for years, speaking not so much of the ugliness their loved one experienced at the hand of Manson, et al. but of the precious memories they have of the precious people that were.

Hunting Charles Manson is an excellent resource for exploring the psyche of Manson in our quest to answer why. Why did he turn out the way he did? Why did he want strangers butchered? Why does he continue to fascinate today?

I have been a fan of Caitlin Rother's books for years and made it a point to get this book solely based on her as an author. As with her previous books, Ms. Rother presents the story and attempts to get into the mind of madness and answer the questions that puzzle those of us who have been fortunate enough to remain distant from the crime. She is always respectful of the victims and their survivors, not glorifying the violence or the offender, and that is one reason I am a fan. She's also a darn good writer. For more information on Caitlin Rother and her books, go here.

I wouldn't hesitate to recommend Hunting Charles Manson for true crime buffs or readers looking for information on Manson and his crimes. The fact the book features information from as recent as early 2018 is a bonus.

One thing for sure is the fact that Charles Manson, even when he is dead, has fascinated people for years. Where Helter Skelter focused on the crimes of Charles Manson and his Family, HUNTING CHARLES MANSON focused on the investigation and background of Charles Manson. It amazes me how much bungling happened and law enforcement was still able to finally make arrests. Not sharing information with other agencies, ignoring parole violations, walking through blood at the crime scene, handling evidence with bare hands. It was one giant mess after another with the whole investigation! Another thing that amazes me is how this thug still manages to draw people to his defense and to his person. It boggles my brain! This was an interesting read, but did get a bit preachy at the end. Summing up how history can repeat itself and the author's views of what causes societal break-downs, while I may have agreed with some of those thoughts, I didn't think it was consistent with the premise of the book which read like a non-fiction, factual telling of events and ended with author opinion.

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3.5 Stars: With the 50th anniversary of the Tate-LaBianca murders only a year away, many new books are being published about the notorious Manson family and their lingering impact on America. Lis Wiehl, author and legal analyst, has co-written this book with the novelist and journalist, Caitlin Rother. If you've read other narratives on the case (as I have), it covers familiar territory, and given the dramatic subject matter, the writing isn't always compelling. However, the authors have managed to uncover new information, particularly on the strengths and weaknesses of the investigation, and its aftermath - which after so much time and speculation is impressive, making it a worthwhile addition to any true crime library.