Cover Image: Helltown

Helltown

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I was hoping to love this book. I love true crime. I very much when an author brings in the time period to help us understand better what was going on at the time that contributed to the crimes. Eric Larson does this so very well. It seemed that Casey Sherman was attempting to do the same. However, the asides about authors seemed forced and were unpleasant to read. The descriptions of the actual crimes were far overwritten and practically silly. The moment someone was murdered should not be presented in an over the top way that makes me roll my eyes. I read parts aloud to my husband to see if it was really as ridiculous as I thought it was. I’m sorry, but your description of the death of a real person should not be written in a way that could be construed as comical.

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Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advance copy of this book in return for an honest review.

This was a very hard book to get through. The author is the nephew of 19-year old Mary Sullivan, the last and youngest victim of The Boston Strangler. Sherman’s previous books are predominantly true crime. I thought that perhaps his style would center more on the criminal mind and the trial proceedings, however, there were some very graphic and gruesome descriptions of the murders which are repeatedly referenced.

We begin on Cape Cod in the late 1960’s, where young women are starting to disappear. While there is some effort on the part of law enforcement, the disappearances are attributed to the drug and counter culture mantra: turn on, tune in, and drop out. But then their bodies begin to surface. The common denominator is Tony Costa, who will soon be arrested, convicted, sentenced and commit suicide in his cell.

The author fictionalized Costa’s relationships with the women, as well as the actual murders. Costa always maintained his innocence, blaming others as well as an alter ego, and Costa’s conversations with his alter ego are also fictionalized. The details are gruesome, and they are again repeated in the court proceedings. Once was enough. My feeling is that the author should have noted up front, not at the end of the book, that this is a work of fact told with elements of fiction storytelling. That left me wondering what parts were true, and why the author didn’t just market the book as a fictionalized account based on a real event.

There are also so many side stories which give us a sense of the times, yet are not directly relevant to the case itself. We have stories of Charles Manson, the 1968 Democratic National Convention, Mary Jo Kopechne’s fateful night with Ted Kennedy and the Apollo 11 moon landing. There are also in-depth biographies of Kurt Vonnegut and Norman Mailer, both residents of the area that wanted to write about the case. While the author could have touched on all of these subjects, it was just way too much information, and fictionalized information perhaps.

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What do two award-winning novelists, Kurt Vonnegut and Norman Mailer, and a depraved serial killer have in common? Perhaps more than you might think. In “Helltown,” Casey Sherman uses Tony Costa’s serial murders in the late 1960s Cape Cod area as the centerpiece to provide glimpses of life during that tumultuous era.

True crime fans won’t want to miss this one. I could not stop turning the pages. One caveat: Sherman does tell this story using techniques borrowed from fiction. Most of the important aspects are based on factual details; however, at least one aspect of “Helltown” is based purely on Sherman’s imaginative conjecture, which he acknowledges in his end notes. This did not bother me because Sherman includes extensive documentation of the factual elements, but purists will want to be forewarned.

For fans of Erik Larson’s “The Devil in the White City.”

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As a huge fan of the true crime genre, this story stood out and I was excited to get to it. The basis of the story is about Antone Costa who terrorized Cape Town in 1969, said to have killed 4 women although he was only convicted of 2 murders.

The author of the book inserted dialogue that may or may not have happened between people at times and I felt that was disingenuous. There were full chapters devoted to Kurt Vonnegut Jr and Norman Mailer, as well as others. With the book being so long already, I felt these were mostly filler and not necessarily pertinent to the story. I ended up skipping whole chapters because of this. I can tell the author did extensive research into this topic but when I'm reading a story about a particular serial killer, I really just want to read about that person and what exactly happened regarding their crimes.

This particular book just fell flat for me. While the original topic is interesting the filler is not. I received this book free from NetGalley for an honest review.

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Very gruesome and detailed. Definitely a hard book to read. It was speculative too, the author took liberties when talking about the killer and victims felt.

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Thank you to Sourcebooks and Netgalley for the arc but unfortunately I this was a DNF for me. I love true crime books and got 50% through it before I had to give up, and I hate doing that. This book follows Tony Costa a serial killer in the Cape Cod area. What I couldn’t get past is it seemed all over the place and I cringed when I had to read about authors Kurt Vonnegut and Norman Mailer. I would have finished if the authors were left out.

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True crime writer Casey Sherman has blended the mostly true story of Antone (Tony) Costa with fictional liberties. If you're unfamiliar with the crimes in the sleepy, but mysterious shores of Cape Cod, you'll want to go on this journey that takes one through a little-known serial killer before the term was widely used. I read this book in about 24 hours --hard to put down!

This book has everything from the details of gore and true crime all the way to a study of the political and counterculture movement of the 60s.

This review is thanks to an advanced copy from NetGalley.

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This one felt more fictionalized to me, and less fact based nonfiction true crime. I had a hard time getting through this one, and found it to be rather boring for the most part, and I even contemplated DNF it, but I stuck it out.

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I wanted to love this one, I really did. You all know that I love true crime stories, and this one sounded so promising, but unfortunately it was anything but that.


This one felt more fictionalized to me, and less fact based nonfiction true crime. I had a hard time getting through this one, and found it to be rather boring for the most part, and I even contemplated DNF it, but I stuck it out.


The writing style is what bothered me, the fact that the author included dialogue and thoughts of people, who are actually dead now, made it seem more like a fiction read than a fact based true crime story. Conversations throughout the book between the killer and his victims really irritated me as well, this is far from non-fiction, and it was rather daunting at times.


My advice to you is to skip this one, but if you do decide to read it, I would be interested to see what you think of it!

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I liked this book. It was a good thriller. Based on a true story which was creepy but overall I’d recommend

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Thank you to Sourcebooks for the copy of Helltown by Casey Sherman; this is a nonfiction account of the Cape Cod serial killer Tony Costa. This is my honest review.

I am a fan of true crime and nonfiction; I am a long standing fan of mysteries and serial killer stories. I thought this would be right up my alley but it did not work for me and I can't recommend it. For me the writing style was weak and felt misogynistic and made up, problematic for a non fiction book and for a big picture examination of violence against women. This felt like a fiction book and I did not have a sense of where source information for written dialogue and presentation of cognitive states/thoughts Costs and others were written to have. The weaving in of Vonnegut and other literary figures did not add to the narrative development and muddied the focus of the book as well.

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This did not read nor even feel like a true crime book. The story was drawn out and sections of the lives of authors Kurt Vonnegut and Norman Mailer were thrown in to extend the story. I found no other reason to include anything about them except the stories were in the same time period as the murders and in the same general vicinity. I found myself frustrated and tired of reading the author mentioning the upcoming book at the time, The Slaughterhouse Five. I ended up skipping chapters that had nothing to do with the actual murderer in the story, Tony Costas.

There was so much added dialogue and personal thoughts from the "characters" involved (for lack of a better word) . It made this albeit gruesome story seem fictional. I honestly couldn't even finish this book. I was just too frustrated with the whole thing. While I am very thankful for being given the chance to read and review another book, this particular book just left me with a bad taste in my mouth. I need to delete it from my kindle now.

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This was a WILD story. It was jam-packed with knowledge, murder, and some relaxed little hippie vibe. Helltown needs to be on every true crime lover's radar.
I never heard of Tony Costa, but holy crap, now I will never forget him. This whole book was just absolutely insane. Please do yourself a favour and request this book and then obsessively search google for every little detail . The author has conducted extensive research, evidenced by the footnotes and references, and I appreciated that. However, I still found it to be just an okay read.

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This was a very difficult book for me to get through. 1, it would be better if it was straight fiction. Some of the scenes include the victims’ trains of thought which is obviously embellished because the victims are dead. 2, I didn’t like Norman Mailer & Kurt Vonnegut when I was required to read them. I like them even less when more of the story is about their rivalry than it is about the killer himself. 3 stars, some people are going to love it but I just did not.

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Thanks to Sourcebooks Non-Fiction, Netgalley and the author, for an ARC of this book. I am leaving this review voluntarily and have not been compensated for it.

This is a True Crime Non-Fiction book with fictional elements based on the murders of several women in Cape Cod during the late 60's. Antone (Tony) Costa was convicted of the crimes and the book tells the story about the crimes, the investigation, his trial and the aftermath. It also weaves in several other elements that give this retelling depth. In particular, it's the involvement of Norman Mailer and Kurt Vonnegut, two native Cape Codders, that makes this book really interesting. Both novelists, despite being at different stages of their career, are deeply affected by the murders and their future works are definitely influenced by these horrific events.

The counter-culture of the late 60's, satanic panic, the use of psychedelic drugs and the unique blend of holiday-makers and locals in Cape Cod provide a vivid background to the events described in the book and provide context.

This book have obviously been heavily researched, but it's the fictional element, the inclusion of Costa's internal dialogue, the characterisation of the authority figures involved in the investigation and subsequent trial and the 'coven' of young hippy Costa-followers, that provide realism and make this book more compelling.

Similarly, the way that Charles Manson and his followers, Ted Kennedy and the death of Mary Jo Kopechne and the publishing of Vonnegut's 'Slaughterhouse Five', give the reader a sense of place and time as well as an understanding of social and political culture at that time.

I think the men, in general, in this book come off as egotistical misogynists with the exception of Bernie Flynn, Tom Gunner and Armand Fernandes. Even Mailer and Vonnegut, while obviously cultural icons, appear to have been abusive to the women in their lives.

While the book does focus on Tony Costa, he is not idealised in any way. This feels like an authentic retelling of events with the inclusion of intimate details of the case and the people involved. There are sensational elements, sure - these events are shocking and the inclusion of some of the details of the killing are horrific. But all in all, I think the story has been written respectfully and faithfully.

I'm interested to hear that the rights to this book have been bought by Robert Downey Jr. and his wife. I will keep an eye out for the film or tv show.

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“Helltown is a work of fact told with elements of fiction storytelling.” – Casey Sherman

Non-fiction can be hit or miss for me but I greatly enjoyed this one. Whereas I knew about other historical events/information included within this story, I had never heard of the serial killer Tony Costa. My parents hadn’t heard of these murders either. Granted they had moved away from Western Mass about 5 years prior, Vietnam was still going on, and Charles Manson hit the west coast by storm before Costa went to trial so that might have taken away some of the attention.

There are a few storylines within the book but the main topic is the gruesome murders of 5 young women. Some were locals and others were not. All were lives taken way too soon by a drug addict with an alter ego controlling his actions. I thought all the stories were well told and blended together nicely so I would say it was well written. I definitely recommend it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks for gifting me with an advanced copy to read and review.

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‘Helltown’, is my first Casey Sherman book, but it won’t be my last. Although this was not my usual type of book, I enjoyed learning about the Cape Cod murders of 1969 in Provincetown, MA. The author is a nephew of one of the victims of the Boston Strangler from the 1960’s. I enjoyed reading about the rivalry between Kurt Vonnegut and Norman Mailer, and their time on Cape Cod.

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I was confused about the categorization of,this book. Is it no fiction or fiction? I thought it was non fiction, but so much of the dialogue had to be fabricated. In the author’s end note he calls it a novel, but provides pages of documentation of resources and research.
I think the author should have made the demarcations much more clearer.
In any case, it illustrates what a barbaric Sicko Tony Costa really was.

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I really struggled to get into this book. The first half felt very confusing to me and it was hard to keep the stories straight. I was going in as if this was a true crime book. It does not feel like a true crime book and the blend with fiction made it difficult to read. The second half was definitely better as it gave more details on the story of this killer. However by the time I got to this point, I had sort of lost interest. I felt this book could have been a lot shorter and more focussed. This would be a great read for those who are interested in where there two writers come from with a little true crim mixed in. This one just didnt work for me.

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This is not at all what I was expecting from this book. I enjoy true crime and was looking forward to learning about Costa as I had never heard of him. But the way it’s written is just cringey. It’s sensationalized and has elements of fictional storytelling which I feel is disrespectful to the victims. True crime should provide the facts and give a voice to those who can no longer speak for themselves, not “entertain readers” with dramatization. I also found it weird adding in a storyline with Kurt Vonnegut-I understand he wrote articles on the murders but there’s no point in diving into a fictional plot line for him. Honestly infuriating what this author has done, shame.

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