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by Tim &. Deb Smith (Author)
In just two years, a would-be Messiah used lyrics from the most popular Rock and Roll band and verses from the most read book to create an infamous cult. This "family" remained run-of-the-mill until...
August 16, 1969.
Exactly one week after the hideously bizarre Tate-LaBianca murders. 200 members of the Los Angeles Police Department including the SWAT team storm the ranch where the Manson Family is living and arrest everyone there...
Two days later, all 24 detainees are simply released. Why would the LAPD apprehend every guilty party in the most notorious murders the city has ever experienced and then just let them go?
Whether you know this story really well, or not very well at all, the Smiths will take you right back there with them. When Tex Watson's boots hit the ground as he drops onto the Sharon Tate compound you will feel and hear your boots drop right beside him.
When Charles Manson delivers his "Helter Skelter" sermon on a cold New Year's Eve in 1968, to his Family who is huddled around the devilishly dancing flames of their bonfire in Death Valley trying to keep warm, you might feel a little chill run up your own spine.
The overall feel of the book is one of Tim and Deb telling "insider secrets." That's a cool feeling. They're not real insiders, but metaphorically they - and anyone who grew up in that era - are. They have immersed themselves in the action and aren't afraid to play with it - no matter how serious the subject. Their impish anti-establishment flavor is appropriate - if not expected - for the era about which they write.
Their use of limericks as a transition technique works brilliantly. That, combined with their irreverent Hunter S. Thompson style, brings an attitude to this time capsule in history like none before. It's engaging and entertaining and somehow manages to milk the story with just the right combination of tragedy and comedy. With the Manson murders, that's a fine line to walk and Tim and Deb somehow manage to knowledgeably negotiate this perilous path perfectly.
