I was always aware of Darcy O'Brien as an impeccable fiction writer, especially for his book, A Way of Life, Like Any Other, which won the prestigious Ernest Hemingway Award. However, I did not know that he was equally adept at writing true crime, and The Hillside Stranglers is indeed his pièce de résistance. O'Brien gets into the nitty gritty of the underbelly of the deviant Los Angeles sex scene where booze, violence and pimping all went hand in hand. Added to that is the depictions of the gruff, cynical and world weary mentality of the investigators, particularly Detectives Frank Salerno and especially Bob Grogan, whose rough edged view of the California seedier side was reminiscent to that of a sewer system, a man who yearned for a Biblical flood to wash all the garbage away.Lurking in that garbage were two men-Angelo Buono and Kenny Bianchi-cousins, who were linked by their conscious-less sex fetish depravity to abduct, rape, torture, sodomize and strangle ten females without remorse; the more horrific they could be, the better they liked it, and from 1977 to 1979, the hills of Los Angeles would be the dumping ground where these innocent victims would be placed. O'Brien does a very good job at detailing the crimes without being too graphic and macabre. Yet, he shows a sympathetic respect for the victims, their families and all those involved. A difficult treading act, to be sure. The backgrounds of the victims, while not always rosy and happy, depicted some of them as woman or young girls on the edge, but they had the potential to be more than what they were often portrayed as in the mass media.How does a serial killer come into being? What are the ingredients that makes someone indifferent to the tortured pains of another human being? Darcy O'Brien is also very good at exploring this dynamic. While not a sociologist or psychiatrist, he lets the simple facts of the case speak for itself. Merging case points of the crime with a human profile of the killers, he is able to create a reliable picture that brings to the forefront the grim backgrounds of Angelo Buono and Kenny Bianchi. They were two peas in a pod, and the former certainly had a dark and disturbing affection for the latter, for he called him Mi Numi, a Sicilian phrase that means something close to blood brother or something in that vein. Both of their backgrounds oozed serious problems that would definitely manifest itself in later life, and without a doubt, they hated women to the fullest. They were animalistic, conniving, indifferent and violent, Angelo especially. Ken was just a fast talking con man who followed his gutter talking violent cousin. When they came together, citizens paid the ultimate price.The crimes aside, the most fascinating part of the book was the actual court case, the longest criminal court case in U.S. history. Judge Ronald George, who happened to be the author's old roommate while at Princeton University, played a pivotal role in bringing the case forward for criminal proceedings. The defense did everything humanly possible to not work and do the job at hand; their dismissal excuses also verged on the ridiculous, and more often than not, Judge George had to deal with the idiocy of the male ego as well as manipulative defense lawyers. Added to the circus was Ken Bianchi, whose defense tactic of Multiple Personality Disorder was such a farce that he was more a hinderance than a help. These things were all seen as a collective charade, and the case was able to continue forward, and justice ultimately did prevail. Darcy O'Brien's The Hillside Strangler was a disturbing and compelling read, richly detailed and scary, a work not for the faint of heart. It will be the definitive book for years to come.
I was interested in the story of the Hillside Stranglers, but although this is well written and detailed, it is too detailed for me. The introduction of Buono and Bianchi, their actions, conversations, degradation of women and so on are so specific, it can't be all real and it is beyond disgusting. I made it to 30% and can go no farther. I am sure they were disgusting men and said things much like that and worse, but I can't just keep reading it. Many great true crime writers do take these liberties with books like these, however I, personally, choose to not read this one. Since I am only able to read on Kindle, I can't skip ahead or over to see farther, in the same way you can in a book.
Do You like book The Hillside Stranglers (2003)?
Couldn't finish it. It's rare for me to stop a book without finishing it but I had to put this one down. It got so bogged down about 2/3 of the way through with Bianchi's attempted manipulation of the legal system that I found I just didn't care. The crimes were horrific and the murderers such scum! I could not believe that any woman would be attracted to either guy and yet the author contends that they had quite a harem. I did feel compassion for the effect that the crimes had on the investigator's personal lives but after awhile I didn't care about that either. You may like this book but count me out.
—library goddess
Comprehensive and thorough investigation into the crimes and trials of the Hillside StranglersMr. O'Brien has written the quintessential account of the murder spree perpetrated by Angelo Buono and Kenneth Bianchi and done so in a manner that reads like a novel. The nearly 450 pages are filled with facts that are so bizarre the story probably wouldn't have been accepted it offered in the form of a novel. While these murders occurred nearly forty years ago, the crimes were so horrendous and the two cousins who committed them so lacking in any sense of compassion or remorse, they are still unfathomable to most people today. Those who try to understand the motives and thought processes of these two men will find the journey fascinating. Many people will be prone to dismiss the killers' actions as the work of lunatics. I believe to do this would allow these men to escape responsibility for their actions. Rather than insane, they are purely and simply evil and this book makes the facts supporting my belief very clear.
—Lynn
Gleeful in its depravity, "The Hillside Stranglers" is targeted for the sort of people who get their jollies googling crime scene photos. Granted, rare is the book about serial killers that ranks very high on the taste-o-meter, but O'Brien aims for the lowest common denominator and barely manages to hit the ground it stands on. When one picks up a book about two cousins who strangle women, the misogyny is a given; you don't need it enthusiastically spelled out at every opportunity. It's just the sort of situation where the author needs to "show, not tell.". Unfortunately, O'Brien tells and tells and tells and tells some more. If you've never pulled the wings off flies, you can safely pass this one by knowing you've missed nothing. If you have, you should spend your time in therapy and not reading this graffiti on the underside of the bottom of the "true crime" barrel.
—Paul
