Hunting Charles Manson: The Quest for Justice in the Days of Helter Skelter

By: Lis Wiehl

Narrated by: Michelle Lasley, Lis Wiehl

"Hunting Charles Manson the best true crime book you will ever read...Lock your doors, keep the night lights on, and read this book." -Linda Fairstein, New York Times bestselling crime novelist

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 - 26 years old and eight months pregnant with her first child - as well as a hair stylist, an heiress, a small 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.

Drawing upon deep archival research and exclusive personal interviews - including unique access to Manson Family parole hearings - former Fox News legal analyst and best-selling author Lis Wiehl gives listeners a propulsive, pause-resisting historical thriller of the crimes and a manhunt that mesmerized the nation. And in the process, she reveals how the social and political context that gave rise to Manson is eerily similar to our own.

Bring the case to life with Manson photos, explore the cast of characters, and gain insight into the research methodology with the audiobook companion PDF download.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.

©2018 Lis Wiehl (P)2018 Thomas Nelson

Obvious factual errors make hard to trust

There are books to read before this one, but if you're well versed in the history, you should listen to this book. The thing that makes the book special is that the author had access to Manson in the later years, when for the most part he was done doing interviews.

The book is written as the story of the author's experience talking with Manson and researching for a documentary. As such, there are some superfluous bits which are intended to make the book personal and are at various times both corny and beneficial.

As is common with Manson books, the stories are told with authority but differently from other accounts. He gets a few details wrong for certain, and it’s hard to know what to make of others which may or may not be reality. He is getting the latest versions from a number of people involved (including Manson), and this must be kept in mind.

Personally, I often find that I am dismissive of a Manson book at first but end up seeing it as legit. That is certainly the case here. People are going to be skeptical of anyone who claims to have a “new theory,” about the case. But I have to be honest, there are some parts of his theory that I haven’t heard before.

The narrator is fine.





For the umpteenth, I began a Manson book wanting to quit it, but ended up learning a few things, and being distracted by life for a few hours.



I can see how the author is an entertaining true crime author. Unfortunately, this is the single most complex case in the history of American crime. Way too much dramatization: over-the-top descriptions; overly detailed dialogue; assumptions about what someone was thinking/feeling.



The biggest issue with the book is that the one part that one could have hoped to learn from--the detective, forensic, crime reporting part—is almost totally nullified by earlier factual errors. How this book was published with a timeline which lists Hinman murder happening before the Crowe shooting is truly surprising. It’s one thing to have a typo that is easily explained away or a questionable source. To screw up the order in which major events happened is different.

As always, however, there are some things which make this book worth reading. The info on the some of the members’ early years and post-murder years stands out. The author clearly relied on autobiographies, which is always dicey. But most authors do not use books by law enforcement as sources, and that is one thing that differentiates this one.

There are more than a few details which I have never heard before. Some of these may be because they’re of the less tangential kind. The epilogue is ridiculous.

The narrator is one of the major problems. First, she’s got the generic, “ID channel true crime,” voice. However, the narrator also continuously mispronounces several key names, which only adds to the lack of trust.

But again, after all of that, it’s worth reading if you’re interested in the case.

50 Years ago

Good listen, if you've followed the Manson crimes over the years it wont offer you really anything new, except for the "where are they now" near the end..
however it's good to hear this author's confirming other authors and story tellers take on all of this.

Very well narrated

same stuff basically

this is a rehash of a few books put together. I usually love Lisa Wiehl too. I am at least happy she weeded out truths and heresay

Loved It

Entertaining book. One of the better books on this story. I finished it quickly. Good stuff.

Very unbiased!

Told as someone examining the facts and also looking into all of the possible theories.

By far the best I’ve read on the subject

Exceptionally well researched and written, I learned so much - despite having read many books on the subject over the decades. So much nuance and detail I’ve never seen.

I’m really glad I read this, although I honestly nearly stopped during the author intro. I bought this because of her expertise and the topic. Not only do I have no interest in her religious views, I find it extremely off-putting when people force it into a conversation. It has nothing to do with the topic.

Beyond that, highly HIGHLY recommend this book! Also, the narrator is exceptional. Easy to understand. Pleasing to listen to. Highly engaging.

Ugh

This book has various inaccuracies. It tells different stories from Helter Skelter which was wrote by the prosecutor from the case. The narrator pronounced names wrong as well. I had really hoped for a good story, but it just seemed sarcastic at times, and just not good.

Bad research, bad writing, bad reading.

Shoddy research and hack journalism is, I suppose, par for the course for a Faux News alum. Add in a narrator who mispronounces very high profile, well documented names, and it's just what you'd expect. SOMEONE, either the author or narrator unilaterally censors even mild swear words within direct quotes. Are we in middle school? And then she starts fat-shaming Leno LaBianca! A victim!!!!! Maybe I can choke down more of this book at some other time, but this far in it's a worse hack job than any of Tex's crime scenes and I just can't.

The narrator is horrible

The narrator spoke much too quickly and with little inflection. This was awful to listen to, even at a slower speed.