The Hillside Stranglers [Paperback]

Darcy O'Brien (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 2003

For weeks in the fall of 1977, as the body count of sexually violated, brutally murdered young women escalated, the Los Angeles newspapers headlined the increasingly alarming deeds of a serial killer they named the Hillside Strangler. But it would take more than another year and the mysterious disappearance of two young women in Seattle before the police would arrest one man—the handsome, charming, fast-talking Kenny Bianchi—and discover that the strangler was actually two men. Like Truman Capote in In Cold Blood and Norman Mailer in The Executioner's Song, Darcy O'Brien weds the narrative skill of an award-winning novelist with the detailed observations of an experienced investigator to bring the story of Bianchi and his animally magnetic cousin Angelo Buono vividly to the page. First exploring the symbiotic relationship between these two men who shared a lust as insatiable as their hate for women, O'Brien goes on to examine the crimes themselves and the lives of the victims.

Product Details

• Paperback: 448 pages
• Publisher: Running Press (May 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786711582
• ISBN-13: 978-0786711581
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #307,946 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating and Flawed July 1, 2008

By Douglas Doepke

Format:Paperback

The book is now 20-plus years old and in the meantime the author Darcy O'Brien has passed on. So, why comment on a work this old. For one thing, it's probably the most complete account of the notorius string of LA murders available to the public. For another, the serial dynamic is unusual in that it breaks the usual "lone wolf" pattern of most repeat killers. Here we have two cousins locked into a spiral of torture-thrill killings of the most cold-blooded type. Their skills (such as they are) blend well to produce a pretty effective killing machine that had the sprawling city both mesmerized and terrified for months at a time. (And on a minor note, even 20 years later, the stranglings appear as background on episodes of Seinfeld.)

Author O'Brien did considerable research in developing the work, and takes us through the early lives of Buono and Bianchi, the murders of the ten women in grisly detail, and finally through Bianchi's insanity hoax and Buono's interminable trial. For the most part, it's a gripping read with few apparent punches-pulled.

Nonetheless, the narrative is weakened by two rather pervasive defects. First, O'Brien offers slim grounds for the conversations he provides between the two cousins that interlace the first part of the book. Now, Truman Capote pioneered this technique in his classic In Cold Blood, but also tried to provide appropriate grounds based on conversations with the culprits themselves. However, I could find only a weak justification for taking similar liberties here. That indirect justification occurs in the book's Preface (p.xxiii), but is pretty meagre to say the least. Perhaps, as O'Brien avers, the recreation of certain scenes does contribute to understanding the psychology of the two killers; nonetheless, these recreations are fictional accounts and the reader should be kept aware. The text would have been strengthened had the author discussed the question more forthrightly than he does.

Second, author O'Brien acknowledges a close relationship with detective Grogan who worked much of the case. Now there's nothing necessarily wrong with that since authors often develop a rapport with their sources. However, in this case, the rapport comes close to adopting someone else's point of view and allowing that pov to color the narrative. In short, the text at times sounds like detective Grogan speaking through the author. As a result, the book's objectivity is seriously undermined, no matter how sound the conclusions. Now it's hard not to view the two stranglers as human belly-crawlers-- their crimes are that horrific. Nonetheless, Grogan's pov is also allowed to frame the conduct of both Buono's defense attorneys and the initial DA team, along with O'Brien's boyhood chum, presiding judge Ronald George. Such non-objective framing would appear to undercut a fair-minded account of the trial prceedings, no matter how much we and the author may root for the prosecution.

To me, such defects cast seriously into question the reliability of much of the text. I have no doubt that the two were guilty, nor that their crimes deserve the strongest possible legal punishment. However, despite the book's many redeeming features, the account is told from a definite, and sometimes fictionalized, point of view. And whether or not the many forensic details plus the author's narrative skills are sufficient compensation is up to the reader to decide.

9 of 12 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Killer Cousins November 25, 2003

By Janice M. Hansen VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

When I moved from northern california to southern california, I thought I was escaping from the current "missing young women" events dominating the headlines at the time. Theodore Bundy was making his mark in the northwest and the terror easily spread down to Humboldt County. I recall being warned by a local detective to be vigilant as the women targeted appeared similar to myself. So, it was with a sense of security that I departed the north for the south.

However, there was no escaping the similar circumstances in southern california. The so called "Hillside Strangler" was gripping the area with fear as more and more young women were found discarded like a bag of rubbish on the roadsides. When the case finally broke, the next surprise was it was handsome, smooth talking Kenneth Bianchi AND his cousin, Angelo Buono. The similarity between Kenneth and Theodore Bundy struck me at the time, but the more disturbing aspect of the case was the how these two cousins systematically developed a routine for abusing and ultimately murduring their helpless victims.

The book written by Darcy O'Brien expertly delves into these tragic murders. Profiling two of the most heinous killers in recent times, the author could never provide an answer as to why these things happen to innocent people nor provide a sense of comfort to the family survivors. Ms. O'Brien expounds quite efficiently with clues, insights and background into the personalities of the killer cousins and the details surrounding the crimes.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars DEADLY SOCIOPATHS IN TANDEM October 1, 2010

By Janice Harrison

Format:Paperback

There are really no words to express the horror one feels after reading the cruelties perpetrated by Bianchi and Buono on their unsuspecting victims. While there is no doubt that these two men were atrocious separately, taken together, they became a deadly pair of sociopaths, each feeding off the other. One has to wonder not only WHY, but how it was possible for the two of them to have committed so many murders before they were caught. While these murders occurred in the days before sophisticated computerized databanks were available, one has to wonder how many clues were missed. To me, it would have been helpful if this book had addressed police procedurals to give some ideas how it was that women were being murdered one right after the other and nobody had an inkling of who the killers were. The only clue they had was that there were two of them.

However, despite this drawback, and some of the other drawbacks other reviewers have mentioned about this book, I think THE HILLSIDE STRANGLERS is a highly worthwhile read, because it provides a glimpse into the terrifying period in our nation's history, in which women were being terrorized by these two highly sadistic and perverted individuals. If nothing else, it is a cautionary tale and should be recommended reading for young women who are leaving home for the first time and going off to live on their own. As the philosopher George Santayana has said, "One must know the history to keep from repeating the mistakes of the past."