Publishers Weekly
05/02/2022
Made-up scenes do little to enhance this workmanlike account of the case of Tony Costa, a murderer who targeted women on Cape Cod in the late 1960s, from bestseller Sherman (Hunting Whitey: The Inside Story of the Capture and Killing of America’s Most Wanted Crime Boss). Costa, a 20-something carpenter who may have killed as many as eight women around Truro, Mass., became a suspect following the disappearances of Patricia Walsh and Mary Anne Wysocki. He was seen in public with both women, and he told implausible stories about how he came to own Walsh’s Volkswagen. Dogged police investigation eventually led to the discovery of Walsh and Wysocki’s dismembered remains in the woods, along with those of other women who’d gone missing, though Costa was convicted of only the two murders. Sherman presents numerous scenes of Costa conversing with an alternate personality called Cory, who Costa claimed was responsible for all the bloodshed, and relates Costa’s final thoughts before hanging himself in his prison cell. (In an author’s note, Sherman describes the book as “a work of fact told with elements of fiction storytelling.”) Endemic speculative sections such as these make this a miss for those who prefer their true crime to stick to the facts. Agent: Peter Steinberg, Fletcher & Co. (July)
From the Publisher
"Master storyteller Casey Sherman takes us back in time to the 1960s and into the dark mind of a charismatic serial killer. Set against the idyllic backdrop of Cape Cod, Helltown is a riveting, often spine-tingling true crime story." — Terence Winter, Executive Producer of The Sopranos, creator of Boardwalk Empire
"With Helltown, Casey Sherman delivers the kind of true crime that keeps eyes glued to the pages—smart, impeccably researched, and utterly absorbing. Destined to be on all the year-end best nonfiction lists, this is an unqualified triumph by a writer at the top of his game!" — Gregg Olsen, #1 New York Times bestselling author of If You Tell
"With Helltown, Casey Sherman delivers the kind of true crime that keeps eyes glued to the pages—smart, impeccably researched, and utterly absorbing. Destined to be on all the year-end best nonfiction lists, this is an unqualified triumph by a writer at the top of his game!" — Gregg Olsen, #1 New York Times bestselling author of If You Tell
"Readers will not soon forget Sherman’s gripping and elucidating web of true crime and literary history tracing the personal, communal, political, and artistic repercussions of gruesome killings during a time of indelible ferment." — Booklist STARRED Review
"Helltown is an immersive and captivating journey into the mind of a serial killer...should satisfy most true crime aficionados." — Associated Press
"Helltown will render even the calmest reader unsettled when the book has been concluded. Author Casey Sherman continues his excellent work in the true crime realm with his latest effort. The narrative relayed by Sherman is engrossing and never wavers in its intensity. " — Seattle Book Review
Library Journal - Audio
12/01/2022
Sherman (Hunting Whitey: The Inside Story of the Capture and Killing of America's Most Wanted Crime Boss) tackles another true crime story, this time focusing on Tony Costa, a Cape Cod hippie who claimed that the mental health condition of dissociative identity disorder caused him to murder young women passing through town in the 1960s. There is a backstory to be told of Costa's childhood, but Sherman centers on the period when he committed the murders and was tried for his crimes. Details about the murders, interrogations, and courtroom scenes are striking, though not for the faint of heart, as Sherman does not shy away from sharing grisly details. Along with the facts, Sherman includes imagined conversations and suppositions, as well as side stories about Kurt Vonnegut and Norman Mailer competing to write about Costa. Sherman narrates the book with a charmingly authentic, though not overwhelming, Massachusetts accent. Listeners may miss elements from the physical book, including photos of key places and people and notes that indicate where fictional license has been taken. VERDICT While elements of Sherman's book will appeal to true crime readers, others may be disappointed by his fictional flair and reliance on uncited information. Recommend to general readers looking to understand the mind of a killer.—Laura Stein
Library Journal
04/02/2022
Sherman (coauthor, Boston Strong: A City's Triumph over Tragedy) delivers a confusing, fictionalized portrayal of the crimes committed by killer Tony Costa, interspersed with the story of a rivalry between Kurt Vonnegut and Norman Mailer, both of whom were set on immortalizing Costa's story in print. Costa is believed to have killed eight young women on Cape Cod in 1968, though he was convicted of only two of the murders. While in prison, he wrote his own account of several of the murders in an unpublished manuscript he called "Resurrection," which Sherman relied on to write his book. "Resurrection" included interviews with others involved, though the dialogue in Sherman's work is uncited and apparently invented, making it very much not a work of nonfiction, despite the author's claims. Sherman explores how Costa tried to explain away his apparent guilt—in his prison manuscript he blamed the murders on one of his split personalities, an alter ego he calls Cory Devereaux—and details his arrest and trial. VERDICT The book is hard to follow and full of references to drugs and 1960s counterculture that will confuse many readers. Moreover, the lengthy treatment of the Vonnegut-Mailer dispute doesn't fit with the rest of the book. Not recommended for true crime readers.—Amelia Osterud
