DNF @ 25%. I might pick this up again someday when I am in a different mindset, hence the second star, but it just didn't grip my interest at the moment. The writing is very stiff, and it wasn't engaging for me.

DNF @ 45% - the writing was so bland and textbook like I really couldn’t get into it :( I really appreciated the story itself from a first hand experience, but if I wanted to read about mostly facts, I could get it on Wikipedia or a true crime documentary.

Extremely interesting and readable. Bizarre to realize this guy was killing at the same time the Manson family was getting headlines. A must read for true-crime fans.

Fans of true crime might struggle with this as might fans of crime novels because it's a blend of the two. Tony Costa committed multiple murders in the Truro area during a period of social change. Famous writers- Vonnegut and Mailer-glommed onto his story, the story of a man who charmed women in Provincetown and then killed them. Over all of it is the fact that it's 1969 and there are, horrors, hippies. This is more graphic than I like (but that's not unexpected for the genre). It's also slower than I expected, perhaps because of the digressions into Vonnegut and Mailer. Thanks to netgalley for the ARC.

My thanks to Net Galley and Source Books for this arc.

I love true crime books and found this well researched and written ,but a bit gruesome and couldn't connect with.

<i>*Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review *</i>

Helltown, in chronicling Tony Costa's murders on Cape Cod in the summer of 1969, in its actual true-crime aspect is interesting, while very gruesome - this is definitely not for the faint of heart.

However, the storylines with Kurt Vonnegut and Norman Mailer - didn’t really add anything to the story, and I feel like they messed up the pacing, as they weren’t nearly as interesting, and somehow just slowed the whole story down. I understand that they served to illustrate the time period, but they were too long and just felt draggy.

Also, the writing style felt a little bit overly descriptive at times.

This was not for me even though I am familiar with the murders that took place being from Connecticut and having very good friend from Massachusetts. The writing just could not keep me interested enough. Not the type of true crime writing I am used to.

Cannot recommend.

Thanks to Netgalley, Caset Sherman Sourcebooks for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Available: 7/12/22

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to receive an arc in exchange for an honest review! All thoughts and opinions are my own.



A mix of fact and fiction- I wish the author just sort of … stuck to fiction. Maybe an “inspired by” sort of book. It just wasn’t for me.

Thank you to Sourcebooks and NetGalley for the advanced e-book. I liked the opening of this book but pretty quickly lost interest. I didn't care for the writing style and the chapters on Kurt Vonnegut and Norman Mailer didn't quite work for me. I ended up not finishing the book after only about 10% so maybe further in it explains the connection between the serial killer and the authors?

This was an interesting book about a serial killer I'd never heard of and I follow true crime. Antone "Tony" Costa brutally murdered 4 young women in the 60s. It also follows the stories of writers Kurt Vonnegut Jr and Norman Mailer.

Thanks to Sourcebooks for sharing this ARC. Although I usually enjoy true crime stories, I didn’t find this book engaging. I’m not sure if I could pinpoint why but by the 1/2 point, I no longer cared to read any more about Tony Castro. So I did not finish.

I received an ARC of, Helltown, by Casey Sherman. This is such a sad and twisted story. People are crazy, the murders in this book are gruesome. I did not care for the swearing in the book though.

I want to start with UGH! disgusting, without any conscience this Costa was.

Its odd because I thought that writing this story in fiction form would not work, but I was okay with it.

Author throws us right away into the action and the pace keeps going until the end.

This book/guy makes Mason look like a choir boy.

Thank you netgalley. I loved this book. Kept me interested from the jump. It’s something different from what I normally read, but I love a good crime story.

Trigger warnings for all the gruesome discussion in this book. However, it was very interesting. I had never heard of Tony Costa before but I definitely will remember him after this book.

Holy. Shit.

I don't usually like true crime but decided to give this book a try because the description was interesting. Let me tell you, I was not disappointed at all. Tony Costa was a gruesome killer and the murders that were explained in graphic detail made me put down the book at certain times but overall it was a totally gripping read!

Would definitely recommend to any true crime fan and anyone looking to get into the genre! Can't wait to read more from Casey Sherman.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
4/5 stars.

DNF I am always interested in true crime and this sounded like an interesting case, but I found that the book was more dedicated to Kurt Vonnegut and Norman Mailer. It isn't that I don't find the authors interesting, I'm a huge Vonnegut fan, and I know that they were supposed to all tie in to each other at the end, but I found myslef disappointed in the little the book seemed to focus on Tony Costa. The book also was written in kind of a disjointed way. I get where the author was going with this, but it was too little of what the subject of the book should be, and way too much of something else entirely.

DNF. I rarely stop a book without finishing, but the clunky writing style combined with the heavy focus on Vonnegut/Mailer made this book impossible to continue.

I absolutely love true crime stories. Give me all the shows, podcasts and books! And this one is exactly what I was hoping for.

I have never heard of Tony Costa and WOW I hope they talk about him more. This story was addicting! I loved the writing

Definitely recommend to all fans of true crime. And the cover is amazing!!!

Provincetown has been on my vacation wishlist for some time but I had never heard of this particular serial killer. Helltown started out well. I was getting a vibe reminiscent of Steven King’s 11/22/63 and liked it. At first I was intrigued by the mention of a few other characters from Costa’s time. The supporting characters began flying out of the woodwork in no time. Not only a dual personality for Costa but Norman Mailer, Kurt Vonnegut, Senator Kennedy, Gore Vidal and even Charles Manson. I got the feeling the author knew the Costa story was weak and needed fleshing out with other characters and storylines.

An author’s note later explains his method but it just didn’t work for me and left me feeling deceived.

Thanks to Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.