Helltown: The Untold Story of a Serial Killer on Cape Cod - Casey Sherman
"Before Charles Mason, there was Tony Costa" Yikes! Helltown is the true crime story of Tony Costa, a serial killer on Cape Cod in the late 60's. Young women begin to disappear, but charismatic Tony is not a suspect at first. That doesn't last long and soon the police start their manhunt to capture him. I thought I would have really enjoyed this one, being a true-crime junkie. But it just didn't grab me like I had hoped. There was a lot of speculation on how people thought and felt and the whole bickering between Vonnegut and Mailer, I felt, was unnecessary.

Perfect for any true time fan and just such and interested story of a life surrounded by Crime. Thank you Sourcebooks for the ARC for my honest review.

Unfortunately when I read/finished this book, life got in the way and I never posted a review. I have forgotten much of what I would have said, but I can tell you this book is fascinating. I've always enjoyed shows like Profiler, Criminal Minds, etc so this was right up my alley as far as subject matter. Lots of insight into the mind and motives of psychopath. Pretty fascinating

Tony Costa is the center of this true crime novel. To a certain group of smitten young women, he is known as Sire―the leader of their counter-culture movement, the charming man who speaks eloquently and hands out hallucinogenic drugs like candy. Tony Costa is the most dangerous man on Cape Cod, and no one who crosses his path is safe. When young women begin to disappear, Costa's natural charisma and good looks initially protect him from suspicion.

This book was very interesting. It was far too long though. The side stories about the writers were honestly not needed. This is a non fiction true crime novel but there are a lot of conversations in here. It makes me wonder if they were made up or if the author did a lot of interviews with people. The story of Tony was very interesting. It's crazy that I have never heard of him. I do recommend this. It just needed to be scaled down.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and Sourcebooks for the gifted e-book!

It was a bit of a slog for me. There was a wealth on info and it was fascinating to see how everyone was connected during this period in history, however, I kept putting it aside for other books more in my genre of preference. I think there will be tons of readers that love true crime that will love this read. Thank you to the publisher, NetGalley and the author for the opportunity to read the ARC!

I was fortunate to read this book as an ARC via Netgalley. I really found it interesting. First of all, I learned much about the personal and professional lives of literary giants Vonnegut and Mailer. The author was able to intertwine their lives with the sad and disturbing case of the Cape Cod serial killer, Tony Costa. Frankly, I am surprised that more isn't known about him, but this disturbing case was overshadowed by much of the madness happening in the late 1960's. If you find true crime interesting, then you will enjoy this book.

This seemed like the perfect book for me. True Crime is one of my favorites.. Helltown by Casey Sherman is a very good book. I liked the way the author built up the story of the serial killer Tony Kosta and his killing spree on Cape Cod. It’s 1969, hippies, free love and drugs are all around. Tony is a local and he has quite the following.. the young ladies call him Sire. The Cape seems to have something for everyone, even the likes of Tony. He is clearly disturbed and the crimes he committed were atrocious. His mind is broken and all the drugs he does not help. While Kosta is committing murder, there are two authors, trying to finish their original books and try to write about Tony. They both seem to think, they will get the scoop. There are so many different characters in this book and the author did a great job explaining them all. His description of the Cape is spot on. It’s like I was their during that time. I want to thank Netgalley & Casey Sherman for my copy, for an honest review. It was a pleasure reading and reviewing it. This was a four star read for me. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

This book is supposed to be "true" crime, which means facts. From the very beginning, the author provides dialogue and thoughts of various people, when he couldn't possibly know what they were saying or thinking.

Then we have a sideline story of Kurt Vonnegut, who had nothing at all to do with this case. He simply lived in the area around the same time, and apparently that's important because he's a famous writer. Again, the author not only gives him dialogue, but also tells us what he knew and what he was thinking, which is, of course, impossible.

I'm all for narrative nonfiction and a certain amount of creative license, but too much of this book is straight fiction. If this had been marketed as a fictionalized account of a true crime, then I would have read it as a thriller and maybe felt differently. But as it is, I was irritated by the way the author presented quoted dialogue and thoughts as facts.

Absolutely not as represented, and I’m choosing not to finish this book.

*I received an eARC from the publisher, via NetGalley.*

Thank you to the publisher for a free E-ARC in exchanged for an honest review. This story was very compelling and interesting as the investigation went through it process. Although this story was told well it the writing at time for me personally felt more textbook like than anything else. Overall very interesting case and important to learn from.

I didn't like this book. The blending of fact and "storytelling" to give you an inside view of the murders was not something I enjoyed. I like true crime, but this one started to fall into the category of "inspired by true events" rather than a factual recounting of the crimes.

I found myself skimming large sections and wishing for it to be over. Sorry Casey Sherman.


I received an ARC from the publisher on NetGalley.

I wanted to like this more than I did, it just fell short for me. I love watching true crime documentaries so I was really looking forward to reading my first true crime book. It seemed right up my alley but appearances ended up being deceiving. This work definitely lives up to its title with the graphic, gruesome details of Tony Costa’s murders. Sometimes it felt like it was done too much when less could have been more. Back to Tony Costa, I had never heard of him before and I found it interesting that the author chose to also highlight two authors along with him in this book—Vonnegult and Mailer—which I honestly could’ve done without. Another case where less could’ve been more, just felt superfluous to me which also made the story a drag to read.

In the author’s note, Sherman states this was a “work of fact told with elements of fiction storytelling.” The way the author wrote the fictional parts overall seemed a bit stilted for me and as such was distracting me from the actual story, making it difficult to read. I felt it wasn’t done well. The book quotes that “in novel writing, you can get by with a lot of fire and smoke.” Unfortunately this novel is a prime example of “a lot of fire and smoke.”

TLDR: This book was too long and insipid—you will probably be better off watching the documentary that’s being adapted from this novel.

Sincerest thanks for NetGalley for a digital advanced copy in exchange for my honest thoughts and opinions.

I live true crime novels. I love to read about serial killers. Tony is a mess and a nasty dude/killer. Unfortunately I think I’m used to the in depth writing and descriptions of relationships through the lens of Ann rule and now I’m spoiled. This is okay- average.

Tony Costa is a charismatic young man who is popular with the ladies. In fact, some of his "groupies" call him Sire. He is living his best life on Cape Cod in 1969. Unfortunately, he is also a serial killer who preys on women.

Kurt Vonnegut and Norman Mailer are two writers also living on Cape Cod during that time and were very competitive with each other. Both have set their sights on Tony as their next literary subject.

This book is based on a true story that did not get much attention, even though the crimes were horrific. The story is very graphic but interesting, Highly recommend this to true crime enthusiasts!

Amazing read about Serial Killer in Provincetown Ma. Being from the area, I am always interested in book such as this. Casey did a great job on the true crime story. Although I received this free from NetGalley - I will be going to buy this in hard cover for my book shelf because it is that good. It is worth it.

**I received this book free from NetGalley.

This book was a bit lack luster. The plot was easily call-able and the characters were whatever. The book description sounded more interesting than the actual book. I would be curious to see what else this author comes out with since one of the enjoyable parts was their voice.

Fairly unpleasant read. While the excursions into the lives of Kurt Vonnegut and Norman Mailer managed to bore me stiff (a problem solved easily enough by skipping the relevant sections), I absolutely LOATHED the actual murder parts. As it turns out, the author had access to an autobiographical "novel" written by serial killer Tony Costa himself and implemented parts of it into the narrative, so we get treated to a major a**hole's reimagined depictions of killing innocent women. Costa is long dead (and good riddance) but it sickens me physically to think that this d*ckwad's self-glorifying, truly atrociously written ramblings now see publication by way of some true crime author who in turn obviously hopes to turn this into good money and a great career.
DNF at 20% because a) it was terrible and b) reading it made me feel awful.

This was not a story I had known anything about. This was a hard read and very graphic and gory, as it should have been due to the subject matter. I will recommend this to any true crime fans

This is the true story of a serial killer, Tony Costa, and his murder spree on Cape Cod. I really struggled with this book. I was surprisingly bored by it. I also never understood the parts about Norman Mailer and Kurt Vonnegut, I think they detracted from the overall storyline. In general, I love true crime but this one didn’t hit the mark for me.

This was a DNF for me around 50% through unfortunately.

Helltown is a true crime book about the serial killer Antone "Tony" Costa in Cape Cod in the late 1960s. I was intrigued because I had never heard of him before and love listening to true crime podcasts so I thought why not get into reading about true crime as well. Unfortunately, this one was lacking for me.

The inclusion of dialogue had me slightly confused. I couldn't stop thinking - how would the know what was being said or what the victims were thinking. It made the story read more like a thriller except it wasn't fiction.

I found myself getting confused by the other storylines with Kurt Vonnegut Jr. and Norman Mailer. They seemed totally out of left field and had no tie to Costa's story (except for I guess to set the stage for the political climate at the time). It just felt random.

I love all things true crime! I do understand what the author was doing with adding dialogue, but I’m not sure it worked in this case. I wasn’t a fan of this author’s writing style, but that’s not to say others won’t enjoy it. I learned a lot about this serial killer and you can tell research was done. Thank you for the arc!