Helltown

May 2, 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.

December 1, 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

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