Charles Manson: Coming Down Fast - A Chilling Biography [Paperback]

With the 40th anniversary of the Tate/La Biance murders coming up in August there was always a good chance that some new Charles Manson books would start appearing on the shelves. Fortunately this one is far from a quick cash-in and is an extremely detailed, intricate and sober account of the rise and demise of The Family. With the hyperbole toned down Simon Wells has succeded in making the case possibly even more shocking, especially the ease with which Manson moved throughout Hollywood from '67 to '69. What's particualrly good here is that individual members of The Family all get to tell their stories, often long after Manson and the murderers were imprisoned. Even for those familiar with the stories of Squeaky, Sandra and some of Manson's more vocal supporters, there will be something new here in terms of less famous members of the group. Some of the tapes and interview footage that Wells has uncovered is also fascinating and helps to put new meanings onto Manson's own turgid philosophy. The only potential downside is that possibly too much is read into Joel Pugh's death in the UK - no doubt it was suspicious and in Bruce Davis there's a potentially powerful Family suspect but equally it can be read very much as a suicide. But this is a minor point and certainly doesn't detract from the book, and at least Wells develops themes from the original classic, Helter Skelter. Overall, then, you've got to take your hat off to the author for bringing a fresh insight, and a fairly level headed approach (the book often reads like a sober version of Adam Gorightly's conspiracy-packed Shadow Over Santa Susanna, itself getting a 40th anniversary reprint this Summer), to the well-trodden sensationalism of this most infamous case.

I suspect this book was rushed out by the publisher before it was finally proofed in order to meet the 40th Anniversary deadline & if I were the author I'd feel miffed.

Firstly, let me say it is, on the whole, an excellent & objective look at a series of incidents that have become fraught with media enhanced myth, embellishment and sensationalism, often leading to a clouding of facts. This book appears well researched, the crimes being put into cultural and political context in an accessible and highly readable manner. The author evidently knows his stuff. I can't recommend it enough for anyone interested in the breakdown of the 1960's and American society at the end of that decade.

However, the book is chock full of what appear to be ridiculous typos and mis-spellings leading to some bizarre errors (just for example: 10050 Cielo Drive where the Tate murders took place becomes 10055 a sentence later; or the Neil Young song 'Revolution Blues' is quoted as being written since 2000 when it was in fact written in the early 70's as a direct response to the horrific events, and Young's own 'meeting' with the Family in the late 60s). The list of typos is endless. But most annoyingly the book begins with a series of numbered notes in the text referring to sources, quotes etc but these notes appear nowhere in the book and in fact the numbers then peter out half way through. A book like this needs the direct sources (as well as the references, bibliography given) otherwise how are we to believe evidence? Especially as the latter section of the book refers to crimes the Family may have commited beyond those they were convicted for. The publisher needs to hire a better proof-reader! It just seems shoddy.

If you can get over the occassional confusion due to these errors, it is a good book for anyone interested in what remains a disturbing episode in US history and the sad, final marker post for what had once been optimistic times.

Having read an embarassingly large number of books on the Manson Family & its crimes, I bought Coming Down Fast because I hoped it would be full of up-to-date details about all those involved with Manson, and consequently rich in telling insights and interpretations. I have to say that, bar the last twenty pages, I was pretty much wholly disappointed: the story was far, far better told in Bugliosi's book, Helter Skelter. Simon Wells does interpolate material into his telling from interviews with, & autobiographies of, Susan Atkins, Tex Watson etc, but in a fairly perfunctory & undigested way, with little in the way of what I particularly wanted - direct, unfiltered quotation.

Wells is certainly dispassionate & pretty much neutral in his approach to the Family and their crimes, but I would say that's less a moral stand than the indifference of someone commissioned to produce a book on an assigned subject in a hurry. I just didn't feel that the author had any feel for the topic; nor did he have any insights to offer - absolutely none at all. The narrative isn't especially well-shaped, & I felt that a reader who hadn't read Helter Skelter would be left puzzled by the transitions that took place in Charlie & his followers that led up to the murders: he doesn't really catch the full build-up of the madness.

The writing is not good. Others have mentioned typos and factual errors, but Wells' style is dreadful. He misuses semi-colons & even commas, & the page is clogged with redundant adjectives, cliches & clunky phrasing. The word 'nestles' is used to describe any place in proximity to anywhere else (Spahn Ranch, Barker Ranch & 10050 Cielo Drive all 'nestle'). Randomly: on p228 Jay Sebring is 'the epitome of Hollywood cool' who 'still held a torch' for Sharon Tate, having been struck by her 'awesome' beauty. Cliche alert! Apparently he had a 'radical' approach to cutting hair. What does that unexplained (& I'm sure un-understood) statement actually mean to any reader? Absolutely nothing. Sebring wanted Abigail Folger (p229) to 'invest in business plans to expand his hairdressing skills.' Well, no: he didn't want to expand his skills: he wanted to expand his business. And on & on & on. The piling-up of cliches and inaccurate wording oddly obscures the subject. On page 246 Susan Atkins is quoted as saying, 'To taste death & yet give life, wow, what a trick.' Of course it should be 'wow, what a trip' - a much apter phrasing - but you have to know it already to know this book has it wrong. On page 257 the coroner is described as having 'ministered to' the body of Marilyn Monroe. As opposed to, you know, performing her autopsy. On p326 we hear of Tom Jones' 'sexual physique', whatever that may be exactly. On p400/401 Wells mentions how, 'curiosity getting the better of him', Dennis Hopper went to meet Manson in jail to discuss a film project. Apparently they had 'spirited discussion'. End of statement. It's literally the reverse of an insight, the reverse of journalism. At one point I looked at the spine of the book, wondering if it was self-published (like the thoroughly entertaining conspiracy-packed Shadow Over Santa Susannah, which is well worth a read). But no: it's from Hodder-Stoughton.

Wells makes much (too much, I think) of the death of Joel Pugh in London. In the acknowledgements he thanks Joel's relatives for giving him extra information about their 'much-loved' brother & hopes that he has presented a 'more complete picture of your remarkable brother.' Since this extra detail is mostly a catalogue of Joel Pugh's slump into mental illness & catatonic depression (thereby inadvertantly bolstering the notion that he committed suicide, rather than, as Wells contends, being murdered by - probably - Bruce Davis) I don't know how delighted they'll be.

The handling of the trial - which was of course the core of Bugliosi's book - is disappointing, though given the book is 436 pages, something had to be drastically cut down on. Oddly, satanist, murderer & Aryan Brotherhood aparatchick Bobby Beausoleil is rather gently handled: 'Damned by his assocation with the Family,' Wells says - rather than because of being convicted of murder! Wells never really plots the relationship between Beausoleil & Manson, which was certainly an odd & ambivalent one.

This book is full of information and interest, but I would say read Helter Skelter and then, if you wanted to know more, The Shadow Over Santa Susannah & Without Conscience: Manson In His Own Words. And then, if your curiosity had grown to morbid depths, the rather obscure Manson Behind The Scenes. The best autobiography by any family member is undoubtedly Paul Watkins' My Life With Charles Manson.