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Hell's Half-Acre: A Novel
Welcome to the bloody end of bleeding Kansas… Based on true events, this unforgettable novel tells the story of the Bloody Benders, a family of grifters and thieves running an isolated feed store on the Kansas plains, boarding travelers along the Great Osage Trail. Beautiful Kate Bender was mysterious and well-versed in the dark arts; Ma and Pa were quiet and foreboding, speaking in guttural tones; and young John Bender was thought to be insane. On land soaked with the blood of conflict, the Benders made their home. And one by one, prairie travelers began to disappear… Rooted in history, this is a vivid tale of the Benders’ origins, and how they became some of the most horrific figures in early post-Civil War America. This gruesome Western thriller is perfect for lovers of Sweeney Todd , and fans of John Harwood and Sarah Raynes.
368 pages, Paperback
First published October 13, 2015
13 people are currently reading
129 people want to read
About the author
Nicholas Nicastro
18 books35 followersNicholas Nicastro was born in Astoria, New York in 1963. His education includes a B.A. in English from Cornell University (1985), an M.F.A. in filmmaking from New York University (1991), an M.A. in archaeology and a Ph.D in psychology from Cornell (1996 and 2003). He has also worked as a film critic, a hospital orderly, a newspaper reporter, a library archivist, a college lecturer in anthropology and psychology, an animal behaviorist, and an advertising salesman. His writings include short fiction, travel and science articles in such publications as "The New York Times", "The New York Observer", "Film Comment", and "The International Herald Tribune". His books have been published by Penguin, St. Martin's, and HarperCollins.
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
November 6, 2017
A simultaneously glorious and grisly visit to the ideological battleground of Kansas territory in the late 1800's, a backdrop writ large behind the particular story of the Bloody Benders, a family group who make a business of murdering travelers on the Osage trail.
The Benders' violent story (unknown elements imagined), the specifics (historically accurate), and the descriptions are disturbing and haunting, and the exceptionally well-researched matrix it is drawn upon is vivid and, dare I say it, educational. It faithfully recreates both the exceptionally harsh reality and the feelings of possibility that must have characterized white westward expansion, as well as resurrects the beauty of the vast unsettled plains.
The Benders' violent story (unknown elements imagined), the specifics (historically accurate), and the descriptions are disturbing and haunting, and the exceptionally well-researched matrix it is drawn upon is vivid and, dare I say it, educational. It faithfully recreates both the exceptionally harsh reality and the feelings of possibility that must have characterized white westward expansion, as well as resurrects the beauty of the vast unsettled plains.
October 28, 2024
This was a novelization based on the true story of the notorious Bender Family. The "Bloody Benders" were a family of serial killers in Labette County, Kansas, that killed at least a dozen travelers during 1871-1872. They ran an isolated "grocery" on the Osage Trail away from any neighbors who could witness their atrocities. The novel focuses on Kate Bender who was beautiful and deadly and who practiced the black arts including the reading of tarot cards. The mother and father spoke German and were quiet and foreboding until a traveler happened upon their inn for a meal or lodging--then the traveler was met by a hammer to the head. The Benders did their killing to acquire the possessions of the murdered and were able to amass a large sum before they left the scene of their crimes. The fate of the Benders is unknown but the author uses some artistic license to envision what happened after they disappeared and provides a somewhat surprising ending.
This all took place shortly after the Civil War but the book also provides some interesting history of "Bloody Kansas" before and after the war. This included information about Quantrill's Raiders who were known as "bushwhackers" and their pro-slavery atrocities after the war. Then there were the "jayhawkers" who were abolitionists opposed to the bushwhackers. Overall, I thought the writing in this novel provided some great descriptions of life on the prairie during that timeframe. It also provided some history that I only remember vaguely from high school history classes. I enjoyed this and would recommend it to anyone not easily squeamish.
This all took place shortly after the Civil War but the book also provides some interesting history of "Bloody Kansas" before and after the war. This included information about Quantrill's Raiders who were known as "bushwhackers" and their pro-slavery atrocities after the war. Then there were the "jayhawkers" who were abolitionists opposed to the bushwhackers. Overall, I thought the writing in this novel provided some great descriptions of life on the prairie during that timeframe. It also provided some history that I only remember vaguely from high school history classes. I enjoyed this and would recommend it to anyone not easily squeamish.
December 22, 2015
Riveting, a real page turner. Fiction base on actual events with Kansas history blended into the story line.
December 20, 2017
I was kind of ashamed of myself when I realized that I had never heard of the Bloody Benders, a family of con artists and murderers that would lure travelers on the Osage Trail into their store/inn, only to kill them. I first heard of them on the MY FAVORITE MURDER podcast, and the moment that episode was done I went looking for books on them. I didn't find much, but I did find HELL'S HALF-ACRE by Nicholas Nocastro. Feeling it was better than nothing, I requested it.
In the 1870s in Kansas the Bender 'family' is running an inn on the Osage Trail. As travelers come in, lured in by shelter and respite, they are murdered and disposed of. Kate, the 'daughter' of the family, dabbles in spirtualism and mysticism, and holds onto the hope that her father, who left her when she was young only to be picked up by 'Ma', will find her and take her away. But when the family catches the attention of a powerful man whose brother has gone missing, their scheming and killing may be at an end.
Well given that this book does stick to the basic timeline of the Bloody Benders, the bare boned plot points didn't come as much of a surprise to me. The murders and the aftermath (including the fact the Benders escaped and were never found) play out fairly realistically. But the interesting stuff in this book was less about the crimes and more about Kate and her own motivations. While little is known about the real life Kate, Nicastro makes her a little more nuanced, and blurs the line between willing participant and partial victim herself. She has found herself loyal to 'Ma', but mostly because of a mixture of Stockholm Syndrome and the fear of what could happen to her if she were to run. I liked seeing her inner turmoil and reluctance, though that reluctance rarely saved anyone. Part of me struggled with this framing, though, as there is no reason to think that the actual Kate Bender had the inner turmoil about killing people, and to claim otherwise to make the plot more interesting might be a bit disrespectful to the people they killed. But, that said, I did find that angle to be the most interesting one in the book, so I guess I'm just another Kate with conflicting thoughts. The rest of the novel was fine, though it never quite wowed me in ways that I was hoping it would.
HELL'S HALF ACRE was a solid narrative about the Bloody Benders, even if it wasn't necessarily a realistic one. I'm still hoping that I'll find a well researched and interesting book about hte actual Bloody Benders, but until then I will take what I can get.
In the 1870s in Kansas the Bender 'family' is running an inn on the Osage Trail. As travelers come in, lured in by shelter and respite, they are murdered and disposed of. Kate, the 'daughter' of the family, dabbles in spirtualism and mysticism, and holds onto the hope that her father, who left her when she was young only to be picked up by 'Ma', will find her and take her away. But when the family catches the attention of a powerful man whose brother has gone missing, their scheming and killing may be at an end.
Well given that this book does stick to the basic timeline of the Bloody Benders, the bare boned plot points didn't come as much of a surprise to me. The murders and the aftermath (including the fact the Benders escaped and were never found) play out fairly realistically. But the interesting stuff in this book was less about the crimes and more about Kate and her own motivations. While little is known about the real life Kate, Nicastro makes her a little more nuanced, and blurs the line between willing participant and partial victim herself. She has found herself loyal to 'Ma', but mostly because of a mixture of Stockholm Syndrome and the fear of what could happen to her if she were to run. I liked seeing her inner turmoil and reluctance, though that reluctance rarely saved anyone. Part of me struggled with this framing, though, as there is no reason to think that the actual Kate Bender had the inner turmoil about killing people, and to claim otherwise to make the plot more interesting might be a bit disrespectful to the people they killed. But, that said, I did find that angle to be the most interesting one in the book, so I guess I'm just another Kate with conflicting thoughts. The rest of the novel was fine, though it never quite wowed me in ways that I was hoping it would.
HELL'S HALF ACRE was a solid narrative about the Bloody Benders, even if it wasn't necessarily a realistic one. I'm still hoping that I'll find a well researched and interesting book about hte actual Bloody Benders, but until then I will take what I can get.
December 9, 2015
The Midwest’s most creative serial killers are not as well known as their modern counterparts, although they deserve to be. The Bloody Benders made their entrance in 1870 and, unlike your standard lone serial killer, were a family effort with division of responsibility and a sense of teamwork: Young Kate to lure the lonely traveler in to dinner, John Jr. to tend to horses, Ma to cook, and Pa to finish them off with a hammer. Hell’s Half-Acre sifts through the dirt where the bodies were buried a century and a half ago to flesh out a clan that was as good at hiding their real intentions as they were projecting the image of a wholesome Midwestern farm family.
Told in remarkable fictionalized form, this chilling tale is made more disturbing by the fact that the Benders were as real as a hammer to the head. Stephen King couldn’t come up with a story as unnerving as Hell’s Half-acre.
Told in remarkable fictionalized form, this chilling tale is made more disturbing by the fact that the Benders were as real as a hammer to the head. Stephen King couldn’t come up with a story as unnerving as Hell’s Half-acre.
September 21, 2018
Grotesque and fascinating account of the Bender family of 1870's Kansas. The story is a fictionalized version of real events, sticking to what is known and improvising as needed. I liked the writing a great deal, the descriptions and analogies are fresh but never awkward, I was delighted to read such writing. I also enjoyed learning Kansas history I hadn't known. Excellent book. Recommended for those who don't mind the subject.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 30, 2017
This is a fictionalized version of the true story of the Bender's a family of thieves, grifters, and murders in Kansas in the 1800's. This book is gritty, gory, historical and a very interesting read. It is like no other book I have ever read. Quite an original story, although very bloody at times. It portrays the settlers of the Kansas territory and their lives in what seems a very real way. I was intrigued by the Benders , especially Kate and could not wait to see what happens to all of them. Would recommend this book with caution as it is the story of a group of murderers and as such has some very gory parts to the book.
January 1, 2016
Enjoyed this book very much. To my delight the ending was a complete surprise.
January 1, 2016
Read it again on my Kindle reader, even better the second time.
March 24, 2018
Review originally published at: http://www.lomeraniel.com/audiobookre...
This is the story of the Bloody Benders, a family of serial killers who lived in Kansas between 1971 and 1973. I confess that I didn’t know about their existence before listening to this book, and I am surprised that they did not become more famous. They ran a small store and hosted guests that passed through, killing them and burying them around their property.
Novelization of historical events implies several things: Historical accuracy, attention to details, enrichment of the language, character development, and enough imagination for filling the gaps. Nicastro has excelled in the first three aspects. He has taken the official version of the events and has written a story full of details, using a beautiful and elaborate language. But a novel requires a bit more than that. I really missed some more character development, especially regarding Kate, the supposed daughter of the family and the main character that we follow from beginning to end. The Bender’s motivations to kill the travelers are not clear or specified; it could have been pure greed, the joy for killing, or a mix of both. I would have just liked for Nicastro to explore this further. And this is the ‘filling the gaps’ that I have mentioned before. Without character development and completing the story to form a novel, this could have just been a biography. I missed more fluid dialogs and seeing into the characters’ psyches. We guess Kate had some issues with these kills, but just because she tries to seek a different way of income. I think exploring her thoughts and intentions would have made this book so much more interesting. I wanted to connect to Kate but I was not able to.
Aven Shore’s narration was mostly correct but a bit monotone. There were interference noises at several points in the audiobook , and some words were mispronounced (‘whore’ sounded like ‘wore’ the first two times it appear in the book, and instead of ‘breast pocket’, Shore said ‘best pocket’). There was music at two points in the audiobook that did not seem necessary. I’m just not a fan of music nor fx in audiobooks.
Despite the minor setbacks, this was an entertaining book that I would recommend to anyone into western stories and with curiosity about historical events.
I received a copy of this book in audio format from the author in exchange for an honest review.
This is the story of the Bloody Benders, a family of serial killers who lived in Kansas between 1971 and 1973. I confess that I didn’t know about their existence before listening to this book, and I am surprised that they did not become more famous. They ran a small store and hosted guests that passed through, killing them and burying them around their property.
Novelization of historical events implies several things: Historical accuracy, attention to details, enrichment of the language, character development, and enough imagination for filling the gaps. Nicastro has excelled in the first three aspects. He has taken the official version of the events and has written a story full of details, using a beautiful and elaborate language. But a novel requires a bit more than that. I really missed some more character development, especially regarding Kate, the supposed daughter of the family and the main character that we follow from beginning to end. The Bender’s motivations to kill the travelers are not clear or specified; it could have been pure greed, the joy for killing, or a mix of both. I would have just liked for Nicastro to explore this further. And this is the ‘filling the gaps’ that I have mentioned before. Without character development and completing the story to form a novel, this could have just been a biography. I missed more fluid dialogs and seeing into the characters’ psyches. We guess Kate had some issues with these kills, but just because she tries to seek a different way of income. I think exploring her thoughts and intentions would have made this book so much more interesting. I wanted to connect to Kate but I was not able to.
Aven Shore’s narration was mostly correct but a bit monotone. There were interference noises at several points in the audiobook , and some words were mispronounced (‘whore’ sounded like ‘wore’ the first two times it appear in the book, and instead of ‘breast pocket’, Shore said ‘best pocket’). There was music at two points in the audiobook that did not seem necessary. I’m just not a fan of music nor fx in audiobooks.
Despite the minor setbacks, this was an entertaining book that I would recommend to anyone into western stories and with curiosity about historical events.
I received a copy of this book in audio format from the author in exchange for an honest review.
August 31, 2019
I listened to this book on Audible. I could not put it down! It was so good, and the narrator was incredible to listen to! This story is so well written! It could easily make the NY Times best seller list if only more people knew about it. It's been a long time since I couldn't put down a book!! I don't want to give anything away, but I will say that the end totally surprised me. I am listening to a second book by Nicholas Nicastro, entitled Ella Maud right now. It is also narrated by Aven Shore, and I am enjoying it thoroughly!
March 30, 2023
A good narrative for a sorry bunch of humans.
I live in Kansas, the story took place just a little ways down the road from where I live and I have been to some of the places mentioned on the novel....only I had no idea the Benders had ties to them. There's not a whole lot known about the family and I think the author did a good job giving life to the characters.
I wish there had been justice for the families whose loved ones were so brutally murdered.
I live in Kansas, the story took place just a little ways down the road from where I live and I have been to some of the places mentioned on the novel....only I had no idea the Benders had ties to them. There's not a whole lot known about the family and I think the author did a good job giving life to the characters.
I wish there had been justice for the families whose loved ones were so brutally murdered.
May 9, 2021
audible:I loved this book!A young girl is traded in a card game and becomes part of a family of murderers.Based on a true story.Aven Shore was a terrific narrator.I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.'
July 20, 2017
It was so bad I quit reading it a third of the way through. I know many others raves about it but it's just not my kind of book.
February 18, 2024
This book had very much potential to be a real page turner. I have to say it never quite got to that Wow factor this story had.
November 14, 2015
This is a tough review for me. The last 20% of the book was quite good - the characters suddenly got real. I love historical fiction based on true crime stories. But I'm not sure what happened here, it's like the author forgot that in writing fiction based on true crime, you have the opportunity to get creative and really fill in the gaps history has failed to fill. It felt like the writer felt the need to just stick to the facts known from history, and consequently the characters are so flat for a large majority of the book. The author missed so many opportunities to develop the characters early on in the story, especially by not taking advantage of opportunities for dialogue between the characters to flesh out their relationships instead of just telling about their actions. You learn that Kate and Almira have a long-standing relationship that began when Kate was very young, and Kate often thinks about how one day she'll leave Almira behind, but you never get a solid feel for their true feelings about each other - why did Kate really stick around this long, and why does Almira really not want Kate to leave?
I found it hard to understand anyone's motives in this story. It typically takes some serious junk in your history to turn you into a serial killer. We got a little of Kate's history, but not enough to understand how she arrived at being ok with murder. Eventually the author alludes to the fact that Kate just felt that these people they killed were all the same kind of no-good heartless men, but never gets you around to why she assumed they were all the same. You also never get any reason as to how Kate came to be ok with living with this nasty bunch of people, when she herself clearly aspires to a higher standard of living. I just wanted Kate to have more of a personality. I wanted to hear her complain about the conditions or always be the one wanting to keep the place cleaner, or wanting frivolous beauty items. But it's only there by a thread, and not through any dialogue. Having a historical basis and the option to take a fictional license with it, there's just such wide-open opportunity to make it more, to make the characters real, and to choose whether to make a reader sympathize with Kate, or fear her. I never did find any reason for understanding how the rest of the Benders arrived at being murderers. It seems that if you've got enough people to run a con, unless you are all seriously sick people, it would be more profitable and less dangerous to run a regular scam to cheat people out of money. But you don't get any indication that they are really twisted or that they are really smart but scary. I absolutely love con-man stories - the ones where the bad guys can charm their way out of anything, or where they're so clever and crazy it's scary, or especially the ones where you cheer for the bad guys even though you know they're bad - the ones where the characters make you care about what happens to them. I just didn't get that here.
I found it hard to understand anyone's motives in this story. It typically takes some serious junk in your history to turn you into a serial killer. We got a little of Kate's history, but not enough to understand how she arrived at being ok with murder. Eventually the author alludes to the fact that Kate just felt that these people they killed were all the same kind of no-good heartless men, but never gets you around to why she assumed they were all the same. You also never get any reason as to how Kate came to be ok with living with this nasty bunch of people, when she herself clearly aspires to a higher standard of living. I just wanted Kate to have more of a personality. I wanted to hear her complain about the conditions or always be the one wanting to keep the place cleaner, or wanting frivolous beauty items. But it's only there by a thread, and not through any dialogue. Having a historical basis and the option to take a fictional license with it, there's just such wide-open opportunity to make it more, to make the characters real, and to choose whether to make a reader sympathize with Kate, or fear her. I never did find any reason for understanding how the rest of the Benders arrived at being murderers. It seems that if you've got enough people to run a con, unless you are all seriously sick people, it would be more profitable and less dangerous to run a regular scam to cheat people out of money. But you don't get any indication that they are really twisted or that they are really smart but scary. I absolutely love con-man stories - the ones where the bad guys can charm their way out of anything, or where they're so clever and crazy it's scary, or especially the ones where you cheer for the bad guys even though you know they're bad - the ones where the characters make you care about what happens to them. I just didn't get that here.
November 29, 2015
Sorry but this was a DNF for me. I think the combination of an unsavory topic with less than lyric prose (at least for me) made it a disappointment. Thanks, though, to Edelweiss for the Arc. I believe others will like it.
abandoned
October 19, 2017I couldn't get through more than 30 pages of this book. I'm sure it's great, but I don't have a lot of patience for this kind of flowery language that requires every sentence to be deciphered in order to make sense of the story.
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