Tom O’Neill

Dan Piepenbring

O’Neill's investigations started twenty years ago…and they have continued ever since … His research monomaniacally took over his life … [Full of] scandalous findings … As it develops, O'Neill's tale embroils an increasingly stellar cast of accomplices or enablers … No unified field theory of malfeasance would be complete without a link to the JFK assassination and the ensuing cover-up. O’Neill supplies one, and to me it seems only too plausible. Inevitably there are contemporary resonances … O’Neill's intricately sinister ‘secret history’ often sounds incredible; that doesn't mean that it's not all true.

Chaos explodes a bomb under Manson’s Helter Skelter race war … Tantalizing … Founded on prodigious research, it convincingly impugns key tenets of Bugliosi’s [Helter Skelter] narrative and exhumes a trove of provocative data … Explosive revelations … O’Neill’s 20-year investigation reads like a thriller with overtones of Philip Marlowe.

A kaleidoscope swirl of weird discoveries and mind-bending hypotheticals that reads like Raymond Chandler.

A 20-year quest for the truth may have not found any definitive answers — but it definitely changes the story … Chaos offers a slew of newly reported information that proves one thing: There’s more to it than we thought.

Whatever you think you know about the Manson murders is wrong. Just flat out wrong. Tom O’Neill’s twenty years of meticulous research has unearthed revelations about the murders, the murderers, the prosecutors who tried them and a rogues gallery of cops, drug dealers, bent doctors, famous celebrities, grotesque government research, secret agents and shadowy figures in a conspiracy/cover up so sweeping and bizarre, you’ll be as astounded as you are terrified. If your friends call you paranoid, maybe they’re just ignorant.

O’Neill is no conspiracy theorist. He’s meticulously grounded and fair minded…it’s a credible insight into the underground sixties and the authorities reaction to it.

There’s no sign here of the insane logic that squares a paranoid circle, but instead plenty of legwork, phone calls, interviews, scrutiny of motives, weighing of hearsay, and a degree of finger-pointing…CHAOS diverts attention away from the mythologised – for good or ill – ‘Sixties’ to a deeper-rooted, more tenacious American pathology.

Like a good conspiracy theory? Then hit up this hardback.

A sprawling, fascinating document, a 500-page testament to his enthusiasm for following every lead.

In choosing to look at the evidence with fresh eyes he raises numerous questions ... He could have so easily given up, but we should be glad he didn't. However many Manson books you've read, you'll find something new and of interest here

The Truth Behind the Manson Murders

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER | NOW A NETFLIX DOCUMENTARY 
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A journalist's twenty-year obsession with the Manson murders leads to shocking new conspiracy theories about the FBI's involvement in this fascinating re-evaluation of one of the most infamous cases in American history. 
 
Twenty years ago, reporting for a routine magazine piece about the infamous Manson murders, journalist Tom O'Neill didn't expect to find anything new. But the discovery of horrifying new evidence kick-started an obsession and his life's work. What had he unearthed and what did it mean: why was there surveillance by intelligence agents? Why did the police make these particular mistakes and why did Tom's greatest ally in this fight turn into his biggest foe? 
 
Chaos is an explosive read that will shock, grip and change our understanding of a case that has haunted the world for over fifty years. 
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'Riveting ... Sensational revelations ... True crime fans will be enthralled.' PUBLISHERS WEEKLY 
 
'[Full of] scandalous findings ... to me it seems only too plausible. O'Neill's intricately sinister 'secret history' often sounds incredible; that doesn't mean that it's not all true.' OBSERVER 
 
'Tantalizing ... Founded on prodigious research ... O'Neill's 20-year investigation reads like a thriller.' LOS ANGELES TIMES

Tom O’Neill

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