Child of Satan, Child of God: Her Own Story, Susan Atkins

Several months ago I bought and read this book from Amazon, and I love this book. I was 14 in August 1969 when my mom and I were downstairs in our house watching the news when mom told me Sharon Tate was murdered and many years ago I found out Susan Atkins wrote a book called Child Of Satan, Child Of God in 1977. Fifty years later I saw on Amazon that the book is still available and I had thought it was no longer available and out of print. If you order and read this book, be sure to order updated version that has nine pages of Atkins photos that were not in original 1977 book. I love this book however it is very sad and depressing. Susan was an attractive young woman yet had a horrible upbringing with both her parents alcoholics, her mom died of cancer when she was 15 or 16, and I lost my brother Jim at age 60 in 2017 from a rare cancer. She was also sexually abused by a relative and got involved in drugs, sex, and crime as a teen and met that maniac and psychopath Charles Manson that ruined her life. If she hadn't gotten involved with Manson and his family, I don't think she would have killed anybody. The book is great and talks about most of her life until 1977 and I'm glad she found God and became a Christian and God has watched over me my whole life. Hopefully she went to heaven when she died.When I used to live in L.A. area 1987 to 2003 I saw the Tate house in 1991 before it was torn down in 1994 and also visited former Spahn Ranch location near Chatsworth, read several books and saw many movies about Manson family. Recently there is a Lifetime movie called Manson's Lost Girls that is excellent and Eden Brolin plays Susan in this movie. Sadly Susan Atkins died in prison of brain cancer in 2009 and I saw tv coverage of this. If prison officials in 1967 would have let Manson stay in prison rather than be released, Manson did not want to leave prison, none of these horrible murders would have happened and Atkins life would have been much different and she probably would not have been in prison for 40 years. This book almost made me cry. I strongly recommend it.

I will give this book three stars based on her writing about her early days in "The Family," but she really came across as untruthful. Simply put, I think Susan Atkins lied a lot. She had the sudden conversion to prison Christianity and that was all well & good, but she over did it a bit. Also, I suspect her "born again" status coincided quite well with her first parole hearing, which was in the 70s. I have always been of the opinion that Susan Atkins was the most troubled of "Charlie's girls" and simply had a personality disorder that wouldn't allow her to tell the absolute truth. She was arrogant, smug and thought she was the cat's pajamas. I am sure when this book came out, it outraged family members of her victims. She tried to justify her behavior and blame Manson for her troubles. I have always been convinced that Susan knew a lot more than she was telling. You don't go from being just a fast, wild girl to suddenly being a spree murderer overnight. The same goes for all of them. A lot of people forget that Gary Hinman was stabbed in front of her, and then she, and Mary Brunner took turns trying to get him to die quicker by smothering him with a pillow. Susan saw Gary Hinman stabbed & suffocate on his own blood, which was in his lungs, then a few weeks later, she saw Jay Sebring be shot & stabbed, then she actually stabbed Woytek Frykowski in the legs, then watched him be butchered to death by Tex, then she saw Tex stab Abigail Folger in the gut so hard, her intestines started falling out, then she HELD DOWN a begging, pregnant woman while she was carved up & stabbed to death. She also saw Steven Parent shot at point blank range. She described later on how she heard gurgling sounds coming from Gary Hinman, then she used the same description to describe hearing gurgling coming from Sharon Tate. How repulsive is that? Child of Satan, absolutely....

I sincerely hope Miss Atkins is the changed person she claims to be in this book, but frankly, I find it almost impossible to believe anything she says. She has told so many lies over the years about the Tate-LaBianca case, I think it's quite possible that even she doesn't know the truth anymore.Like the rest of the convicted killers involved in the Tate-LaBianca murders, she cops out by saying she had been brainwashed by Manson and had little control over her actions. I believe Manson knew who had the ability to kill and who didn't, and chose the people who went out to kill seven innocent people very carefully. Although Manson had the ability to capitalize on their weaknesses, the end result was these heartless people CHOSE to do his bidding. They could have gone back and told Charlie no one was home or simply refused his request in the first place.I simply can't conjure up any sympathy for anyone who is capable of comitting such a heartless act and the thought of someone like that being free to walk among us again is terrifying. Atkins claims she has found god and tells us he has forgiven her. I believe god can forgive anyone for anything if that person is truly remorseful for his or her sins, and if he has forgiven her, then her afterlife is assured. However, she is being held in prison because she comitted a crime against society, and society says she will rot in a jail cell for her unspeakable crimes. It's incredibly obscene for someone like Miss Atkins to place such a high value on her own life, when she had no hesitation whatsoever about taking the life of an eight and half month pregnant woman who pleaded in vain for her life and that of her unborn child.Seven innocent people are in their graves and they will never get a second chance. The killers deserve the same fate.

Easy read, but I think if Susan Atkinson were truly sorry for what she had done, she would have never sought parole. She ended up dying where she belonged.

An interesting read - slightly different perspective on the Manson Family. Revealing and honest expose of her life. She seems to have been one of those individuals who need to follow someone. Sad that Manson in her youth was the one.

So interesting

I watched a tv programme featuring another family member and I looked to see if there were any new books out there. This was one but it did not do it for me I just get amazed at how many have regurgitated well known details but not added any really different insights into how this came about

Had low expectations of this book - only bought it out of curiosity about the infamous girl who actually entered the Tate residence and took part in the murder of Roman Polanski's wife (Manson being no place near). Apart from the religious B/S at the end the book was better written than I thought it would be - at least it wasn't boring - if your interested in the Manson Family - of interest.

Enjoyed this book by the late Susan Atkins who I believe in my heart had genuinely turned away from the dark side . Glad she found peace in the end despite the immense amount of pain she was party to creating with the others against the victims . I would say it's a must read for those interested in the case