Cold Kill: The True Story of a Murderous Love

I believe the late Jack Olsen to be among the greatest true crime writers ever and that this book confirms that belief. COLD KILL is the story of David West and Cindy Ray and their dysfunctional and ultimately deadly relationship. David, a lonely, insecure, needy, and basically inadequate young man, predictably is unsuccessful in relationships. His insecurity manifests itself in a passion for guns and an unconvincing macho façade. He is only comfortable with women to whom he considers himself intellectually superior and in whom he sees flaws that he can teach them, Pygmalion style, to correct. David also drinks heavily and smokes a lot of weed. Enter Cindy Ray, a lazy overweight slob who is severely mentally ill. She will not or cannot - likely a combination of both - work. She lives like a pig refusing to do even the most minimal cleaning. She has never learned to drive. She will not even bathe, preferring - unsuccessfully - to attempt to mask her odor with perfume. She too drinks heavily and smokes a lot of weed. So of course David falls in love with her and begins to mentor Cindy with results that the self-deluding David finds encouraging. Meanwhile Cindy does not really even seem to like David, but she does have one major talent. She is a crafty and relentless manipulator, although her insanity is so obvious that it would only be successful with a naïve fool like David. Cindy is an unbelievably and hatefully selfish person who for reasons that are unclear - probably an inheritance as well as just malicious evil - decides she wants her parents dead and plants a seed which germinates in David's mind. Her main means of persuasion is to convince David that her father forced her into an intimate relationship beginning at age 9 and that one of her children - or sometimes both when she forgets her story - are her father's. Her manipulative piece-de-resistance is moaning "Daddy, Daddy" while they are making love. She finally gets David to convince himself that justice for Cindy demands that the Campbells (Cindy's parents) die. The story continues from there. Jack Olsen states that the dialog in COLD KILL, a book relying heavily on dialog, is not fabricated and is the result of many hours of interviews. I believe him. Other than the "voice" he gives to the Campbells' Hispanic maid, which to me felt awkward and was ultimately unsuccessful, the dialog contains no false notes. It is basically perfect. There is absolutely no filler, no repetition, no copying of transcripts. Olsen's narrative barrels though the book like a runaway freight train, creating an excitement and a tension that does not let up. I predict fans of the genre will love COLD KILL and that those who are not already familiar with Olsen will, after reading this book, agree with my assessment of his talent. (As a side note, I would like to address a statement made in the only other review, by "Avid Reader", of COLD KILL. "Avid" states that Cindy Ray was a victim of incest. There is

It is tragic that this book by Jack Olsen never received the acclaim that others of his have. Perhaps it is due to the lack of a trial but the stories are riveting. Yes, I said stories (not story) because COLD KILL is as much about the aftermath as it was the crime itself. David West had an affinity for guns, women and fun. Cindy Ray was attracted to money, David and the world of glamour. She was the victim of incest, in effect, giving birth to her father's son and grandson. David and Cindy wanted money and the fastest way was through inheritance. The only problem was that her parents were still alive. One night they were murdered execution style. Long story short: Cindy rises in the modeling world and drops David. Cindy started grabbing for all the money as things settled down with the police unsure how to procede. Along comes Kim, a shapely PI who went after David (using her feminine wiles) for a confession. The last third of the book is compelling reading although I'm not sure how many of the thoughts of the participants are surmised or reported. Kim begins to feel something for the guy (oh Lord) despite thinking he murdered two people in cold blood...COLD KILL. At last, one night he confesses everything and surprise, Cindy was also involved. David maintains that it was a moral act, an execution, not murder. At the end, David avoided execution by confessing and implicating his former lover. He and Cindy were sentenced to life imprisonment proving, once again, that crime does not pay.