Customer Reviews

Silent Rage

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The book I chose to read for my report is titled Silent Rage by Michael Newton. It is about a man named Carroll Edward "Eddie" Cole. He was a well known serial killer in the 1960's through the mid 1980's. He committed his first murder when he was only ten years old. Throughout his life he continued to commit murders the majority of his victims women. He would meet them at a bar, find somewhere to take them once he gained their trust, then kill and in many cases rape his victim. He was different from most serial killers in many ways. Most times he would not leave the scene of the crime for two or three days. For example, in some cases he is said to have slept with the bodies of the victims after he had killed them. He was caught and his confession lead to his execution by the State of Nevada in 1985. I thought the book was quite interesting. Although I have studied and read about many of our "greatest serial killers", I would have to say Edward Carrol Cole was definitely in a class of his own. May God bless his victims.

In his true crime book SILENT RAGE, author Michael Newton presents Carroll Edward "Eddie" Cole, a serial sex killer and accomplished alcoholic out of Richmond, CA. It's unclear how long Cole was plying his avocation or how may women he killed, but both numbers are substantial and included two of his three wives. The book starts with a fascinating and detailed description of Cole's childhood and teenage years which were tortured, due in great part to his amazingly physically and emotionally abusive mother, as well as his lack of respect for his father who would not confront his wife about her flagrant infidelity. By the time Cole became an adult, his life, per the book, basically consisted of his getting drunk; picking up or being picked up by a woman at a low rent bar; going to her apartment; having sex or not; Cole's killing her or not; and on the occasions when he does, Cole having sex with the corpse - sometimes over a number of days - or not. Cole then would get arrested for DUI or drunk in public; serve short time in a local jail; get released no matter how many times he violated his parole; rest up in a psychiatric hospital; go to a low rent bar; pick up or get picked up by a woman; go to her apartment; have sex or not; and so on. While interesting as well as geographically diverse, this goes on for around 200 pages. Finally after years of this, for reasons that are unclear to me except that Cole recognized how sick he was, he confessed his life to the Dallas Police. The remainder of the book consists of trial and punishment segments, which are well done.

Newton has obtained a lot of documentation/verification of Cole's school records, hospitalizations; and never-ending encounters with the legal system, and this clearly entailed a lot of effort, but there is little to no verification of anything Cole says that does not involve authorities of one kind or another. What has apparently occurred here is that Cole wrote an autobiography, which Newton rewrote while documenting what he could while basically accepting most of what Cole said as fact. For example, it would seem vital that Newton obtain independent verification of Cole's description of his childhood and adolescence. Cole had living siblings who would have been obvious sources but who have not been interviewed. I realize that Newton may have attempted to conduct these interviews and been rebuffed, but whatever the case, the book suffers from the extent of its heavy reliance on Cole's own account of his life, which is, at least, not self-serving.

In my opinion, SILENT RAGE is not particularly well written. Newton is definitely a professional writer, but the book is written in an off-putting slangy style, which I feel trivializes Cole's victims, the basic subject of the book (the life, crimes, and making of a serial sex killer), and ultimately Cole and his quest to be understood. The writing generally has a sort of juvenile, smart-alecky feel.

There is also enough fictional narrative to be worthy of mention: "In bed they rut until exhaustion overtakes them, lying tangled in the sweaty sheets." "His lips are drawn back in a snarl, his victim frothing at the mouth her body jerking as she tries to take in nonexistent oxygen." Really? Newton clearly has invented these additions to a narrative that didn't need them and which is diminished by their inclusion.

I read a lot of true crime, and I feel that in the best written of them, the author presents his material factually and journalistically and does not allow his personality to intrude on the narrative. Newton does not come close to this standard. In fact he regularly comments upon events with his own little summary phrases. These invariably have in a smirky tone to them, add nothing, and again subtract from the intelligence of the work while placing Newton himself front and center. Some, of many, examples:

Referring to one of Cole's encounters, the narrative reads, "Everybody knew her as a rowdy, foul-mouthed drunk and whore." Newton: "His kind of woman"

Newton writes a paragraph detailing Cole's manipulation of the welfare system. He then comments, "Slick."

And, finally on page 333, he describes Nevada's execution procedures, and then comments, "Better dying through chemistry," followed by a description of what an executee actually goes through followed by Newton's own, "Flat line."

This is so irritating and so eighth grade that I feel it seriously decreases the over-all quality of the book.

But while I present the flaws as I see them, I also found the story of an abused boy who becomes a killer as well as the study of the phenomenon in general to be interesting and ultimately feel that SILENT RAGE is a worthwhile if flawed read. I would not recommend it, but at the same time there is far worse true crime out there.

Before reading SILENT RAGE, I had never heard of Carroll Edward "Eddie" Cole. His name does not often find its way into the annals of crimes involving high-profile serial killers. However, now that I have finished the book, I will never forget him.

Raised by a weak, ineffective father and an overbearing and abusive mother, it is little wonder that Eddie Cole grew to hate women... especially those women who reminded him of his troll of a mother. While her husband worked to support the family, Vesta Cole frequented seedy bars and flop houses during the daylight hours, entertaining herself and her various male lovers. Although the author stops short of labeling Vesta a prostitute, it is more likely than not that money was involved, at least some of the time. Even without the promise of money, it appears Vesta Cole was a chronic alcholic who enjoyed her affairs with other men.

For some strange reason, of all the children present in the household, Vesta singled Eddie out to accompany her on these trips. In fact, the author obtained school records indicating that Eddie Cole was kept out of school for an extra year and did not begin 1st grade until the age of 7. Why Vesta chose Eddie as a silent witness for her forbidden missions is unclear. However, what is clear is that she regularly threatened Eddie and physiclally abused him to protect her secrets. Often, Vesta beat Eddie for no reason at all and delighted in forcing her son to dress in girls' clothing as a bizarre punishment.

Socially awkward and inept, Eddie Cole was bullied and ostracized at school, with other chldren frequently reminding Eddie that his given name, Carroll, was a girl's name. Eddie committed his first murder at the age of 9 when he drowned another boy while swimming. The knowledge that he had committed a crime and had succeeded in escaping blame or punisment was exciting and gratifying for Eddie. However, the primarly reward was that Eddie felt powerful and "got rid" of a boy he perceived as an aggressive tormenter, thereby eliminating his problem. This experience became the foundation for Eddie's urges to kill. But, as Eddie grew into a man, his violent fantasies about women were aligned with this early experience of killing and ignited within him a murderous rage.

The author, Michael Newton, writes a terrifying story of a man driven by impulses he felt he could not control. That being said, SILENT RAGE is not without its problems. Fond of writing and using sentence fragments as if they are complete sentences, the author uses this style of writing throughout the length of the book. For example:

"Converted into panic as he rushes her and locks both hands around her throat, momentum dropping both of them into the litter and the dirt." (While this may not bother many readers, I found it distracting and annoying.)

I also found this book difficult to assign a rating. While the author conducted extensive research and provides a complete and horrifying portrait of a man without a conscience, the more I read, the more I felt disgusted and repulsed by Eddie Cole. Cole agreed to extensive interviews with the author, and most of the thoughts and feelings recorded by the author are undoubtedly Eddie's truth, twisted though it is. But, As Eddie Cole recounted again and again his thoughts about women and his justification for murdering them, I found myself ever more frustrated and disgusted by this diatribe.

Eddie Cole believed all women were alchollic whores who cheated on their boyfriends and spouses. Yet, every woman Eddie ever met and killed he met in a sleezy bar. Eddie was an alcoholic of massive proportions and regularly drank from 12:00 noon to 2:00 a.m., supporting his habit by defrauding welfare and walking away from numerous jobs each time he had enough money to buy him two weeks of unchecked drinking. And, while he perceived many of the women he met as slutty, cheating whores, Eddie thought nothing of banging them. Eddie never allowed the hatred and disgust he felt for the women he encountered to deter him from sex. In fact, Eddie would just as soon strangle a woman as have sex with her. If she lost control of her bowels, Eddie sometimes cleaned her up and had sex with the corpse. Sometimes, he simply walked away, content in the knowledge that he had rid the world of one more filthy, lying woman.

In short, Cole was a repulsive man who wallowed in the hypocrisy he claimed to hate in women. SILENT RAGE just made me hate Eddie Cole. After murdering 16 women in 4 states, perhaps the only unselfish act Eddie ever performed was requesting that the death penalthy be applied without delay or appeal. His wish was granted.

I have given SILENT RAGE 4 stars because it is meticulously researched and a thorough profile of the twisted psychology that shaped a serial killer. The detailed accounts of the crimes, while complete, were also graphic and distasteful. I am a big girl and I read True Crime almost exclusively, but I found the story of Eddie Cole beyond repulsive. Simply put, it was GROSS and I now possess information I wish I did not. Read it at your own risk.

I do have one, final criticism. The author ends the book with a lengthy chapter detailing the failures of the mental health system. Eddie Cole was hospitalized both voluntarily and involuntarily on several occasions and never received treatment. He was diagnosed on more than one occasion as "schizophrenic," without evidence to support this diagnosis. As a practicing psychotherapist, I cannot quibble with the massive failings of the mental health system. I work in it. It is wholly inadequate and serves as a revolving door for the homeless, the chronically mentally ill, and the behaviorally disturbed. But, there is no medication and no treatment available for sociopathy. Even if Eddie Cole had been recognized for the severly distrubed individual he was, he cannot be hospitalized indefinitely for something he "might" do. Similarly, even if treatment had been provided, it surely would have failed. I found this closing chapter rather hypercritical and misdirected.

Perhaps the real criticism belongs with the LEGAL system. Eddie Cole was imprisoned on several occasions for various criminal offenses. Cole was not just a serial killer, he was a career criminal. He often received probation. If an arrest did lead to imprisonment, he was paroled months before his sentence was complete. He reguarly violated the terms of his parole without consequence. The murders of many of these women received little more than a passing acknowledgment from the police and were not investigated thoroughly. Hell, Eddie Cole even strangled his alcoholic wife and left her in a closet to decompose. The police were about to let Eddie walk again when he confessed to her murder. In fact, had Eddie Cole not confessed to this murder and his entire history as a serial killer, he might have continued killing for another 10 years.

There was little the psychiatric system, however inadequate, could have done for Eddie Cole. There was much the legal system could have and certainly should have done.

This chilling expose' of Eddie Cole's mind, written by criminologist Michael Newton, is quite terrifying. Cole is one of the most depraved personalities of all time, equal if not higher than the other sicko we all know, Henry Lee Lucas. It is frightening what a damaged psyche can do; my only complaint is the lack of photos:they would have been a nice addition to this fine volume.

This book is quite awsome. Vivid description will put you into Eddie's mind and see the true horror of a serial killer.

Well written, easy to read...the pages fly by. My only complaint is the total lack of photographs

i was disapointed that there were no pictures in the book. i also felt that more detail should have gone in the ending such as last meal, who attended the execution, and interviews with families of the victims