Cold Kill (Hardcover)

by Olsen (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Olsen (The Man with the Candy, "Son") has another winner in his account of the 1984 double murder of Texas lawyer James Campbell and his wife Virginia by their daughter Cindy and her lover, David West. It is a somewhat unusual true-crime study, not because the case was broken by a private detective rather than the police and not because the final disposition of the case is not included, but, rather, because of its searching psychological depiction of the killers. The analysis of the daughter suggests that she was a classic sociopath, a pathological liar incapable of any emotion or thought that did not involve her self-interest, unique in a close and loving family. The lover was far more complex, a weak man, an ex-Marine, who desperately wanted to appear strong, a man chivalrous toward women and uniformly unsuccessful with them. Their story makes for shattering reading.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Here is yet another book about a bizarre family murder, this one written by the author of the popular " Son " ( LJ 11/15/83). Believing his crazy girlfriend's false tales of horrible parental abuse, David West murders her wealthy Houston parents, James and Virginia Campbell, in their bed. This folie a deux goes undetected for more than two years until a wily young female private investigator romances West into confessing. Olsen is a superior crime writer and his novelistic account of the case, replete with artistic license, is compelling, but its abrupt ending will leave readers wondering what happened following West's arrest. For public libraries.Gregor A. Preston, Univ. of California Lib., Davis
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 512 pages
• Publisher: Scribner; Bce First edition (November 11, 1987)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0689118317
• ISBN-13: 978-0689118319
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.4 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,510,922 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A True Crime Masterpiece by a True Crime Master, April 23, 2008

By	Dan Bogaty "Mr. Congeniality" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cold Kill (Mass Market Paperback)

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 really nothing in this book stating or even hinting that this was anything but a lie told by Cindy to convince David to do her bidding.)

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Jerry Springer Come To Life, October 10, 2004

By	Avid Reader (Franklin, Tn) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

This review is from: Cold Kill (Mass Market Paperback)

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.