Ex-marine David West was from a fine old Texas family.  So was Cindy Campbell Ray. David thought they were in love.  He thought he was avenging her honor when they both donned grotesque battle gear and crept into her luxurious Houston home – to murder her sleeping parents in a cold-blooded crime so carefully planned it left Houston police completely baffled.

With the consummate skill of a master, Jack Olsen portrays the twisted relationship between a psychopathic killer and a deeply disturbed woman…the lies and manipulations that would end in an unspeakable crime…and the seductive woman detective who would get David West to confess – in a compelling, unforgettable tale of murder and love.

Cold Kill by Jack Olsen came HIGHLY recommended to me by many fellow true crime fans. 

Cindy Ray, daughter of murder victims James and Virginia Campbell, is a case study in mental disorders; and, one must assume, the dangers of being undiagnosed and untreated.

David West is a psychiatric case study all his own.  Growing up with a mother who was a friendless high-falutin’ snot and a father who opted to be mentally absent rather than deal with the arrogant woman he had married, West was easy target for a predator like Cindy Ray.

Of course, his superiority complex and self-proclamation of being an avenger for the downtrodden coupled with the violent nature refined by his Marine training provided a warm welcome for Ray’s fatal seductions without conscience. 

Cold Kill is a 376-page fast paced, can’t-put-it-down true crime that is a MUST READ for any true crime fan. 

If had any one complaint about this book, it would be the abrupt ending.  However, the story was told and, with my own research, I found there wasn’t much else to tell. 

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