Son by Jack Olsen

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A Psychopath and his Victims
Format: eBook, Kindle
Pub. Date: 1983
Type: Non-Fiction, True Crime ~ my eBook
Pages: 569
Read: May 25, 2016
Rating: Really liked it ♥♡

Spokane had a reputation as a old-fashioned town, “the All-American City”. The newspapers downplayed violent crimes like rape. This thinking was described as inward and backward and such comments where shushed, after all Spokane was “a safe and pure place in an unsafe, impure world.” That was before Fred and Ruth Coe, Spokane would never be the same.

After reading this book, all I can say is WOW. The Coe’s redefine dysfunctional family. Jack Olsen covers everything in this book. Background of the perpetrator, his relationship with his mother, with the other women in his life. He also gives us a look at this victims, treating them compassionately while telling their story, of the attack and the lasting effect it had on their lives and relationships. The women involved with Fred (or Kevin as he prefers to be called) are treated as victims, after all, what else would you call someone who one day wakes up to the news that the person they love is psychopathic criminal?

As much as I like this book I would have to say it is not for everyone, it might trigger flashbacks in sexual assault victims. While not sensational, the rape accounts are detailed and given in the victims own words. That being said, I do recommend it for true crime fans.

On a side note, I googled: “where is Kevin Coe” and found on a website titled, “Justice Denied” an letter from Kevin Coe it says in part:

The setup of Ruth Coe attracted the attention of a crackpot and little known novelist who announced he would write a book on the Coe cases. In late 1983, his idiotic and libelous book on the suppositious cases was published. The work was made into an even more idiotic and libelous TV movie, aired by CBS in 1991. The book flopped nationally but sold well in Washington State. This ruined my chance for a fair re-trial as jurors brought with them a cemented parti pris (prejudice) of my ‘guilt’.

At the bottom was a statement from the editor of the page that they believed his account. I have to wonder if they even checked the statements he made since the crackpot and little known novelist was Jack Olsen and the book was this book, which 7th edition was just published in 2015. His bio is below. I guess if your bio begins, “convicted rapist and psychopath”, that might make you a little bitter huh?

Jack Olsen is the award-winning author of thirty-three books published in fifteen countries and eleven languages. A former Time bureau chief, Olsen wrote for Vanity Fair, People, Paris Match, Readers Digest, Playboy, Life, Sports Illustrated, Fortune, New York Times Book Review and others. His magazine journalism appeared in thirteen anthologies. His books included The Misbegotten Son, The Bridge at Chappaquiddick,, the eco-thriller Night of the Grizzlies, and his monumental study of a Nazi massacre in Italy, Silence on Monte Sole. Three of his works were adapted for the screen, including Have You Seen My Son? on ABC.