Is any crime ever so vile that it justifies cold-blooded murder? Aaron Baker Cole's thrilling book "Necessary Evil" explores this question through the story of an empathetic young man, who takes it upon himself to pointedly focus the Catholic Church's attention on the clandestine pedophilic acts committed by a frightening number of Catholic priests. The conflicted hero of "Necessary Evil" is Billy Hawkins, a boy who recognizes early on in life that he lacks a certain degree of conscience, feeling no regret when it comes to terminating the lives of those who he thinks have committed major injustices. Billy decides to allow his unique disposition to serve the greater good, and enters seminary, intending to focus the Catholic hierarchy's attention on the need for quality improvement among its trusted clerics, through his stealthy elimination of the sexually abusive priests.

iUniverse (2005)
ISBN 9780595358991
Reviewed by William Phenn for Reader Views (7/07)

Not much is known about Aaron Baker Cole; he is as much a mystery as the book he wrote. Some things I did manage to find out. Aaron Baker Cole cut his teeth on technical writing in the fields of space technology and national security. So I was not surprised that there was not a lot of information available. I’m sure the sensitive nature of his previous assignments warranted a classified cloak. I do know he lives and writes somewhere in southern California and has written another book, “Forms of Madness.”

“Necessary Evil” has a most intriguing plot. It deals with a young man’s crusade to rid the world of pedophiles. But the strange twist is that it is not about your average, street-version pedophile; it deals with pedophiles within the clergy, those that the Catholic Church has either elected to relocate or turn a blind eye to.

Aaron begins by telling us about William (Billy) Hawkins, a young man who lost his father at an early age and had to contend with a stepfather that would beat up on his mother. So after putting up with this violence for quite some time, Billy decides to do something about it. What he does propels Billy into a maze of intrigue. The story of Billy Hawkins just gets better and better from here on in.

What Billy does to an attacker outside his girlfriend’s dorm is just another stepping stone in his quest. For Billy, that quest becomes an almost obsessive compulsion to rid the world of bad priests. Mr. Cole has not held back any good traits in the development of his main character Billy Hawkins. Billy has charisma; he is very likeable, but he is also cunning and very cold. He has no mercy on the pedophiles in the clergy and is ruthless in his judgment of these sick individuals.

With a very sad ending (in my opinion), Billy achieves what he started out to do, with the unexpected help of a most unlikely accomplice. The ending, though sad, was most righteous and very welcomed. Different from what you’d see in a movie or in today’s society, it was the “Icing on the cake.”   I thought “Necessary Evil” was a most-talented exhibition of mystery writing that I have read in a long time. It was very enjoyable and compelled me to read more with every turn of a page.

I highly recommend “Necessary Evil” to all that like a good detective novel. This book had quality printing and great content I gave it my highest rating of an A+.