The Good Nurse / Charles Graeber - 3***

[Book Concierge]

Digital audiobook read by Will Collyer

Subtitle: A True Story of Medicine, Madness, and Murder

Charles Cullen was a registered nurse who worked in a number of New Jersey hospitals. He always volunteered to care for the sickest patients and was a seemingly dedicated nurse. But people began to notice that wherever Charlie worked, the death rates skyrocketed. When he was finally arrested, he was quickly dubbed “The Angel of Death.”

Graeber conducted many interviews, including with Cullen and with the friend and colleague who eventually cooperated with police to capture him. It’s a fascinating story and points out flaws in the administration of drugs in hospitals … at least in the early 2000s. My own experiences in more recent years shows a vigilance that was not apparent in Graeber’s account.

I really applaud the efforts of nurse Amy Loughren. It was she who put the pieces together and who took the time to study records of drug use in the hospital to discover the patterns that pointed to Cullen’s guilt. Her courage and tenacity as a police confidential informant was instrumental in Cullen’s conviction.

I’ve always been interested in medicine, and I love the true crime genre, though I don’t read much of it these days. This didn’t quite capture my attention the way other true crime works have done. It was interesting and Graeber clearly did his homework, but it wasn’t very compelling.

Will Collyer did a fine job reading the audio book. He has good pacing and clear diction.


LINK to my review

[Nicole R]

It sounds like the most compelling part of this book may have been the subtitle!

[Meli]

This book really engaged me, and I remember burning through it pretty quickly. Too bad you didn't enjoy it as much.

I find it completely insane he offended for as long as he did and hospitals continued trying to cover up for him until poison control got involved. Crazy story.