After his December 2003 arrest, registered nurse Charlie Cullen was quickly dubbed “The Angel of Death” by the media. But Cullen was no mercy killer, nor was he a simple monster. He was a favorite son, husband, beloved father, best friend, and celebrated caregiver. Implicated in the deaths of as many as 300 patients, he was also perhaps the most prolific serial killer in American history. …
Cullen’s murderous career in the world’s most trusted profession spanned sixteen years and nine hospitals across New Jersey and Pennsylvania. When, in March of 2006, Charles Cullen was marched from his final sentencing in an Allentown, Pennsylvania, courthouse into a waiting police van, it seemed certain that the chilling secrets of his life, career, and capture would disappear with him. Now, in a riveting piece of investigative journalism nearly ten years in the making, journalist Charles Graeber presents the whole story for the first time. Based on hundreds of pages of previously unseen police records, interviews, wire-tap recordings and videotapes, as well as exclusive jailhouse conversations with Cullen himself and the confidential informant who helped bring him down, THE GOOD NURSE weaves an urgent, terrifying tale of murder, friendship, and betrayal.
Graeber’s portrait of Cullen depicts a surprisingly intelligent and complicated young man whose promising career was overwhelmed by his compulsion to kill, and whose shy demeanor masked a twisted interior life hidden even to his family and friends. Were it not for the hardboiled, unrelenting work of two former Newark homicide detectives racing to put together the pieces of Cullen’s professional past, and a fellow nurse willing to put everything at risk, including her job and the safety of her children, there’s no telling how many more lives could have been lost.
In the tradition of In Cold Blood, THE GOOD NURSE does more than chronicle Cullen’s deadly career and the breathless efforts to stop him; it paints an incredibly vivid portrait of madness and offers a penetrating look inside America’s medical system. Harrowing and irresistibly paced, this book will make you look at medicine, hospitals, and the people who work in them, in an entirely different way.
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A true story that is chilling with how easily a nurse could get away with killing his patients for so long. Hospitals are supposed to be places of healing and safety, but the greed of hospital bureaucrats, who refuse to take any action that could ruin their hospital image, allowed this monster to get away with killing helpless victims. I was sickened not only by the actions of Charles Cullen, the serial killer nurse, but also by those who protected him and did not report him to the authorities in the manner they should have. Graeber did a great job of exploring the innerworkings of Cullen’s mind and describing how he was able to get away with murder. I was enthralled with the story and was so relieved when he was caught.
Narration: I also listened to this novel as an audiobook. The narration was very good and easy to listen to. I enjoyed the story just as much as an audiobook as I did reading it.
Overall Rating: 4 Stars. The writing was good and informative. The pacing of book was nicely done and made it easy to read and listen to.
An incredible journalistic experience, documenting the life of a horrible human
I’m always a bit ambivalent about some True Crime tales – first and foremost, I don’t like the glamorization of horrible humans.
But sometimes I can’t deny that the journalist and author’s talent like I do here – with Charles Graeber – whatever you might think of the subject matter, I found myself rushing home to read this.
And I can’t deny that it has value – horrible humans like the one in this tale need to be shown, so that another like them can not continue to hurt people.
But make no mistake, this is a horrible human
Charles Cullen is a nurse that killed around 400 people.
I’m reminded of another True Crime tale – To the Bridge by Nancy Rommelman.
To the Bridge tries to answer the question How could someone do this?
The Good Nurse does not need to answer that question. Charles Cullen is a serial killer. That’s how he does it.
The Good Nurse asks How can we let this happen?
We let this happen due to a culture of bureaucracy and businesses protecting themselves
Graeber does not point the finger at anyone. Instead, he shows a world of hospitals that need to hire nurses, and need to hire them fast. When a nurse is deemed unfit, the hospital’s instinct is to cover themselves.
The fire the nurse, and hold the records. Let this be someone else’s problem.
When the homicide detective comes in, the hospitals don’t open their records. They hide them, to keep themselves protected.
There was a system called Pyxis in which Charles Cullen got his medicine.
The hospital tells the detectives that Pyxis only keeps records for thirty days.
The detectives, a few months later, call Pyxis. Pyxis says that they keep records from the moment they leave the factory.
The detectives open it up, and there is an Excel spreadsheet of the accused’s actions.
Though it is a bit too late, things have changed
The New Jersey state government and others responded to the media circus that followed.
That’s the way things are, and it’s no one’s fault.
Businesses can only understand the bottom line. That’s the only language they understand.
And sometimes, governments only respond to a media circus.
That is the way it is.
In short, great tale
Thank you Charles Graeber for bringing this work to life. It’s about a horrible human, and I don’t envy your time spent with him.
But it is a tale that needed to be told, and I highly recommend it.