The Good Nurse

A True Story of Medicine, Madness, and Murder

By: Charles Graeber

Narrated by: Will Collyer

Length: 11 hrs and 35 mins

Publisher's summary

Coming to Netflix this fall starring Eddie Redmayne and Jessica Chastain⁠—a “stunning book...that should and does bring to mind In Cold Blood” and takes you inside the mind of America's most prolific serial killer, whose 16-year long "nursing" career left as many as 400 dead. (New York Times)

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.

©2013 Charles Graeber (P)2013 Hachette Audio

Good and Bad

The first 5 hours is extremely boring. The last 6.5 hours is extremely captivating. You need those first 5 hours to set up the last 6, but its a chore to get there.

Superb book

I could not wait to finish this Audible book, and highly recommend it.

The narrator was excellent.

Incredible Read

The manny aspects of this book are interesting let alone the fact that this is a true story about a serial killer.First the way the police catch him. Second the fact that Cullen may have murdered more people than anyone in theU.S or maybe even the world. I would have enjoyed reading this book had it been total fiction the fact that it is true just makes the story that much better.I felt the narrator did a great job. The writing is right on the spot . It is a book that you all will want to read in one sitting. You won't want to put this book down. Or turn it off. I have s lot of good audio books but this is one of the best.

Meh

I'm a nurse and I've heard about this story before. it's really annoying to hear healthcare stories told from non medical people. Several things were just wrong. Story is also Very slow. couldn't finish it

Good book

Well researched, good and darn scary. Could be a sleepless night! Nurses are so trusted and this guy was just crazy.

truth behind headlines

I really enjoyed the telling of this story. I only wish we could know more about Charlie's reasons and thought process. I hope Amy can one day forgive herself because she did nothing wrong.

It made you think...

I started thinking about the nurses and doctors that treat people everyday.We don't who and what is on their minds as they tend to the: sick,injured,and elderly.There are many serial killers that are in the world.Many of us have interacted with them not knowing of the evil that lurks within them.This was a disturbing true life account of a serial killer that worked and killed in the medical field.

Wow!

I’m a licensed nurse and lawyer. I like nonfiction and true stories, but don’t usually go for murder mysteries. . I absolutely loved this book- couldn’t stop listening- very intriguing and narration was spot on. A real winner!

Unreal!

Very scary to realize this did happen. Well written and difficult to turn off until finished.

scary story. but a bit boring on writing style

the story is crazy and unbelievable. but 1/2 the book drags on too slowly and only the 2nd half goes into more hunt style, the characters all around are not given enough attention and detail and even the main informant is left a bit shallow, which im she she was not.