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

The Good Nurse

This was written in a way that kept me interested and wanting more. Hated the way the narrator read dig! It is pronounced dig (soft g) .. I had heard about this but never knew the story. Very good!

Broken beyond belief

You just never know what brokenness a seemingly normal person may be hiding. Worse yet, when that person is a nurse, and that brokenness drives him to terrible acts on those least able to fight back: his patients. How this nurse was able to kill perhaps 400 people.... how the NINE hospitals at which he was employed over sixteen years did nothing to STOP him, but merely sent him down the road with "neutral" performance reviews, how in the end, it was a NURSE who carried his tale to the police, and it was a group of this man's coworkers -- NURSES-- who told their hospital administration that if he weren't fired, they were quitting en masse. Whether "Angels in White", or "Angel of Death", this story is about nurses, our modern healthcare system, and how vulnerable we all are when a good nurse goes bad.

no real insight

Who was your favorite character and why?

The real hero of this story is Charles' co-worker who realized what he was doing and took great risk to get him to admit it.

Was The Good Nurse worth the listening time?

I expected more insight into Charles Cullen's mind and reasoning for killing patients but it is not there. He apparently gave no interviews except to the author so I guess Mr. Graeber did not have much to work with. It is, however, great insight into how to manipulate the mental health services as Mr.Cullen did masterfully.

Any additional comments?

This is a fascinating study...not of a serial killer but of the reaction of hospitals' administrators to the obvious fact that they had a seriously sick and dangerous nurse in their midst and were more concerned about bad PR than protecting patients.

Nice!

I really love true crime, and this is true crime at its best. It has everything you would want. I highly recommend it.

Gripping

A truly captivating story that delves into the mind of this murderer. Couldn't put down the book. It is long but made easy with audio

Same on them

If you could sum up The Good Nurse in three words, what would they be?

Really? No Way.

What was the most compelling aspect of this narrative?

The fact that hospitals knew this was happening but washed their hands of it and turned away when in fact they should have done something about it. We all have a responsibility to stop people like this.

What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?

I liked the book but felt it could have been told quicker, less chapters, still good.

Any additional comments?

Shame on all the Hospitals for allowing this man to continue to move from Hospital to Hospital killing patients. They should be fined or something.

Engaging, but I have a complaint

An interesting true crime story brought to life in narrative style. Reveals the holes that existed in our medical system that allowed a murderer to be at the bedside for years. The narration is very good. My only wish is that they had run the recording by a medical professional. Was anyone else cringing everytime he says "dig"? Its pronounced "dij," like in digitalis. There were a couple other little distractions (ORS complex?), which is disappointing, given that medical folks will be a big part of the audience. I bet there are well-read nurses out there that would provide this kind of consultation for a mere acknowledgement ; )

Much work and research in this story

Bravo to the author and police team that gathered information in these real life serial crimes. I am sure there are many more of these type of murders committed every year that go undetected.
It is a shame that childhood trauma causes some people to turn to savagery instead of help from Jesus Christ.

Not as Gripping as I Would Have Liked

This was an interesting book about a serial killer nurse and the cover up that ensued by the medical facilities where he worked.

Until the police get involved about halfway into the book, it felt a bit lackluster and repetitive to me; certainly not as gripping as I felt it could have been. I found myself getting bored.

I thought the reader was very good, though.

Tragic story, well written and narrated

As retired RN and Navy veteran I recognized much in this fascinating but sad story. His betrayal of the nursing profession and it’s standards was horrific. The way the Hospital Administrators enabled this monster was criminal.