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The Cyanide Canary  By  cover art

The Cyanide Canary

By: Robert Dugoni, Joseph Hilldorfer
Narrated by: Tom Perkins
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Publisher's summary

Early in the morning on August 27, 1996, 20-year-old Scott Dominguez showed up for an ordinary day at the fertilizing plant where he worked. By 11:00 am, he was clinging to life, unconscious and suffocating from toxic exposure to cyanide in a tank that was supposed to contain only mud and water.

EPA Special Agent Joseph Hilldorfer was tasked with finding out what really happened on that horrific day in Soda Springs, Idaho, but the answers would not be easily uncovered. For more than four years, Hilldorfer, his partner Bob Wojnicz, and a force of top-ranking US attorneys struggled to expose the disturbing truths behind the tragedy, but would their efforts be enough to put the man responsible, Allan Elias, behind bars?

©2004 Joseph Hilldorfer and La Mesa Literary LLC (P)2017 Tantor

Critic reviews

"[An] electrically charged narrative...Top-notch nonfiction legal thriller, reminding readers of the baseline: 'This all comes down to one thing. It's all about money.'" ( Kirkus)

What listeners say about The Cyanide Canary

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

True environmental crime case

If you expect action and suspense, The Cyanide Canary will disappoint you. Also, audio is not the ideal format for this book; I borrowed the Kindle ebook when I purchased the audio book and was able to follow the audio version as the ebook was read.

The crime which destroyed the life of a 20 year old man occurred while the owner of the company was operating what amounted to a hazardous waste disposal facility by burying waste on his work sites thus potentially polluting groundwater and local streams. I spent my career working in the manufacturing sector and am aware of the laws and regulations concerning hazardous waste and its transportation and disposal.. In my opinion the death penalty would not have been excessive punishment for this criminal.

This is a case, one of few, where an environmental criminal paid for his crime with significant jail time. It is a very unusual case because the criminal was convicted and sent to prison. Few others have.

The book does not deal with the pervasive issue of remediation of hazard waste sites through the superfund process. There are thousands of polluted sites in the US too few of which have been cleaned up due to the a combination of poorly written laws and the bureaucratic nature of EPA. Efforts on remediation of some of the sites has been ongoing with little progress for 35 years. The criminal owner in this book left the two sites he owned continuing to pollute groundwater and streams.

EPA has become a severely bloated bureaucracy that prefers to deal with the relatively trivial issues while failing to deal effectively with the more serious real problems. It has become so politicized that it deals almost exclusively in political matters.

The laws creating the EPA were passed during the Nixon administration. One of its first decisions under William Ruckleshaus was strictly political: outlawing the use of the insecticide DDT despite scientific evidence strongly to the contrary. Other nations followed the US eventually leading to millions of human deaths in third world countries. Nevertheless, the overall impact of EPA was strongly positive to air and water quality in the US until 2009 when the EPA became thoroughly a part of the political system and it primary task became influencing elections rather than environmental protection.

The Cyanide Canary is a worthwhile listen.

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13 people found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

A bit to long

Good story but way to much detail. Several times I was ready to give up on the book but I kept turning it back on. Hard to believe the court system is not more efficient and a case like this can take so long to get to trial and even longer for the verdict and sentencing. Again, good story but should have had less detail and 3 hours shorter.

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4 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars

Courtroom drama about toxic chemical waste

This was OK. It passed the time while I did chores. It was a drama about toxic chemical waste & the court proceedings to prosecute the offender. Since I live in an area with a lot of chemical plants it was interesting as I've seen this happen often in the area during the 80s and 90s. If you like court room dramas this will fit the bill.

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HORRIBLE

HORRIBLE HORRIBLE HORRIBLE. The narrator is so monotone. The detail is beyond ridiculous. An analogy: he drove a ford. It was green with a 5.4 liter engine, the wheel base... etc. what a waste of a credit. If you’re even thinking about buying it, make sure you listen to the sample, which I stupidly did not, the narrator is so bad. I’m 2 hours in and I can’t take anymore. So disappointed with Robert Dugoni

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Reads like fiction!

This is an unusual crime story. It is told day by day, in chronological order with the tension building gradually along with the passage of time. Authors Dugoni and Hilldorfer do an outstanding job of making a tale of pollution, neglect, and responsible waste management read like a murder investigation. And Tom Perkins also does a great job of narrating it. It is even more important today than it was in 1996, when this story took place. I highly recommend this excellent book and performance.

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Disappointing....

I was on a Dugoni roll, having finished his Crosswhite series and Canon novel. The performance/voice of this book was so painful to listen to,no only made it through 1/3 of the book and had to quit.

I'd probably listen to other series by Dugoni provided they change the speaker!

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Environmental Protection Agencies At Work

I thought the problems of convicting businesses owners who own chemicals industries throughout rural America were investigated often by the environmental protection agency. The authors captured a picture one man-made environmental crimes and the full picture of a disaster area in Idaho. The court scenes are very interesting and frightening to me because I am an environmental concerned citizen.

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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A surefire cure for insomnia

This had to be the most boring book I have ever read or listened to. Silly me, however, I finished it because I wanted to know what happened to the guy. I assumed it would end at the verdict but it didn't. It just kept on with continuance after continuance and believe or not during that it got more boring. I would listen to this at night before i went to bed to make me sleepy. I know it was realistic and it's depressing how terrible the legal system is but boy this was hard to get through.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Audible documentary-EPA creation gaining ground

Very interesting! Not a subject I’d otherwise review. Tells story of one case which helped to establish the importance of EPA and like agencies. Unfortunately real life victims of true crimes. Includes follow up of those involved. Arranged as an audible story only it’s not fiction. True facts.

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Couldn’t put it down

This story depicts the relentless struggle EPA investigators and DOJ prosecutors went through to get justice for environmental crimes and I could not put it down. It was riveting to learn of the first hand accounts and the darkest depths that Elias would go to cover up his heartless doings. That man is the definition of true evil!

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