The Surgeon's Wife

A True Story of Obsession, Rage, and Murder

By: Kieran Crowley

Narrated by: Danny Campbell

Length: 14 hrs and 34 mins

Publisher's summary

In the summer of 1985, in his exclusive Upper East Side Manhattan apartment, Robert Bierenbaum, a prominent surgeon and certified genius, strangled his wife Gail to death. He then drove her body to an airstrip in Caldwell, N.J., and dumped it into the Atlantic Ocean from a single-engine private plane. The next day he reported her missing.

Gail's parents had been thrilled to learn she was marrying Robert Bierenbaum. He seemed to be the perfect match for their daughter. He was from a well-to-do family, a medical student who spoke five languages fluently, a skier, and he even flew an airplane. But Gail would come to learn of her husband's dark side. On one occasion when Robert had tried to choke Gail because he caught her smoking, she filed a police report. She also alleged that he tried to kill her cat because he was jealous of it. For years, her sister pleaded with Gail to run for her life. Even her therapist warned his vulnerable patient that she could eventually die at the hands of the man she married.

Fifteen years after this unspeakable, unfathomable crime, a jury found Robert Bierenbaum guilty of murder - and stripped the mask off of this privileged professional to reveal a monster.

©2001 Kieran Crowley (P)2017 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Great True Crime

Would you listen to The Surgeon's Wife again? Why?

I have a 1.5 hour commute to work and this book made it seem like 20 minutes. I cleaned my house, did yard word, worked out to this book.

Very documenatry

This book was interesting I wondered about Dr. Bob truth. Did he really kill Gail? Some times ijn the story I wanted to kill Gail. She talked too much. I was not a fan of neither of the two main chracters.

Very interesting TRUE CRIME

An excellent account and summary of this case, showing very intensive research by the author, including the questions involved. Excellent narration.

Excellent!

One of the best true crime books. This guy is obviously guilty. But he was smart in his method of dumping body.
I was fascinated and could not put the book down. Great narrator!

okay

I felt that the story was to long. could have been told in less words.

Crazy love

Would you listen to The Surgeon's Wife again? Why?

No - Too slow and the characters are too darn dumb

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Surgeon's Wife?

Liked the stories about his water bagels

Which scene was your favorite?

When her sister got a chance to stare him down.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No

Any additional comments?

Kind of slow

Really good

A touch too long - love this genre- hope for more from author
very interesting story

The Narration is not pleasant

The story is OK, although slow at times. The real problem with this audiobook is the narration. The narrator’s voice is very raspy which makes it difficult to listen to the story. The voice is kind of like nails on a chalkboard.

I found the narrator’s voice so unpleasant that I tried to return the audiobook but could not because I purchased it too long ago.

In the future I will avoid all audiobooks read by Danny Campbell.

Excellent book

Kieran Crowley did amazing research for this book and was truly invested in providing the readers with a full account and details of this case that spanned over a decade. He communicates this case in a story like fashion which makes it more enjoyable and flows well. He is a trustworthy author and have enjoyed several of his books and look forward to reading more. The narrator was also very good.

Head scratcher

It was an interesting book, I’ll have to say that. The whole thing is just sad. A guy with issues gets pushed to the edge by a woman with more issues than he has. A lot of his flaws are highlighted to paint him as evil but his actions later? Fly in the face of that. I believe he was a full blown narcissist pushed to the breaking point by another full blown narcissist. Again, she didn’t deserve to die. It’s sad though, for all of his flaws he was doing great things.