The Good Nurse: A True Story of Medicine, Madness, and Murder - Paperback

by Charles Graeber (Author)

The Netflix movie starring Academy Award-winners Eddie Redmayne and Jessica Chastain--based on a "stunning book...that should and does bring to mind In Cold Blood"-- 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, nurse Charlie Cullen was quickly dubbed "The Angel of Death" by the media. But he was no mercy killer nor a simple monster. Cullen was, at times, a trusted colleague, a beloved father, and a best friend. He was also perhaps the most prolific serial killer in American history, implicated in the deaths of as many as 400 patients.

Cullen's murderous career spanned sixteen years and nine hospitals. Now, in a riveting piece of investigative journalism, Charles Graeber uncovers how Cullen gamed the system, and tells the unbelievable true story of the confidential informant asked to risk her life and career to betray a friend and finally stop a serial killer. Based on extensive never-before-seen evidence and years of exclusive jailhouse conversations with Cullen himself, THE GOOD NURSE is a mesmerizing and irresistibly paced portrait of medicine and madness. This book will make you look at hospitals and the people who work in them in an entirely different way.

Author Biography

Charles Graeber has been honored with an Overseas Press Club award for Outstanding International Journalism, an Edgar nomination, and a citation of merit by the British Medical Association. He has contributed to publications including The New Yorker, New York Magazine, GQ, Bloomberg Businessweek, Vogue, The Cambodia Daily, The Phnom Penh Post, The Budapest Sun, The Nantucket Beacon, MIT Technology Review and The New York Times, and been anthologized in The Best American Crime Writing, The Best American Science Writing, The Best American Business Writing, The Best of 10 Years of National Geographic Adventure, The Best of 20 years of Wired and other collections. Born in Iowa, he now lives closer to saltwater.