Perfect Poison: A Female Serial Killer's Deadly Medicine (Paperback)

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Key Phrases: perfect poison, epinephrine poisoning, missing ampoules, William Phelps, Kristen Gilbert, James Perrault (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A first-rate investigative examination." -- Dr. Michael Baden, forensic pathologist, host of HBO's Autopsy series, and author of DEAD RECKONING: The New Science of Catching Killers and UNNATURAL DEATH: Confessions of a Medical Examiner

"A stunner from beginning to end, Phelps renders the story expertly, with flawless research and an explosive narrative." -- Gregg Olsen, author of several best-selling true crime books, including BITTER ALMONDS, ABANDONED PRAYERS, MOCKINGBIRD and IF LOVING YOU IS WRONG: The Shocking True Story of Mark Kay Letourneau

"Captivating, exciting, a jolt-a-minute. With his encyclopedic knowledge of police procedures, Phelps earns a deserved place among the best." -- Harvey Rachlin, author of 13 books, including THE MAKING OF A DETECTIVE and THE MAKING OF A COP

"In perfect harmony with the best true crime writers, Phelps unmasks the psychopath with facts, insight and journalistic leg work." -- Lowell Cauffiel, author of MASQUERADE, EYE OF THE BEHOLDER, FOREVER AND FIVE DAYS and HOUSE OF SECRETS

Product Description

SERIAL KILLER ON WARD C: In Northampton, Massachusetts, at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Kristen Gilbert was known as a hardworking, dedicated nurse--so why were her patients dying? So many emergencies and sudden deaths occurred while Kristen made her rounds on Ward C that her colleagues jokingly called her the "Angel of Death." Yet most people didn't suspect the horrifying truth behind the nickname: that Gilbert's polished facade concealed a scheming, manipulative liar and narcissistic sociopath. She sabotaged patients to strike back at staffers she didn't like. She engaged in an obsessive adulterous affair with hospital security guard James Perrault. When her husband objected, she tried to kill him with a lethal injection. But nobody turned her in.

LETHAL CURE: From August 1995 through February 1996, Gilbert dealt out wholesale death. Her victims were helpless patients who trusted her as a caregiver, only to learn too late that she was a killer, her weapon a drug capable of causing fatal heart attacks. But she got away with murder until three of her fellow nurses could no longer ignore the proliferation of deadly "coincidences" on Gilbert's watch. Investigators believe Kristen Gilbert may have been responsible for as many as 40 deaths. As the law closed in, she struck back, faking suicide attempts, harassing witnesses, stalking her ex-boyfriend, and terrorizing the hospital with bomb threats. In March 2001, after being found guilty of four counts of murder and two counts of attempted murder, Angel of Death Kristen Gilbert was sentenced to life imprisonment.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 477 pages
• Publisher: Pinnacle; 1st THUS edition (June 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786015500
• ISBN-13: 978-0786015504
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #115,493 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazingly written: easy-to-read, could not put it down, June 23, 2003

By	"bdlbob" (upstate New York) - See all my reviews

If this is M. William Phelps's first book, I cannot believe it. With short chapters of 4-6 pages, the book reads so easy you've devoured 10 chapters without even realizing it. Serial killing nurse Kristen Gilbert is so carefully examined and explained by Phelps, with the most important and intuative details dropped throughout the narrative here and there, before you know it, you feel like you've walked beside nurse Gilbert her entire life without her knowing. The investigation portion of the book is written better than anything Ann Rule or Joe McGuinnis has even penned. I have read true crime for decades. If there is anyone deserving of the Edgar Award this coming year, it is Phelps. Perfect Poison is true crime not at its best, but at its finest, like it was back in the day--written by a journalist so in tune with his subject and observant of detail it was a disappointment that this book had to end. I could have read it forever.

Way to go Mr. Phelps! I will be first in line for anything you write in the future.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A note from the author, January 27, 2004

By A Customer

It has been said that "a book is not a book until a reader actually reads it." These reviews prove to me that the theory holds a bit of truth.

I would like to thank each and every reader who has been so gracious as to purchase my book and write your kind thoughts about it here on Amazon. I am humbled by your keen sense of awareness and love for true crime as a genre. Thank you so much for giving PERFECT POISON a chance! I hope all of you feel the same way about my future books . . . and that I can continue to deliver the quality work you, as consumers, so much deserve in today's market.

All my best, M. William Phelps

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Could not put it down, September 22, 2003

By	Terry M. Callen (Gloucester City, NJ United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I picked this book up at the CVS because I was looking for something to read and I love "true crime" stories.

I could not put it down. Great read. Very in-depth study of a "bad seed"...a person just born evil, Kristen Gilbert.

This woman traumatized everyone who came into contact with her, and I am glad she is locked away permanently.