It presents the full story of the woman's life, from her difficulty beginning to ultimate conviction for poisoning. At times, it was like reading pieces of evidence.
Which, actually, is a little ironic, because when I first picked up this book, I thought it was nonfiction - not sure why as it never claims to be; rather, it is a work of histor This is a quick, fast-paced novel about the serial poisoner Jane Toppan.
Which, actually, is a little ironic, because when I first picked up this book, I thought it was nonfiction - not sure why as it never claims to be; rather, it is a work of historical fiction based on true events.
Maybe it's the title - seems very matter of fact. Jun 17, Vanessa rated it did not like it Shelves: true-crime , The concept of this book is an intriguing one. I don't know that Jane Toppan was the right subject for it. While I'm only giving this one star, I don't think the author is a bad writer. The book was very readable. The way the author shifted between different perspectives and narration styles was a good match for the content.
The problem is the content. The book puts much more emphasis on the "Making" than the "Monster," even though Jane begins killing a little over a third of the way through the The concept of this book is an intriguing one. The book puts much more emphasis on the "Making" than the "Monster," even though Jane begins killing a little over a third of the way through the book. It plays into the myth that murder by poisoning isn't as gruesome as other murder methods.
Except for the one instance when someone lived to later testify, the murders seem sterile. Part of the reason she murders is that she enjoys it, and it is not a reason that gets mentioned often. This really stood out in the sexual aspects of Jane's murders. In reality, Jane claimed that she killed because she felt sexual pleasure when she murdered someone. The only victim that was able to testify said that Jane was kissing her as she was poisoning her. That scene is in the book. It is alluded to a few more times, but it gets maybe alluded to with one word once Jane is arrested.
The book is about why Jane was a murderer. It seems problematic that the book would go into quite a lot of detail about the more sympathetic reasons while saying almost nothing about this one. The paragraph that made this a one-star rather than a two-star review is the one that left me questioning if Jane molested a child.
There's also one plot issue that is so big that I keep thinking I'm misreading the book. I went back hoping that I was just misunderstanding, but I think the author leaves Florence alive in the more narrative part of the book. When she is last mentioned, Jane got her fired. She then shows up in the confession listed as someone Jane killed.
Nov 21, Brittney Gibbon rated it it was amazing. Rather than reading like a typical true crime novel, however, McBrayer presents the reader with a tapestry of true crime stylings, historical speculative fiction, newspaper clippings and statements, all woven together to create this wonderfully immersive novelisation that reads like fiction and is impossible to put down.
Knowing that McBrayer had researched and fact-checked as much as possible, but also knowing that not all of the details present in the pages are strictly factual — instead they serve to enhance what IS known and fact-checked — makes for a truly unique reading experience and one that has me appreciating the talent behind putting this together.
Mar 27, Giovanna Centeno rated it it was amazing. Go buy the book now!! I was very kindly sent a review copy by the author. This book is awesome! Following the life of American serial killer Jane Toppan.
This wonderful book discusses the many unfortunate events in and surrounding the life of Honora Kelly. From being abandoned at a young age, spending her formative years as an indentured servant to eventually becoming a nurse that would kill 31 people!
This book is perfect if you are a true crime lover and have just been searching for somethi Go buy the book now!! This book is perfect if you are a true crime lover and have just been searching for something that would scratch that In Cold Blood itch. This is also full of social and historical commentary which made the resemblance between the two narratives even more concrete to me. Another feature I was really excited about was the use of original documents and bibliography.
It is definitely the kind of book that will send you down the research spiral several times. The research was well done and it shows. Jun 07, Chase Dickinson rated it it was amazing.
Mary Kay McBrayer provides the reader with a detailed, vivid, and thoughtful deduction of Jane Toppan's story by piecing together the recorded bits of her life. She is upfront about having to make educated guesses on what might've happened in some parts of her life, but this allows the reader to see Jane's life in an imaginative manner while also still getting the facts that can check out.
While it is not as gruesome as one usually thinks about serial killers and their actions, this story is mor Mary Kay McBrayer provides the reader with a detailed, vivid, and thoughtful deduction of Jane Toppan's story by piecing together the recorded bits of her life. While it is not as gruesome as one usually thinks about serial killers and their actions, this story is more horrifying because of the calm and delicate manner in which these murders occurred.
This story had me straddling the fence about how I felt about Jane Toppan - empathy and antipathy. And I still can't get over how the details of each scene painted a picture in my mind. Nov 12, Natasha Van Duser rated it liked it.
I wanted to love this book so much, but I cannot and will not ever sympathize with a cold blooded killer. This is a subject matter that fascinates me, as you can trace other famous serial killers like Dahmer and Manson and Kemper back to unhappy childhoods and visualize how they may have grown up to become the infamous villains they are known as today.
With Jane Toppan, you really can't, though McBrayer does I wanted to love this book so much, but I cannot and will not ever sympathize with a cold blooded killer. With Jane Toppan, you really can't, though McBrayer does try. America's First Female Serial Killer is basically historical fiction. McBrayer puts a lot of speculation into the situations that formed Jane Toppan's childhood and eventual life, but it's just that: speculation.
And oddly, it's extremely sympathetic speculation. McBrayer makes small, almost meaningless events huge story lines that are supposed to show why Toppan was treated badly enough to enact at least 31 counts of murder. Except, I just don't quite see where being adopted early, working for a rich family, being a talented nurse, and getting ghosted by your first love could really lead to horrific acts of sexualized murder.
I also really hated some of the stylistic choices in this novel. I understood that the changes in tense and perspective were supposed to equate to the uncertainty of certain stories in history as well as the actual timeline of events, but it made everything hazy and confusing. Was Jane in her 40s, 60s or 80s when she finally got arrested? I really have no idea. And sadly, I also don't really care. She was an evil woman who did cruel, unjustified things out of nothing more than greed and spite just read her confessions at the end of the book!
It's all words actually written by Jane Toppan and it's eerie as hell. I don't buy that her childhood turned her into a monster because her childhood wasn't great, but it wasn't abusive or extreme in any regards. Many people in her situation back in that time went through the exact same traumas, but none of them decided to go on a murder spree. I feel like I would have enjoyed this book far more if it had been a nonfiction account of Jane Toppan's life and let the reader decide at the end whether she was born or made into a monster at the end.
I really don't like having the author's opinion shoved in my face at the beginning that she was made this way, as McBrayer did nothing in her novel to convince me of that.
Jan 17, Escapereality rated it really liked it. What scares you more? True crime or horror fiction? Today, I made it a point to get lost in this book.
Honestly, these books scare me more than horror books. These are events that happened and could happen again. Although they have not happened to me, they are too close to real life. Nevertheless, it was captivating, sad and eerie and I had a hard time putting it down. I had never heard of What scares you more? I had never heard of Jane Topan prior to this book.
Eventually she wiped out the family of seven for whom she was working. Monday-morning quarterbacks in Georgia had a field day with the case of Martha Johnson, trying to explain how the murders of four children fell through the cracks of the criminal justice system. Homicide investigators blamed their failure on the suspects change of address, noting ruefully that different jurisdictions often fail to keep in touch. In February , a special grand jury convened in San Antonio, Texas, investigating the "suspicious" deaths of 47 children at Bexar County's Medical Center Hospital over the past four years.
A similar probe in neighboring Kerr County was focused upon the hospitalization of eight infants who developed respiratory problems during treatment at a local clinic.
In New Orleans, the ghost tours always stop at a particular mansion in the midst of the French Quarter, on the corner of Royal and Governor Nicholls Streets. The house had once been owned by socialites, a physician by the name of Lalaurie and his wife, Delphine. Born in at Worms, Germany, young Christa Ambros lost her mother to an asylum while still in her teens. Neglected by her father, she grew up wild and undisciplined, serving a term of probation on conviction for petty theft.
Their marriage was troubled almost from the start, but the quarreling Garzas made up frequently enough to produce three children in as many years. Daughter Melissa was born in , Joanna in , and their first son, Jose Lionel. A year-old waitress in Montgomery, Alabama, Martin confessed during March to the arsenic murders of her mother , two of her five husbands, and three of her own children.
Husband number five had been more fortunate than his predecessors, surviving the dosage that left him paralyzed from the waist down, confined to a hospital in Biloxi, Mississippi. Blanche Taylor Moore of Alamance County, North Carolina, could not have fashioned herself as another Nannie Doss any better than if her predecessor came back to life herself. But, while Nannie was basically a congenial sort well, on the surface Blanche leaned towards the moody and grim.
Nagyrev is a farming village on the River Tisza in Hungary, about sixty miles southeast of Budapest, near another town called Tiszakurt. For a time, a community of killers flourished in these two places Some people believed she was the unluckiest mother alive. Life magazine even did a story on her in as the most famous bereaved mother in the country. Marie Noe had one child after another, ten in all, and every single one of them died.
One was stillborn, one died right after birth, but the others had all seemed healthy. A prolific poisoner who undertook her work as much from sympathy as for the minor fees she charged, Madame Popova was an advocate of women's liberation long before the cause was recognized. A native of Samara, Russia, she was so distressed by the travail of peasant wives held "captive" by their brutish husbands that she volunteered an inexpensive, lethal remedy.
Born in and raised in an orphanage, Dorothea Puente claimed a total of four marriages, from which police were able to document two divorces. Her only child, a daughter, was put up for adoption at birth finally meeting her mother - whom she described as a woman with "no real personality" - in Awakened by a gunshot in the pre-dawn hours of November 2, , John Miller scrambled out of bed and rushed to the apartment of his landlord, whence the sound had emanated.
On arrival at the scene, he found John Quinn, the landlord, Iying in his bed, blood streaming from a fatal bullet wound. Previously female executions in London had been carried out at Newgate prison. A hospital nurse accused of attempting to murder four elderly patients was motivated by a drive to free up beds, a court has heard.
Barbara Salisbury overstepped the line between humane nursing and callous dispatch when she tried to hasten their deaths, Chester Crown Court was told. A peculiar chapter of Colorado's criminal history was closed on March 9, , with the announcement that Gloria Tannenbaum, suspect in two deaths and one disappearance, had died in the state mental hospital at Pueblo. A native of tiny Woodlawn, Illinois, the future death angel of Florida grew up overweight, myopic, and painfully shy.
Her seven siblings included four brothers afflicted with muscular dystrophy, two of whom would die from the disease before Bobbie Sue reached her mid-thirties.
For a devoted mother, Marybeth Tinning seemed to have no luck at all in raising children. Investigation revealed she died of morphine and atropine poisoning.
Taunton State Hospital, since demolished. Jolly Jane Toppan went to trial for murder in the summer of She confessed to her lawyer she killed at least 31 people, perhaps as many as She claimed she started her killing spree because a boyfriend dumped her when she was A Lowell office worker gave her a promise ring, but moved to Holyoke, Mass.
An eight-hour trial took place in Barnstable County Courthouse. A jury deliberated for 27 minutes and found Jane Toppan not guilty by reason of insanity. She spent the rest of her life at Taunton State Hospital, dying on Aug.
Some attendants remembered her calling them into her room and smiling. You and I will have a lot of fun seeing them die. This story last updated in New England Historical Society. Jane Toppan. Boston Female Asylum. Young Jane Toppan. Related Items: 77 , Abraham Lincoln , Amherst , Barnstable , beer , Boston , Cambridge , Cape Cod , children , Congress , Crime , Foster , gettysburg , health , history , Holyoke , indenture , Irish , Irish-American history , law , library , Lincoln , Lowell , Lowell High School , marriage , Massachusetts , medicine , murder , nurse , nursing , poison , police , serial killer , servantt , sociopath , St.
Enlarge cover. Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Open Preview See a Problem? William Phelps. Details if other :. Thanks for telling us about the problem. Return to Book Page. Preview — Perfect Poison by M. William Phelps Goodreads Author. Get A Copy. Paperback , pages.
More Details Original Title. Northampton, Massachusetts United States. Other Editions Friend Reviews. To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.
To ask other readers questions about Perfect Poison , please sign up. Lists with This Book. Community Reviews. Showing Average rating 4. Rating details. More filters. Sort order. Nov 08, Erin Clemence rated it liked it Shelves: non-fiction-biography. Kristen Gilbert was a dedicated, hard-working nurse, admired and praised by her colleagues and peers at the Veterans Affairs Medical Centre. Yet, whenever Kristen was on shift, numerous patients began to die from sudden heart failure.
None of these patients had ever had any heart trouble before, so why were they dying? William Phelps details the grisly cases, right through to the legal proceedings that eventually brought Kristen Gilbert a life sentence. Ther Kristen Gilbert was a dedicated, hard-working nurse, admired and praised by her colleagues and peers at the Veterans Affairs Medical Centre. For me, the Kristen Gilbert case is not as well known, since it took place in the United States during the 90s, when I was more focused on boy bands and Pogs than serial killers oh how times have changed.
I do enjoy true crime novels, especially those that specifically focus on serial murderers. Needless to say, this novel was very unsettling. Kristen Gilbert is a manipulative narcissist, who killed people purely for the attention it brought her.
To target veterans made her crimes even more despicable, and there is no doubt in mind she got the justice she deserved. View 2 comments. Jun 14, Rissa rated it it was ok. Lots of thoughts on this book sadly not alot of them are good. Perfect poison uses just last names then just first names and i didnt know who was who which was really annoying. The beginning made me feel like i was reading through a doctors file which was kinda the point , but it was a little much. But i did enjoy the diseases, disabilities, and diagnosis that were mentioned and described in the book.
I enjoyed the multiple murders in the beginning and how Gilbert was named the Angel of death Lots of thoughts on this book sadly not alot of them are good. I enjoyed the multiple murders in the beginning and how Gilbert was named the Angel of death. Kristen, a nurse that is also a serial killer Kristen missed that class. The "relationship" between Perrault and Gilbert was strange at first, weird and rushed, maybe it was supposed to be.
Henry: I took 30 red pills last night and 20 this morning I drink a 12 pack of beer. They are developing the character of a schizophrenic Henry Henry Hudson so obviously Kristen is going to want to kill him or maybe fall in love with him I can't tell yet but I think he's going to be a victim and I don't want him to be a victim, i want him to live.
Lets see if im right. Wow within five pages hes dead, but did Kristen do it? Okay so if shes killing people, alot of people and everyone is just saying yeah whatever nothing we can do now. Angel of death seriously come on you people are supposed to be smart. Kristin kills another one and finally someone wants to take her down but doesnt want to say anything without evidence. Walsh good for you. I think this could be a good movie because reading Kristin killing people over and over is getting boring to read but could be speed up nicely in a movie.
Like a lifetime cheesy movie not a real movie. Thoughts throughout the book: Does this book speed up? Why is no one questioning Kristin? Angel of death come on people Last name or first name make up your damn mind. Are ture crime books supposed to be this boring?
I hate bashing books but seriously. View all 3 comments. Mar 28, Sue rated it really liked it Shelves: nonfiction , horror. Painful but important information is logged in this book. I did not find it pleasant or diverting at all and at times found the writing style abrasive and tedious. And yet, it should not be an entertaining read since it is a true story and details the losses of US veterans who were fathers, sons, brothers of people who still live in the aftermath of Kristin Gilbert's 7 year killing spree at a Veteran's Hospital in Massachusetts in the 's.
The story needed to be documented, for the sake of th Painful but important information is logged in this book. The story needed to be documented, for the sake of the vets who lost their lives; as well as their families.
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