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Harold Shipman: The Doctor of Death
Crime: Harold Shipman Non Fiction - Crime Investigated Igloo Books Ltd
- GenresNonfictionTrue Crime
224 pages, Paperback
First published March 2, 2014
4 people are currently reading
21 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
August 12, 2021
Interesting but poorly written and medically inaccurate in places.
June 12, 2022
A poorly-written book about the perplexing case of a real-life serial-killer.
Other reviews have mentioned the repetitiveness of information herein and they certainly weren't exaggerating. There's also the haphazard way in which information is distributed; sometimes leaping ahead in the timeline to share a random nugget of intel that could have waited and would have made more sense to save for later; and at other times jumping back with such suddenness I was forced to put the book down and check myself for whiplash.
And then... there's the weirdly tabloid-like remarks that creep into the narrative from time to time that left me questioning the mental age of the writer. For example, there're multiple instances when inappropriate remarks are made about the appearance of Shipman's wife (Primrose). Don't get me wrong, I feel no sympathy for Primrose as a person and she is no doubt an unattractive woman. But the fluctuation of her weight simply has nothing to do with the murders, yet the author seems adamant to imply that somehow being overweight makes you more susceptible to marrying a mass-murderer -_- Or that being unremarkable in the looks department makes you more criminally-inclined. The psychology behind Primrose's attachment to Shipman could have been a very interesting case study of what does indeed make someone more likely to bond with sociopaths, if the author hadn't settled for a rather petty tone of, "She was butters and he was a stud, so what do you expect?" I'm lieeeek...
There was also another bemusing statement about the case of a particular victim who had been known to visit Shipman's surgery very frequently. The author says something to the effect of, "Shipman put an abrupt end to so-and-so's penchant for the waiting room with an overdose of morphine." I couldn't help but feel that it was a rather disrespectful way to phrase the death of a real victim.
But anyway, for £1 I'm not awfully disappointed with this book, but I can't honestly recommend it either. In fact, I only got through it all because of some well-timed boredom.
Other reviews have mentioned the repetitiveness of information herein and they certainly weren't exaggerating. There's also the haphazard way in which information is distributed; sometimes leaping ahead in the timeline to share a random nugget of intel that could have waited and would have made more sense to save for later; and at other times jumping back with such suddenness I was forced to put the book down and check myself for whiplash.
And then... there's the weirdly tabloid-like remarks that creep into the narrative from time to time that left me questioning the mental age of the writer. For example, there're multiple instances when inappropriate remarks are made about the appearance of Shipman's wife (Primrose). Don't get me wrong, I feel no sympathy for Primrose as a person and she is no doubt an unattractive woman. But the fluctuation of her weight simply has nothing to do with the murders, yet the author seems adamant to imply that somehow being overweight makes you more susceptible to marrying a mass-murderer -_- Or that being unremarkable in the looks department makes you more criminally-inclined. The psychology behind Primrose's attachment to Shipman could have been a very interesting case study of what does indeed make someone more likely to bond with sociopaths, if the author hadn't settled for a rather petty tone of, "She was butters and he was a stud, so what do you expect?" I'm lieeeek...
There was also another bemusing statement about the case of a particular victim who had been known to visit Shipman's surgery very frequently. The author says something to the effect of, "Shipman put an abrupt end to so-and-so's penchant for the waiting room with an overdose of morphine." I couldn't help but feel that it was a rather disrespectful way to phrase the death of a real victim.
But anyway, for £1 I'm not awfully disappointed with this book, but I can't honestly recommend it either. In fact, I only got through it all because of some well-timed boredom.
July 29, 2024
Mixed views on this.
The content is really interesting if you're a true crime fan, HOWEVER, the book reads like someone fed the wikipedia page through ChatGPT or something. It's disjointed and several paragraphs are slightly rewritten versions of the paragraph before.
Irritating but yeah, it's ok.
The content is really interesting if you're a true crime fan, HOWEVER, the book reads like someone fed the wikipedia page through ChatGPT or something. It's disjointed and several paragraphs are slightly rewritten versions of the paragraph before.
Irritating but yeah, it's ok.
June 3, 2018
This book reads like a red topped newspaper in style. It rehashes information in order to bulk out what in essence we already know. It's also quite badly proof read which only leads me to believe it was hastily written in order to make a pound
November 11, 2018
A very interesting read. Loved the pictures too. However one big flaw. The writer kept backtracking over themselves and repeating thigh 3 or 4 times when it was needed. Other than that a good read.
April 8, 2023
Time taken to read - 3 days
Pages - 224
Publisher - Igloo Books Ltd
Source - Bought
Blurb from Goodreads
Crime: Harold Shipman Non Fiction - Crime Investigated Igloo Books Ltd
My Review
I don't think there are many people who are not familiar with the name Doctor Harold Shipman and his atrocities. This book takes us through his career, his marriage and the trial.
Whilst the book is less than 250 pages so not a huge book (and it has pictures in it) I took 3 days to read as I had to put it down and pick it back up a few times. The opportunities to have stopped him, investigated properly when huge red flags popped up - the lives that would have been saved, you struggle to get your mind around it.
Arrogance, no remorse, a bit of a chameleon as he would be seemingly warm, trustworthy and kind to some people but rude, cold and manipulative to others. His behaviours and the things reported in this book he got away with (and not just the horrific loss of lives/murders) abuse of power, abuse of medications - to the point he was (at least once recorded in this) found to have had blackouts and seizures and still noone really looked into him. As he progressed in his career his arrogance and confidence where in situations re flags and concerns should have been highlighted.
His family aren't discussed in too much detail, his wife does come up a bit, back when they were dating, how they came to meet and how she stood by him when everything came to light and the court case.
It is one of those books you put down and just think what if, it is heartbreakingly sad/horrific to think what he did, what he got away with, what he almost got away with and just how much he is likely responsible for overall. Not an easy read, not because it is written badly but because of what he did, someone in a position of trust and betrayal of the worst kind, 3/5 for me.
Pages - 224
Publisher - Igloo Books Ltd
Source - Bought
Blurb from Goodreads
Crime: Harold Shipman Non Fiction - Crime Investigated Igloo Books Ltd
My Review
I don't think there are many people who are not familiar with the name Doctor Harold Shipman and his atrocities. This book takes us through his career, his marriage and the trial.
Whilst the book is less than 250 pages so not a huge book (and it has pictures in it) I took 3 days to read as I had to put it down and pick it back up a few times. The opportunities to have stopped him, investigated properly when huge red flags popped up - the lives that would have been saved, you struggle to get your mind around it.
Arrogance, no remorse, a bit of a chameleon as he would be seemingly warm, trustworthy and kind to some people but rude, cold and manipulative to others. His behaviours and the things reported in this book he got away with (and not just the horrific loss of lives/murders) abuse of power, abuse of medications - to the point he was (at least once recorded in this) found to have had blackouts and seizures and still noone really looked into him. As he progressed in his career his arrogance and confidence where in situations re flags and concerns should have been highlighted.
His family aren't discussed in too much detail, his wife does come up a bit, back when they were dating, how they came to meet and how she stood by him when everything came to light and the court case.
It is one of those books you put down and just think what if, it is heartbreakingly sad/horrific to think what he did, what he got away with, what he almost got away with and just how much he is likely responsible for overall. Not an easy read, not because it is written badly but because of what he did, someone in a position of trust and betrayal of the worst kind, 3/5 for me.
August 14, 2020
This was okay. Although there was a lot of unneeded repetition and the author talked about a couple of medical terms and diagnoses as if you should already be aware of them which got a bit confusing.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews