First published 2013
Charles Graeber investigates the case of Charlie Cullen, a registered nurse who murdered as many as 300 patients over sixteen years. Working across nine hospitals in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, Cullen appeared to be a model caregiver, beloved by colleagues and patients alike. The media called him "The Angel of Death" after his 2003 arrest, but Cullen was neither a mercy killer nor a simple monster. He was a father, husband, and trusted healthcare worker whose quiet exterior concealed a compulsion to kill. Graeber spent nearly ten years researching this case, drawing on police records, interviews, wiretap recordings, and exclusive conversations with Cullen himself. The investigation reveals how two Newark homicide detectives and a courageous fellow nurse worked to expose Cullen's crimes. The book examines not only Cullen's deadly career but also the medical system that enabled him to move between hospitals undetected. This true crime investigation shows how one man exploited the trust patients place in their caregivers.
Genres: medical, crime, non-fiction, true-crime
Vibes: dark, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: unreliable-narrator
Setting: New Jersey, Pennsylvania
Period: 2003
307 pages · Hardcover · Twelve
Content warnings: medical-trauma, murder