Reviews tagging 'Death'

Starvation Heights: A True Story of Murder and Malice in the Woods of the Pacific Northwest by Gregg Olsen

5 reviews

danimacuk's review against another edition

challenging informative slow-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Eating disorder, Forced institutionalization, Medical trauma, and Death

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Physical abuse, Murder, Confinement, and Chronic illness

Minor: Classism, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Sexism, and Suicide

avidreaderandgeekgirl's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

4.0

     The narration was amazing for a non-fiction book. The book also kept me interested and engaged. I would have liked to know what happened with the sisters' estate in more clear terms. I'm shocked but not that this woman was never truly stopped. It's horrifying. 
       As someone who's struggled with disordered eating, I know how little function you have when you limit calories to an extreme. So I can understand how she manipulated people when their brains weren't functioning properly. When you're not getting enough food your body shuts down complex thoughts and the like, to direct calories/nutrition to essential tasks like breathing.
Overall a very interesting and horrifying book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Vomit, Toxic friendship, Terminal illness, Physical abuse, Medical trauma, Medical content, Body horror, Alcoholism, Toxic relationship, Sexism, Emotional abuse, Eating disorder, Grief, Excrement, Confinement, Body shaming, Death, and Chronic illness

swalk's review against another edition

dark informative reflective sad slow-paced

2.75

In 1910 Linda Burrfield Hazzard is the foremost Fasting Specialist in Tacoma. She advertises herself as an expert in fasting & dietic care, which can be utilised as the cure for any ailment, mental, physical, and moral.


Wealthy British heiresses Dora & Claire Williamson are living in America when they discover one of Hazzard’s books. Becoming enthralled by the concepts and having some minor illness, they decide to write to the specialist for advice. By 1911 both women have agreed to go to her sanitarium - Wilderness Heights for intensive treatment to be transformed into peak physical health.


Once under Hazzard’s care for some time, the specialist began to tell many of her patients that she should be responsible for storing their valuables and land deeds for safekeeping, She was also in charge of their communications, essentially cutting them off from the outside world and taking charge of all property and affairs.

Whilst this is obviously an excellently researched book, retelling the devastating stories of people under the care of Linda Hazzard. I feel like it is much longer than necessary with quite a few inane details and repeats included. In my opinion it would be better if it was edited down to at most 2/3 the length.


The narrator is reasonably good, but has some rather questionable accents.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Physical abuse, and Death

bayleyburgess's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious sad medium-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Eating disorder, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Murder

atariakana's review

dark informative slow-paced

3.75

An interesting if at times a bit slow read. Good for true crime fans that are more interested in the crime than the criminal.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder and Death

This is a nonfiction book about a woman who ran a "clinic" claiming that extreme fasting woud fix the body's ailments. As such there are graphic depictions of starvation and its effects.