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A review by shesjamesevans
The Poisoner's Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York by Deborah Blum
3.0
As a Medical Detectives fan, I loved the historical context of this book. I liked the structure and see the development of forensics in America and learn about chemistry, politics and history.
That said… the prose is not good at all. It particularly bothers me in books where hard facts exists, that authors feel the need to add colourful notes everywhere, things that they cannot know that had happened.
It also goes on every tangent. The Radium chapter for example, most of the chapter is not about Radium at all.
We don’t need to read the 26 (I counted) types of cigarettes they had back then, and examples like that it’s most like to say “look at what I’ve researched!” than adding anything valuable.
The tone is weird. It goes to romanticised scenes and people to give you a chemical description of a poison.
As I said, the book has great information and I’ve learned tons. I wish the narration hasn’t been so distracting. It really took away from all the good hard data.
That said… the prose is not good at all. It particularly bothers me in books where hard facts exists, that authors feel the need to add colourful notes everywhere, things that they cannot know that had happened.
It also goes on every tangent. The Radium chapter for example, most of the chapter is not about Radium at all.
We don’t need to read the 26 (I counted) types of cigarettes they had back then, and examples like that it’s most like to say “look at what I’ve researched!” than adding anything valuable.
The tone is weird. It goes to romanticised scenes and people to give you a chemical description of a poison.
As I said, the book has great information and I’ve learned tons. I wish the narration hasn’t been so distracting. It really took away from all the good hard data.