This started off so good, I was gripped by the sisters and what they were going through. Sadly, around half way through it completely lost my interest, talking about the trials and going back to tell the stories of each person, which I understand is important in the bigger picture but it became a bit stagnant for me personally. Very sad story though, what awful people!

Thank you to #NetGalley, Thread Books and Gregg Olsen for the opportunity to read an advance copy of STARVATION HEIGHTS, to be published 19 January. This true crime novel is disturbing on so many levels, I find it difficult to read or comment on it. What comes to mind is my psychology training and the historical word hysteria. The souls in this book are disturbed by hysteria, now known as Conversion Disorder. It’s a sad, sad situation that unnerves me to no end. I elected to read this book based on the author. Unfortunately, this is very different from the psychological thrillers he usually writes. I was disappointed because the content was so disturbing. #NetGalley #StarvationHeights #GreggOlsen

This book was a little slower than Gregg Olsen's books, but was still good. The story is captivating and troubling. Scary things happened and I wanted to learn more.

Super interesting but then I got lost in the court details. I can’t believe this was a real event.

Thanks NetGalley for this arc

The book is written primarily around Claire and Dora Williamson as patients of Linda Burfield Hazzard and her starvation treatments. The book is so sad and I just wanted to shake every one of Mrs. Hazzard's patients (I will not give her the title of Dr. as she was so far from that). This happened many many years ago but the one thing that I find amazing if you actually do some research there are people that believe in these types of treatments today. Maybe not to this extreme with the beatings (but maybe) and the massive starvation to the point of being unrecognizable but I know I have heard stories of things like this and then the "provider" taking advantage of the patient and trying to being their power of attorney and taking advantage of their patients. There are a lot of providers in our world that believe in what they do with really no factual basis and when people are desperate people will follow anyone and I believe that is what Claire and Dora did. I believe that is what a lot of her patients did. The book was well researched and I liked the details of how all of the players were part of this story. I have read 2 of his books so far and will read more.

When Claire and Dora travel to see Dr. Hazzard to be cured from all their perceived ailments, they never expect what will become of them. They will be slowly robbed and starved to death under the idea of healing.

Fasting is still a popular diet many use today. This is a true story of taking that idea way too far. I enjoyed this book, as I usually do true crime, but my biggest complaint is that it was so long!

I liked this one more than I expected. It almost read like a novel to me. I had never heard of Linda Hazzard before, and I found the details of her crimes pretty shocking. As others have mentioned, I think there could have been more of an opportunity to explore her motives and history in depth. Overall a very interesting read.

A Turkey horrific tale which more people need to be aware of, this novel was heartbreaking and I was so angry at times I had to put it down before continuing. What those poor people suffered is disgusting but it is a tale which needs to be told

I'm a sucker for true crime. And especially a sucker for true crime told/written like a story.

Starvation Heights, however, was not a great book for me. It felt like it was written by a man who doesn't know how to write women, especially women from another time. Of course, the story was interesting, so if you could get past poorly written characters, it was pretty good!

This true crime book tells the story of Dr. Linda Burfield Hazzard, an advocate of the 'fasting cure' for illness. Though Linda called herself 'doctor' she had no medical training and obtained the honorific by suing for the title in court.

In 1911, two British heiresses, Dora and Claire Williamson, decided to partake of Hazzard's fasting remedy. The Williamson sisters leaned toward hypochondria, and always imagined they had some ailment or another. The siblings also believed in natural methods of healing. Thus when Dora and Claire read Hazzard's book 'Fasting for the Cure of Disease', they decided to check into the doctor's clinic in Olalla, Washington, a rural community west of Seattle.

Most residents of Olalla were Swedish and Norwegian farmers and loggers, and Linda's 'Institute For Natural Therapeutics' - which at the time consisted of a couple of half-built cabins - was almost hidden in the rustic countryside. Linda eventually built her sanitarium, which could house many patients.

Hazzard's patients were permitted to eat only a few spoons of light vegetable broth, and were subjected to daily enemas, burning hot baths, vigorous osteopathic massage (slapping and punching), and more. The stated goal was to rid the body of toxins - a process that took months - after which healing could occur. The actual consequences to Hazzard's patients was starvation, and skeletal inmates of the clinic, who could barely stand up, were sometimes seen shuffling or crawling down the road for 'exercise.' The Williamson sisters had absolute faith in Linda's regimen, and willingly subjected themselves to the heinous fasting therapy.

While Dora and Claire lost pound after pound - and their health declined - Hazzard squirreled away the siblings' valuable jewels and used trickery and forgery to gain access to their money. This type of chicanery was part of Hazzard's modus operandi, and she and her husband Sam enriched themselves at the expense of Linda's patients, many of whom died. One of Hazzard's victims was Washington politician and publisher Lewis Ellsworth Rader, who died after 37 days of the fasting treatment.

Claire was literally at death's door when she finally wised up and managed to sneak out a letter, addressed to her former nurse Margaret Conway in Australia, asking for help. Conway took a ship to America and made her way to Olalla, where she found that Claire had died, and Dora, who now weighed about 60 pounds, was at the edge of death. With some difficulty, Margaret was able to rescue Dora from Hazzard's clutches, and Dora and Margaret became determined to bring Hazzard to justice for killing Claire.

Prosecuting Linda was easier said than done for several reasons: Hazzard had devoted advocates who believed in her treatment; Hazzard was a loud assertive woman who intimidated people; and Hazzard seemed to exercise an almost hypnotic power over her patients and people around her.

Moreover, on some level Hazzard REALLY believed in the fasting regimen. She claimed there was a conspiracy against her, insisting that medical school graduates (all men at the time) attacked her because she was a woman with an innovative form of therapy. As a result, Olalla authorities were VERY reluctant to prosecute Hazzard, believing they couldn't win. Even so, Linda was eventually brought to trial.

The man who fought hardest to get Linda prosecuted for murdering Claire Williamson was British Vice-Consul Lucian Agassiz, who was aghast at the murder of a British subject. Agassiz interviewed witnesses; lined up evidence; researched the scandalous history of Hazzard's husband Sam, who was a bigamist and con-man; helped raise funds for the lawsuit; recruited attorneys; wrote letters to various officials, including the governor; and so on. Agassiz also 'followed the money', exposing Linda's greed and thievery.

Hazzard was eventually brought to trial, and the affair made headlines across the British Empire. In Olalla, Linda became a kind of bogeyman legend, with horror stories about her 'Starvation Heights' institute circulating for decades.

As the story unfolds we get flashbacks to the history of the major characters, including aspects of Linda's childhood in Minnesota; Linda meeting and marrying suave handsome Sam Hazzard - a West Point graduate whose dishonorable behavior ruined a promising career; the Hazzards relocating to Washington to escape scandal and build their institute; and more.

The most unbelievable and (and terrifying) aspect of the story is Linda's ability to get away with her murderous therapy for so long. After all, Olallans could see emaciated dying patients with their own eyes, and - for whatever reason - elected to look the other way. Moreover, Hazzard fought back against her 'enemies' every step of the way, and was certain she would prevail in the end.

Much has been written about Linda Burfield Hazzard and Starvation Heights but Gregg Olsen's book is an in-depth treatment that's well worth reading.

Thanks to Netgalley, Gregg Olsen, and Thread Books for a copy of the manuscript.

Let me start by saying Olsenn’s book If You Tell was my favorite nonfiction read of 2022. I was so excited to start Starvation Heights, but unfortunately this book ended up being a slog to get through. The first part telling the story of Dora and Claire and interesting and rather well paced, but it went downhill from there. The middle was boring and almost made me give up and DNF this one, but I pressed on in hopes it would get better. As a lawyer, I enjoyed the way the trial scenes were written but from a reader’s perspective it dragged on too long. TLDR/: compelling story but far too long to keep my interest

🕯️BOOK REVIEW!!🕯️
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-Starvation Heights by Gregg Olsen-
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-Overview-

In this true story—a haunting saga of medical murder set in an era of steamships and gaslights—Gregg Olsen reveals one of the most unusual and disturbing criminal cases in American history.

In 1911 two wealthy British heiresses, Claire and Dora Williamson, arrived at a sanitorium in the forests of the Pacific Northwest to undergo the revolutionary “fasting treatment” of Dr. Linda Burfield Hazzard. It was supposed to be a holiday for the two sisters, but within a month of arriving at what the locals called Starvation Heights, the women underwent brutal treatments and were emaciated shadows of their former selves. 

Claire and Dora were not the first victims of Linda Hazzard, a quack doctor of extraordinary evil and greed. But as their jewelry disappeared and forged bank drafts began transferring their wealth to Hazzard’s accounts, the sisters came to learn that Hazzard would stop at nothing short of murder to achieve her ambitions.

-Thoughts-
I am a huge fan of Gregg Olsen, especially when it comes to his true crime novels. Starvation Heights is a well written account that reads like a novel, yet depicts the insane true story of Dr. Linda Burfield and her insane crimes, along with the stories of the victims and people who sought to help. If you live true crime this is definitely for you!

All that was left of Doctor Linda Hazzard’s sanitarium was the foundation and the masonry incinerator that swelled from the ground like a huge grave marker. A perfect row of old firs and pines lined up like sentinels along the road. Every one of the trees marked the spot where the doctor had buried each of her victims.
In 1911 two wealthy British heiresses, Claire, and Dora Williamson, arrived at an unfinished sanitarium in the forests of Olalla, Washington to undergo the revolutionary "fasting treatment" of Doctor Linda Burfield Hazzard. It was supposed to be a holiday for the two sisters, but within a month of arriving at what the locals called ‘Starvation Heights’, the women underwent brutal, evasive procedures and became emaciated shadows of their former selves. How did Hazzard persuade the sisters to undergo such monstrous treatments? And why, on Claire’s deathbed, did Dora, near to death herself, still hold such an extreme belief in Hazzard’s methods? I don’t normally read true crime but this one was worth it. I thought the story seemed familiar and it was because I had read it around 10 years ago. This is a reissue by another publisher and a new cover. Some of the story has been updated. It’s an interesting story and worth the reread. Thank you NetGalley for the advanced readers copy for review.

Originally published in 2005. then again in 2012; this new 2023 edition comes with new cover art from Thread Books. Starvation Heights tells the true story of Dr. Linda Hazzard who wrote the book, “Fasting for the Cure of Disease.” Dr. Hazzard built the Hazzard Institute of Natural Therapeutics in Olalla, Washington; a sanitarium to house the patients she was treating with her fasting regimen. Gregg Olsen writes of two sisters in 1910 who became patients of Dr. Hazzard with one dying by her treatments. Was Dr. Hazzard purposely starving her patients to gain their money and assets?

Dr. Hazzard believed numerous medical ailments were brought on by “poisons” in the body and consuming meat. Her cure was a mixture of aggressive fasting, bodily beatings and enemas. This treatment could last more than forty days but the promised result was “perfect health.” While this process sounds unrealistic to achieve the desired results, it’s still the core of many fad diets today. Dr. Hazzard’s methods are still relevant especially when so many are seeking homeopathic alternatives to conventional medicine.

I’d previously heard of this case described in a podcast and was looking forward to a book providing more detail. The book is definitely well researched but the author has a habit of repeating facts that have already been established over and over again, it makes certain parts of the book exhausting and unnecessary. The writing style makes this a rather slow read overdone with repetition and unneeded flowery adjectives throughout. Also some of the descriptions and comparisons are rather rudimentary and badly written. The most engaging parts of the book were learning about how Dr. Hazzard and her husband first met and the trial described in Part 3. It was almost as if those chapters were written by someone else. While the crime is fascinating the writing is not. I’ve read another book by Gregg Olsen and it seems he doesn’t know when to stop writing; his books, like this one, tend to be 100 pages too many.

Thank you to Thread Books for this ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I found this book to be evocative and descriptive. At each and every turn the author did an excellent job at setting the scene. The personalities of the two girls who applied for treatment was very will depicted, and the tale was very creepy and gothic. Their "treatment" was just awful, and it's horrible when you consider this is a work of nonfiction, and that the events actually happened in real life.

Unfortunately I haven't got to the end of this book as yet because the book is rather slow, and I prefer my stories to move much faster, although I may return to it in the future.

Gregg Olsen is the master of true crime. This is my 3rd true crime by him and it does not disappoint! His writing and storytelling sucks me in better than any documentary. The story itself is crazy but so well researched its believable.

Imagine someone who believed that a starvation diet was the cure to anything that ailed you? That was the motto or philosophy of Dr. Linda Burfield Hazzard, an osteopath who practiced her form of medicine, in the state of Washington. Attracted by Dr Hazzard's approach, two sisters, Claire and Dora Williamson, decided to follow the good doctor and go for the "cure." The two wealthy sisters were proponents of natural medicine, and Dr Hazzard seem to offer that to them.

The "good" doctor took the sisters into her home,promising that a sanatorium was being built that would house them as the path to a cure would be followed. Dr Hazzard, her husband, Sam Hazzard, (another evil natured man, a swindler, forger, scandalous bigamist, and more death!)
and staff put these women on a diet that would actually cause people to starve to death which is exactly what happened to Claire and other patients of the doctor.

Many prominent people flocked to her, however, between 1907 to 1913, fourteen patients perished. These patients withered away, and perhaps quite interestingly were people who had money and possessions, which supposedly they had turned over to the doctor. Hazzard labeled herself the "Fasting Specialist", but many of these patients died alone under her care.

Suits were brought against Hazzard through Dora Williamson, who herself nearly died until her trusted nurse arrived. However, Hazzard had her followers and it was as if the believers formed a type of cult. Hazzard maintained her innocence with both a sense of entitlement, filled with a sense of inflated self and denial, that was repugnant to many.

She was convicted of the murder of Claire, but only served two years, was released, went to another country where she and her husband amassed money enough to build her dream sanitarium back home. In a twist of righteous fate of greed once again, the place burned down and years later Hazzard died while supposedly practicing her cure. Her husband had already become and alcoholic and a womanizer.

These two despicable people seemed to be able to escape the full hammer of justice they deserved and I found it hard to believe that Hazzard convinced many of the benefit of fasting for forty days and beyond with just a bit a broth and perhaps sips of orange juice, and of course the daily enemas.

This was a well researched story that was fascinating in its detail (although a bit long) It was truly amazing that there were a bevy of people who defended Hazzard's behavior. Greed, avarice, and a god like temperament followed Hazzard all of her days.
The deceased under Hazzard's care
1907 Lenora J. Wilcox
1908 Daisy Maud Haglund (The mother of Ivar’s Restaurants founder, Ivar Haglund. Ivar was taken to Hazzard for treatments, even after Daisy’s death.)
1909 Blanche B. Tindall
1909 Viola Heaton
1909 Eugene Stanley Wakelin (Did not die of starvation, but was found dead of a bullet wound on Hazzard’s property. Linda Hazzard had power of attorney over his estate.)
1910 Lydia Maude Whitney
1910 Earl Edward Erdman
1911 Frank Stuart Southard (Prominent attorney with the firm of Morris, Southard and Shipley. His law partner publically defended Linda Hazzard.)
1911 Edward S. Harrison (Publisher of Alaska-Yukon Magazine and Hazzard’s book, Fasting for the Cure of Disease.)
1911 John Ivan Flux
1911 Lewis Ellsworth Rader (Washington Legislator, 1895. Rader granted Wilderness Heights to Linda Hazzard.)
1911 Claire Williamson
1913 Ida Julia Anderson
1913 Mary T. Bailey
1925 Leonard Ritter

Thanksyou to Gregg Olsen, Thread Books, and NetGalley for a copy of this amazing story.

I had never heard of Dr Hazzard and her fasting cure, so I was intrigued to read this book.
This booked shocked me, made me angry ,broke my heart and made me cry. This was a difficult read at times and at times I had to remind myself that this was not fiction but HISTORICAL FACT!!!!
This is story of two wealthy sisters, Claire and Dora Williamson who fell under the spell of Dr Hazzard and her fasting treatment. We have all tried faddy diets which promise fast results but Dr Hazzard and husband are on another level, and as far as she was concerned the treatment was working and she was doing nothing wrong.
The court case was an eye opener to say the least. A fight over who was going to pay for this mammoth case. Personally I have never read a book like this before and will stay with me long after I have turned the last page. Chilling, abhorrent heart braking and so much more. Read this book I promise you will not believe what you are reading. Highly recommended!!!!!!
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC in return for giving an honest review.

I love a good true crime story and this is not disappoint ! Gregg Olsen knocks it out of the park again !

These are the kind of non-fiction books I love reading. The 'strange but true' stories that my dad loved reading and then would terrify me by re-telling on long road trips. Half of me wouldn't/couldn't believe him - and the other half of me couldn't wait to get home to run to the bookmobile to ask my friendly librarian to find a book about the topic for me.

Starvation Heights has everything I want in a book - rich people, fanatics, doctors and crazy cures, money scams, murder, missing bodies, etc etc. It's everything. Gregg Olsen is a master at weaving all of these facts into a readable story, rather than a series of facts.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review this book.