Thank you NetGalley and Thread Books for the eARC in exchange for my honest review.

“Eating without Hunger, or pandering to Appetite at the expense of Digestion makes Disease inevitable.” ~ Dr. Linda Burfield Hazzard “Starvation Doctor”

This book was bizarre and so incredibly interesting. Dr. Linda Burfield Hazzard is a “fasting specialist” aka fraud without a proper medical degree. She wrote and published her own book in 1908 titled, “Fasting for the Cure of Disease.” Her book boasted how she could cure basically any disease (including cancer and paralysis) for those who followed her strict fasting protocol for 40-50 days, which included daily hours long enemas, osteopathic massage, and a diet of small amounts of tomato soup and orange juice. More than 15 people died while under her care. She’s considered to be Washington’s first female serial killer.
Dr. Hazzard was a master manipulator and fraud, not a doctor. She only wanted wealthy patients in hopes of gaining their fortunes to open a grand sanitarium in Olalla, WA.
This book was sad and mind-blowing that this was even taking place in the 1900s, and that this woman could treat patients without a proper medical license.

Highly recommend! Gregg Olsen did an amazing job writing this book! Loved all the research!

Thank you NetGalley and Thread Books!

Dr. Hazzard's lack of remorse or even acknowledgement of her wrong doings is truly mind blowing. I really enjoyed that Starvation Heights really got into the criminal proceedings and really focused in on the court sessions with high detail it really brought this story together.

This however is just a book that that makes you ask, why? Why do people do the things they do? Why do people get away as long as they do? Why do people just sit back and watch horrendous acts take place? Why do we live in world where this type of crime takes place? Why do people think it is ok to take advantage of the sick and vulnerable?

Why? Why? Why?

Overall, a very fascinating and intriguing story.

Oh the obsession with health and the obsession with looks. Hundreds die every year because of this obsessions we have been told are normal. This book is just a reminder on this. How many have used the obsession of people about health and looks to take money and don't care about health or looks at all? How many have offered amazing diets or "new ideas" so people who are obsessed and in need of all that just fall for it and end up sick or simply die? This is unbelievable.

I have read some reviews of people saying how strange it was that "educated" rich people fell for these things. But, in all honesty, here I don't think it is just a money thing. This obsessions are for everyone. And narcissists adore people they can take something from. What better that rich people with a weakness?

This book also talks about law and justice. It also talks about what a risk it is to just "follow the new trends" as we are basically unprotected against those people creating them. It also talks about how hard it is to make someone responsible for murder, how short sentences are in some cases and how we need to really be careful.

This is a really good and amazingly well researched story that will teach us a lot. I had to read it slowly as ita a heavy read but it was simply a great part of history ghat has-been repeated too often. As I have always said... WE SHOULD READ MORE OF HISTORY, NOT TO REPEAT IT.

This books was published on 19th January 2023 ⭐️ and you can find it on Kindle Unlimited!!!!!

Thank you Thread books, Gregg Olsen and netgalley for the arc of the book!!!

Starvation Heights was the nickname the locals gave to the "spa" in the hills above their town. The "spa" where all the rich people lost their money and some their lives.
Gregg Olsen tells a story in his books. Whether fiction or non-fiction, the stories are fascinating. I have read many of his books and the non-fiction all set the tone with the question......how could this have happened? In small town America, where everyone knows their neighbors and their neighbor's business, how did one woman manage to damage so many lives for so long? Mr Olsen follows two sisters who check into this facility and how one sister managed to escape her death and bring down the doctor's secrets. The aftermath is just as fascinating, watching as the doctor justifies her treatments to a jury until the walls start to crack and leak their secrets. As long as Gregg Olsen keeps writing, I'll keep reading his books. I've not found a bad one yet.

Horrifying and depraved. Gregg Olsen has a way of writing that brings you to the darkest depths of humanity while still making the story fast paced and unputdownable (that's a word right?) There is always light sprinkled through the book that gives you a bit of hope. This book was really well done!

A disturbing true crime cracker.. Two sisters travel to starvation heights to ungo a fasting treatment. Starvation heights is more than it appears. Murder remains hidden and then a fight for justice.

A true story that shows how far the world has come. Excellent character development woven into a good descriptive backdrop helps you relive the horror throught the eyes of all the characters throughout the years.

The book shines with excellent research. I felt like I was there reliving the story. Determined to see it through to the end.
It is always a pleasure to read a true crime which is well written beautifully executed. I look forward to your next one

I love true crime and to go with that I really enjoyed Starvation Heights. The story of Dr. Hazzard and her “cure” for illness through fasting (although she was no actual doctor) was new to me and I’d never heard of it before. So this story was a fresh perspective for me. It is set in the early 1900s. I am a proponent of fasting but what this “doctor’s” patients endured was so much more horrific than what we call fasting today. The harrowing true stories or her patients as accounted by Olsen had me reeling. Feeling both anger and sadness. If you like true crime this is a must read.

I always love a True Crime book! When I'm looking for a true crime book I always go to Gregg Olsen! So when I had the opportunity to read this ARC I was so happy. This book was really interesting since this was set back in 1911. It's always crazy to think crime was around back in the so called simpler times. But this was another well done story and I was also able to listen to the Audiobook. I would recommend this to a true crime fan.

Thanks NetGalley and Thread Books for allowing me to read this ARC,

Gregg Olsen's true crime books are an auto-buy for me -- I was captivated by If You Tell and American Mother, so I look forward to any chance to read another of his narrative journalistic nonfiction works. In Starvation Heights, Olsen details a harrowing torture "sanitorium" run by "Dr." Linda Hazzard. Hazzard's cure-all? Strict fasting diets that leave those under her care completely emaciated, some of them dying as their organs and bodies shut down from lack of nourishment. Sisters Clara and Dora Williamson, heiresses to a fortune and with little to do, find Hazzard's methods intriguing and are looking to try anything they think may cure their ails. But after a severe fast that leaves one sister dead, it's up to the sisters' long-time nanny and caregiver to save them from a woman who knows nothing about saving people and only seems to be after their money. This wasn't my favorite of Olsen's nonfiction works, but still interesting and worth the read for true crime fans. Olsen knows how to weave a story and shock readers.

**Thank you, NetGalley and publishers, for a DRC in exchange for an honest review.**

I was really hoping this would delve into the life and background of Dr. Linda Hazzard more. Since Gregg Olsen is local to the Kitsap Peninsula, I was really excited to see how he would cover the history of the area and how this all came to be. We spent so much time focusing on the trial that everything else felt like an afternthough, for example, only a very brief exploration of the fire that destroyed the sanatorium was done. The focus on Claire and Dora Williamson got a little monotonous. I wish it would have dug into some of the other victims of Dr. Hazzard.

I have enjoyed other work by the author and will continue to pick up his books, however this specific title was a let down.

The story was intriguing and it’s what kept me reading. The writing was initially pretty interesting and captivating but quickly became dull and difficult to follow. I was disappointed that the author chose to focus on one particular patient/s story rather than exploring more of the motives and psychology of why it happened, and also went pretty heavy on the boring stuff and skimmed over the interesting stuff. Overall it was a fairly good read but I probably wouldn’t recommend it to anyone.

Thank you to #NetGalley for the copy of #StarvationHeights by #GreggOlson
They say truth is stranger than fiction and this story is a case in point.
It amazes me how evil some people are, and how some perfectly rational people can be so gullible.
A very good real crime book.

There have always been plans and programs to live your best life, marketed and hawked to vulnerable, gullible buyers.
Starvation Heights highlights a great charlatan who sold recipients a bill of goods, promising extreme fasting would bring relief from a litany of medical ailments.
It didn’t surprise me when I read the outcome or the outrage that followed.
It’s an interesting look at 20th century chicanery and hoodwinking.

Fascinating! I wasnt sure how I was going to like this one since it is a much older true crime from the early 1900s, but i found it incredibly gripping. I have never heard of this case before now. its extremely disturbing and i'm surprised it is not more notorious, then again i do live on the east coast so who knows. I thought it was very well written and well paced.

I chose to read this because in the past I have enjoyed reading from Gregg Olsen before. I was not disappointed this time around. I've been in the true crime community for years now and I've only now learned the details of the Starvation Heights/ Dr. Laura Hazzard case. Olsen certainly knows how to set the scene. He has a beautiful writing style even though his works are based on gruesome and disturbing incidents. That being said there were some weird jumps in the story that made it jarring and the first few chapters were repetitive. Other than that the writing itself was great. Laura Hazzard makes for a fascinating villain. She was delusional, cruel and obnoxiously good at manipulating. I think she'd be a fabulous cult leader. I find it disgusting what she did and I find it worse that the state of Washington was content in letting her continue. I understand it was the early 1900s but still. Anyway, If you like books with a lot of court scenes and beautiful writing, check this one out.

This is one of those rare novels that manages to be deeply informative and a page-turner at the same time. Greg Olson has managed to juggle a shocking early 20th century criminal case with compelling characters and intriguing history to relate a true story relatively unknown to most of us.

The real life characters, two wealthy British sisters lured by the promise of health and vitality and the “Doctor” in whom they placed their trust, are brought to life with luminous clarity managing to preserve the reader’s curiosity while controlling the flow of information and turning this small bit of Pacific Northwest history into a fascinating read.

STARVATION HEIGHTS is a powerful brew of intrigue laden history, mystery and suspense with casual details that suddenly take on surprising significance all served up to reveal a tale so dark and shocking that it literally takes your breath away. This is a narrative that delivers as only Greg Olson can.

Gregg Olsen couldn’t write a bad book if he tried. Starvation Heights reads like a crime novel rather than a piece of historical non fiction and I devoured it in a few days.
It’s a fascinating case that I’d never heard of and Olsen weaves the various sources and witnesses of the time into a chronological and suspenseful tale.
A must read for all true crime fans.

@greggolsen has written another truly disturbing true crime book, with this one focusing on the Dr. who starved her patients in the early 1900s. I bounced between the e-book and audiobook for this one. This true crime story is not one that I was aware of and is well researched.

Thank you @threadbooks and @netgalley for allowing me to read and listen to this book in exchange for my honest review.

I was introduced to the true story of Claire and Dora Williamson through a YouTube video by Caitlyn Doughty on her Ask A Mortician channel. She recommended this book for further reading and information on the horrors of this story. Its hard to believe this is true, but Gregg Olsen does a wonderful job of laying out this story. He is a master at telling the story of people "caught in extraordinary circumstances". (Goodreads bio) I found myself wondering how Dr. Hazard (yep, that's the name) kept getting away with the thing he she did. I'm glad to have been introduced to Greg Olsen and have already set my sights of a couple more I'd like to read from him.

Thanks to NetGalley for the digital review copy.

Starvation Heights was very fascinating, but also extremely disturbing. It’s hard to think that this is based off a true story because it is just chilling. The author does a fantastic job on telling the story, and it honestly reads like fiction novel. It keeps you totally engrossed and wanting to read just one more chapter.