This book was pretty average for me, it was really interesting don't get me wrong but I struggled with the writing which I wasn't expecting since I've enjoyed another of the author's books. It felt a little bit everywhere, there were so many POV's which we just seemed to jump from one to another over and over again and it was a bit too repetitive for me.

I really like this author. However I just did not enjoy this book. I felt like it was very repetitive, and very slow.
I think this is a very great topic and feel like others will really appreciate this book!

Thanks to NetGalley and to the publishers of this book for giving me a free advance copy of the book to preview in exchange for my honest review.

I have read good works of fiction by Gregg Olsen before and this true crime tale was definitely worth reading.

In the early 1900's , as is true today ,many were looking for alternatives to western medicine. Wealthy British Heiresses Claire & Dora Williamson sought just that at a Sanitarium in the beautiful Pacific Northwest. Dr Linda Burfield Hazzard , was a self proclaimed " fasting specialist" who purported to be able to heal anything. The sisters decided as part of an extensive holiday they would seek Dr Hazzards treatment after visiting relatives in California. Within a month of checking into what the locals called "Starvation Heights" the sisters were unrecognizable, emaciated and in dire health. They weren't the first patients to face death at the hands of Dr Hazzard her evil and greed seemed to grow daily . As they became weaker their jewelry and belongings and money began to disappear. The whole story is akin to the worst sort of horror movie and yet it is real.

Thanks to Gregg Olsen and Thread Books for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

A very long drawn out and partially repetitive (i.e. the nurse was like a mother to the girls) novel where a nefarious doctor is starving her patients to death. Some want to be starved, hanging on the hope that if they continue their fast a bit longer, the results will be better. Others, are starved to death, with their autopsies showing that their illness was due to shrunken organs.

Also, the term for menstruation, 'period' wasn't coined until the 1930s, and this book uses it in the 1910s.

Financial, Starvation’s, Murder And Torture
Greg Olson has written another excellent true crime books and from the very first page of his latest book Greg Olson does not disappoint. The book is extremely engaging as the story unfolds and draws you in to a very disturbing story of The Doctor Who Starved Her Patients to Death.
The story unfolds in Olalla, Washington which is a quiet community located in Kitsap County which is a small town that is a very peaceful place to live. None of the neighbours would ever imagines that Olalla would ever be the site of two people so very sinister and evil.
Doctor Linda Burfield Hazzard and her husband Sam Hazzard ran a Sanatarium back in the early 1900s. Linda Hazzard’s theory was that any disease could be cured by fasting, which meant going for weeks, and sometimes months on end without food. Some saw Linda Hazzard as a woman ahead of her time who was a brilliant and gifted healer whilst others were certain she was a fiend. Sam her husband was a bigamist, a forgery of checks a drunk and had spent time in jail.
In 1911 two wealthy British heiresses came to a Sanatarium near Seattle to undergo the revolutionary fasting treatment of Linda Burfield Hazzard. But within a month of arriving at what the locals called "Starvation Heights," both women were emaciated and where shadows of their former selves, starving groaning in pain from the harsh pummelling they received from Linda, and they were both close to death.
Williamson had fallen into the hands of Doctor Hazzard, a woman of extraordinary evil and greed who would stop at nothing short of murder to achieve her ambitions. It was in this house in Olalla, that Claire Williamson breathed her last breath. The ambitious doctor was alleged to have intentionally starved Claire Williamson to death to gain control of her family's considerable Fortune. Claire weighed less than 50 pounds, when she died. Claire's diamond rings were slipped from her emaciated fingers and put into Linda Hazzard's jewellery box. Claires gold fillings and crowns were pulled from her teeth and sold to a local dentist, and other items of Claire like her gowns found their way into the doctor Hazzard’s wardrobe.
Within days of Claire's death, Doctor Hazzard met with county officials seeking guardianship for Dora Williamson. Linda new that once she accomplished this that she would control the entire Williamson estate. When confronted about Claire Williamson death Doctor Linda Burfield Hazzard insisted her patient's weight had nothing to do with her demise and Linda Hazzard told Dora that it was her dead sister's last wish that she spends the rest of her days at the Sanatarium. She tried to convince Dora that she was so unbalanced and insane and that she couldn't possibly care for herself and should remain in Olalla permanently.
Dora Williamson had earlier sent a last desperate plea to a friend in Australia, begging her to save them from the brutal treatments and lonely isolation of Starvation Heights. After Dora was removed from the Sanatarium and slowly nursed back to health by her friend they contacted the British consul who took a personal interest in the case. Eventually the Kitsap county prosecutors press charges against both Linda and Sam. Sadly though even though Linda Hazzard is only found guilty of manslaughter and does not serve very much time. After both Linda and Sam Hazzard leave for New Zealand, they only stay a few years then they go back to live in Olalla and buy the same Sanatarum once again and both start rebuilding Starvation Heights to be bigger and grander than it ever was before for more unsuspecting believers to receive brutal treatment at both their hands.
Starvation Heights would be one of the best books I have read in a long time. Thanks to NetGalley and to the publishers of this book for giving me a free advance copy of the book to preview in exchange for my honest review.

I went into this with high expectations but it fell flat for me. Gregg Olsen is a master story teller of often gruesome true tales and this was also the case. A doctor methodically starves her patients with no remorse and it’s awful to imagine but for me it came off a bit repetitive and emotionless.

Thank you NetGalley for this arc

I’m not sure if it was the subject matter or the style of writing. Unfortunately I just couldn’t get into this book. I stopped and started a number of time but still that didn’t improve things. This will unfortunately go down on my did not finish pile.
Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to see an ARC

I received a free copy of Starvation Heights, by Gregg Olsen, from the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. People think they can get away with anything! Starving people, and then defrauding them, and this happened so long ago to. Dr. Hazzard is so scary, and she believes she did nothing wrong. A well written book, on a gruesome subject.

Thanks to NetGalley for allowing me a copy in exchange for an honest review!


This wasn’t a fave of mine by Gregg Olsen. I’m not sure where to put my finger on it. But it felt a bit everywhere. I did like some more insight on Dr.Hazzard but it fell flat. She fell flat. Too many POVs- but a good story. A good mix of true crime historical fiction non fiction?

After scaring me with his last two true crime releases, “If I Tell” and “American Mother,” Gregg Olsen brings back a new version of his 2005 book, “Starvation Heights,” about another toxic woman who uses forced emaciation as a weapon. Dr. Linda Hazzard opened a sanitarium in the early 20th century the Pacific Northwest (a hop, skip and jump from where the author grew up and heard the ghost stories told around the campfire). She gained fame as Washington State’s first serial killer. In today’s world, she might be an internet dieting celebrity trying to cover up a scandal. People fell under her spell of promises for cures, and pretty much voluntarily starved themselves. Dr. Hazzard, however, also saw the convenience of forging wills, selling jewelry and illegally profiting off her wealthy clients when doing stealing legally wasn’t enough.

As in other Olsen books, this reads like a thriller. Two wealthy, naive, and hypochondriac British sisters, who were warded off of quack cures back in England, travel to America to be fools here and look for fads promising health and well-being for imagined illnesses. That’s how they found Dr. Hazzard, author of “Fasting for the Cure of Disease”. Imagine one of those clickbait ads with a picture of some unknown gut thingy that you obviously must rid yourself of immediately for just $19.95 a month. The sisters had the chance to go to Dr. John Kellogg’s sanitarium in Battle Creek, Michigan, another fashionable nutritionist who believed intestinal issues were the root of all evils. At least his legacy is corn flakes, not buried bodies, but, by chance, the Williamson sisters preferred to travel by boat and not rail, so Seattle was chosen as their destination.

The narrative proceeds to follow the sisters as they partake of enemas, drinking just two cups a day of watery tomato and asparagus broth, and continually walking, walking, walking until they were too weak to even stand up. One of the sisters starves to death and it’s a slow build as acquaintances and relatives from afar finally care enough to find out what’s happening near Seattle, attempt to rescue the survivor and seek justice. “Dr” Hazzard’s other victims, with similar fates, are described in tandem. All in all, it’s a horrifying story, one that Mr. Olsen details thoroughly and expertly. The book reads more like a thriller than a true crime story. A ghost story told by scout troops year after year lives on as a reminder that dangerous charlatans are real. 4 stars!

Thank you to Thread Books and NetGalley for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review!

As a true crime fan this book was unlike anything Ive read before
The book is set out in a unique way that approaches the story from all sides,
the narrative of what happened, gathering evidence and the trial.

I would say to approach this book as a fiction account rather than a nonfiction thriller otherwise you may be disappointed, however if you enjoy series like making a murderer etc this is the book for you!

This was a true crime I had never previously heard of, so it was super interesting to approach it with fresh eyes and insight into what was horrific for these two victims

very well written! Gregg Olsen does it again. One of my favorite authors and he never misses. Even though the subject matter is old, the story was fascinating.

I find places like Sanitoriums so creepy and yet they fascinate me. I had never heard of the people in this book or of some of the treatments that they were being subjected too but I am definitely going to look more into it.
I think that it is a special talent to write a non fiction book that doesnt read like non fiction at all. I really enjoyed it.

I'm glad I requested this book! I'd never heard of this lady or the fasting treatment! This is definitely chilling and disturbing to think this happened! I love this Author's books and you'll definitely not want to miss this one!

I have read If You Tell by Gregg Olsen and although it was nonfiction he told the facts in a way that made it seem like a story. Starvation Heights was also a nonfiction but this book felt like an extremely long newspaper article. The first half of the story about Claire and Dora was very interesting and moved along quickly. It kept my attention. The second half of the book seemed to drag on and repeat similar facts and details. I feel like this book also jumped from point of view to point of view and was overwhelming at times. This true crime story could have been told in a more succinct manner and I think it would have been a much more gripping book to read. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for this ACR.

In 1911 Claire and Dora arrived in the Pacific Northwest and after that would never be the same. Dr Linda Hazaard was a fasting specialist. She had a cure to bring the greatest health. Claire and Dora put themselves under her care. What Dr Hazzard was doing was on the surface just for health... but in reality she was starving them and taking their money. So interesting of a tale and then the fact that it is true-wow.

I am a true crime junkie so I was really interested to check out this book. I have heard of many experimental treatments that used to be used many years ago so the "fasting treatment' and the story of Dr. Hazzard really drew me in. I found the book very intriguing but I also wish there was more information on Dr. Hazzard herself. I like to hear about the psychology of things and maybe why someone would choose to commit crimes against other people. It was amazing how many illnesses she could claim to treat, all by the patient fasting. Its the whole if it sounds to good to be true then it probably is. That was this case here but the way she was able to convince people her methods worked was astonishing. I did enjoy this book and it led me to do some research of my own on cases like this. I would like to thank NetGalley for providing an ARC to me in exchange for my honest review.

I was really excited to read this, but it ultimately just let me down. Olsen's writing is beautiful, but it tends to go the way of Tolkien - meaning he spent paragraphs describing a forest when I really wanted to get to the meat of the story. I also feel like the name is misleading - the story is really about the Williamson sisters and the fallout of their time at Starvation Heights. I thought the book would be more informational about the sanitarium itself and Linda Hazzard's background. It was beautifully written, but it just wasn't what I was hoping for.

Such a big fan of this author. Another great story, one that I was unaware of, told with the precision only he can. In depth and well researched you will find yourself immersed. Some reviews complain that the trial part was too lengthy but I don't agree. I found myself completely wound up in it and felt like I was in the courtroom. Terrific book. Thank you to NetGalley, the author and publisher for an advanced copy.

I really, really, really wanted to like "Starvation Heights" (by Gregg Olsen). It had do much potential with heinous crimes, medical incompetence, courtroom dramas, and so much more - but unfortunately, Olsen made what could have been a great read into some sort of research heavy slog.

While I appreciate all the work that went into it, I have to say that all the detours into minor players' backgrounds and the many, many transcripts/news reports made this a difficult read.

That said, this book did make me aware of the crimes that took place at Starvation Heights, so I thank the publishers, Netgalley, and Olsen for introducing me to the topic!