Deborah Blum, writing with the high style and skill for suspense that is characteristic of the very best mystery fiction, shares the untold story of how poison rocked Jazz Age New York City. In The Poisoner's Handbook Blum draws from highly original research to track the fascinating, perilous days when a pair of forensic scientists began their trailblazing chemical detective work, fighting to end an era when untraceable poisons offered an easy path to the perfect crime.
Drama unfolds case by case as the heroes of The Poisoner's Handbook—chief medical examiner Charles Norris and toxicologist Alexander Gettler—investigate a family mysteriously stricken bald, Barnum and Bailey's Famous Blue Man, factory workers with crumbling bones, a diner serving poisoned pies, and many others. Each case presents a deadly new puzzle and Norris and Gettler work with a creativity that rivals that of the most imaginative murderer, creating revolutionary experiments to tease out even the wiliest compounds from human tissue. Yet in the tricky game of toxins, even science can't always be trusted, as proven when one of Gettler's experiments erroneously sets free a suburban housewife later nicknamed "America's Lucretia Borgia" to continue her nefarious work.
From the vantage of Norris and Gettler's laboratory in the infamous Bellevue Hospital it becomes clear that killers aren't the only toxic threat to New Yorkers. Modern life has created a kind of poison playground, and danger lurks around every corner. Automobiles choke the city streets with carbon monoxide; potent compounds, such as morphine, can be found on store shelves in products ranging from pesticides to cosmetics. Prohibition incites a chemist's war between bootleggers and government chemists while in Gotham's crowded speakeasies each round of cocktails becomes a game of Russian roulette. Norris and Gettler triumph over seemingly unbeatable odds to become the pioneers of forensic chemistry and the gatekeepers of justice during a remarkably deadly time. A beguiling concoction that is equal parts true crime, twentieth-century history, and science thriller, The Poisoner's Handbook is a page-turning account of a forgotten New York.
Don't read this book while eating. I mean, unless you're unbothered by lengthy descriptions of minced brain tissue and various experiments done on dogs. Don't say I didn't warn you.
Also, I know nothing about science. I'm not one of those people who watches one episode of CSI and professes to be an expert in the field of forensic science. I do, however, happen to love true crime books and do have some interest in the work of forensic science as a result. In fact, true crime was how I got into nonfiction in the first place, reading books like In Cold Blood and The Devil in the White City and, of course, my beloved Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, which is the only book I can reread on a regular basis (in fact, I like to have a little annual reread of it every year from June to September). So I picked up The Poisoner's Handbook hoping, yes, for some insight on various poisons and the birth of forensic toxicology but mostly for the murder stories.
The science in this book was easy to understand for someone like me, who gets confused rather easily when it comes to science and math (yes, I know I fully embrace my gender stereotype). I also really appreciated how the science is woven rather seamlessly into the narrative, unlike books like Girls of the Atomic City, which broke up the potentially interesting narrative with entire chapters purely dedicated to dry science. It was more on par with The Devil in the White City, another book that successfully interwove fact with narrative. I will admit though, after awhile I felt a bit bored with the constant tales of experiments and wanted to get back to the murder stories.
And the murder stories were good. The ones Blum chose were interesting and grabbed my attention, though I wanted more of them. They should have been more of a prominent part of each chapter. I also liked how each chapter was dedicated to a different poison, though Blum didn't stick to it exactly- some poisons were brought up in different chapters other than their dedicated one.
I did also think that Blum beat the Prohibition horse to death. One or two chapters dedicated to alcohol was fine, but after the third chapter on it I was done with the topic. That being said, it was interesting to have a bit of insight on the politics of the Jazz Age and into the bootleggers. Blum did also tease us with some other interesting criminal activity, like the Black Hand, a group I heard about briefly but know little about (not to be confused with the other Black Hand, the Serbian Independence group that was responsible for the assassination of Franz Ferdinand). And I did like the two heroes Blum chose for her book, Norris and Gettler, as they endeavored to make forensic science a respected field.
Do I recommend this book? Yes. It was an interesting and relatively quick read, great for any true crime fan, especially one more interested in the forensic side of criminal work. I'm sure someone who is a science fan would like it too, though again I'm not the best judge.
8-8.5 out of 10
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