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rubyredders's review
informative
medium-paced
3.5
Very informative and the layout of real life cases, Christie's uses and the science behind the drugs was a great choice. Although I do confess I did get a bit overwhelmed at points by the technical knowledge but this was mostly in cases with multiple similar sounding chemical names being used so wasn't particularly common.
The histories of some of these poisons are truly fascinating and the fact that some of them ever found a medical use is astonishing given how narrow a margin of error there is between treatment and you are now extremely and painfully dead.
This is not a spoiler free book but the author does given some warning over when she is going to completely ruin a story for you. If that's a concern I would leave this in the tbr until you correct that.
The histories of some of these poisons are truly fascinating and the fact that some of them ever found a medical use is astonishing given how narrow a margin of error there is between treatment and you are now extremely and painfully dead.
This is not a spoiler free book but the author does given some warning over when she is going to completely ruin a story for you. If that's a concern I would leave this in the tbr until you correct that.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death and Murder
Minor: Drug abuse, Drug use, Excrement, Blood, Vomit, Child death, and Death of parent
ninethreeo's review
5.0
Loved it! A tiny bit biography, a bit of literature, a bit of true crime, a lot of science. Found it fascinating, would probably read this again as I know I didn't take all the scientific explanations in the first time (reading at bedtime when brain is slow!)
Great book
Great book
emma6544's review against another edition
challenging
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Murder
Minor: Domestic abuse
pauline_b's review against another edition
5.0
Highly informative and entertaining, a perfect non fiction read for me (being a chemistry graduate and Christie nerd).
Harkup's writing is engaging and she explores different poisons Christie used to kill her characters, where they come from and what their impact is on our bodies, without requiring prior knowledge from the reader.
The author also demonstates Agatha's obvious technical knowledge of these substances and discusses true crimes that may or may not have inspired Christie's writing.
A must read for any Christie fan and anyone interested in the chemistry/toxicology aspect of true crimes.
Harkup's writing is engaging and she explores different poisons Christie used to kill her characters, where they come from and what their impact is on our bodies, without requiring prior knowledge from the reader.
The author also demonstates Agatha's obvious technical knowledge of these substances and discusses true crimes that may or may not have inspired Christie's writing.
A must read for any Christie fan and anyone interested in the chemistry/toxicology aspect of true crimes.