Angel of Death

Uncover The Darkness of Nightmare Nurse, Jane Toppan

By: Ryan Green

Narrated by: Steve White

How many patients need to die under a nurse’s care to raise suspicions?

In 1895, elderly patients were quietly dying one by one, yet no one sounded the alarm – until an entirely family passed away. All had been in the care of nurse Jane Toppan and suspicions hit the roof.

Dilated pupils, feverish bodies, and erratic rambling left doctors baffled, but these weren’t the signs of illness. They were the marks of something far more sinister. Toppan manipulated her patients' dosages, watching them drift between life and death. For her, each fatal dose was not a crime, but a twisted act of mercy—a dark salvation from suffering.

Compelled by her own dark impulses, she transformed from a healer into a merciless killer, deeply relishing the power she wielded over life and death.

Angel of Death is a chilling account of Jane Toppan, who is one of America's most notorious female serial killers. This riveting narrative draws listeners into the terrifying reality faced by her victims and unravels the chilling psychology behind her horrific choices.

©2024 Ryan Green (P)2024 Ryan Green

Was she the first Angel of Death?

I read a lot of true crime books and most are truly disturbing. This book, following the life and crimes of Jane Toppan, considered to be one of the first and most prolific serial killers, is more disturbing than most. Not because of the gruesomeness of the crimes (I've read a lot that are much worse), but because of her lack of empathy and selfishness. As the author says, "It is most unsettling to consider the idea that a person might kill and kill again, just to make their life easier."

Jane was the daughter of poor Irish immigrants, whose mother died due to TB and her father, unable to cope with raising his young daughters, drank and slowly went insane. Jane is sent to an orphanage and soon finds herself an indentured servant at a very young age. She is more fortunate than most in that situation since the family she serves treats her almost like a part of the family. When the young woman of the house decides to marry, Jane is devastated.

She becomes a nurse and is respected by those she works with, but she hides a dark secret. Jane begins to "experiment" on her patients, trying out different poisons on them to see how they react. She discovers that this brings her a type of sexual gratification and that only increases her desires to kill.

From hospital to hospital, then on to private nursing, Jane convinces herself that she can actually take over some of her wealthier patients' lives. Anyone who gets in her way, from patients to landlords to friends, isn't safe from her machinations. In 1895, she is finally caught when she kills an entire family. By the time her crimes are discovered, she had poisoned up to 100 people. But, she swore that she wasn't insane, remembering the treatments of her father and sister in asylums. Jane was (probably) the first Angel of Death, but her killings were not out of mercy; they were out of greed and self satisfaction.

The author does his usual amazing job in unearthing the crimes of the past, presenting them in a well-written and easy to read way. He also manages to humanize the victims so that they are not just names in a dry document.

The narrator, Steve White, has become the voice of Green's books. His performance is great and fits the true crime genre perfectly. If you are a true crime fan, I highly recommend any of Ryan Green's books.

Medicine and murder...

While you may think that medicine and murder are two topics that have little in common, sadly, that is a misconception. According to the NIH (National Institutes of Health – one of the world’s foremost agencies dedicated to biomedical research), it is quite likely that physicians have contributed more serial killers to the darker pages of history than all other professions combined, with nurses coming in a close second. It is into these chilling waters that Ryan Green delves with his latest true crime biography of Jane Toppan, a child born of Irish immigrants who managed to amass sufficient medical knowledge to become a highly respected nurse yet who eventually, in one of the most scandalous confessions of the 1900s, detailed quite explicitly how she killed no fewer than thirty-one people. Steve White once again offers his vocal talent as narrator in another spot-on performance accentuating the author’s signature blend of thorough research, intuitive psychological profiling and storytelling mastery that made me feel like I had been transported to turn-of-the-century Massachusetts and ushered to a front row seat for the opportunity to bear witness to all the hardships and misfortunes which forged this woman into a cold-blooded killer. Her mesmerizing tale could be described as equal parts callous, cruel and creepy. She actually admitted to wanting to be known for killing more helpless people than anyone else. She further admitted to having experienced a degree of sexual arousal from her actions. If that isn’t creepy, I don’t know what is. If you have any interest in true crime, history or psychology, do yourself a favor and grab a copy of this audiobook. Even if you have read about this disturbing case elsewhere, I am confident that you will find a wealth of information and possibilities to ponder for some time to come.

Great story

Great story and I love this writing in this book. The performance was very good. I always love Ryan Green's books. I thought this one was especially well written