Prescription for Murder
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'Read this amazing review of systematic murder - and you'll never look at a doctor in quite the same way again' - BIRMINGHAM POST; 'It takes a book like this to bring home how truly evil he [Dr Shipman] was' - NORTHERN ECHO
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He was a pillar of the community, serving on local committees, donating prizes to the rugby club, organising charity collections. His patients thought the world of him: he was attentive, kind, never too busy to chat. Yet Dr Harold Frederick Shipman was also the most prolific serial killer the world has ever known, with between 200 and 300 victims. Quietly, for many years, the small, bespectacled GP was making unexpected house calls - and walking out leaving a dead body behind. The murderous career of Dr Shipman only came to an end when police in Hyde, Greater Manchester, were called to investigate a forged will. Overnight, they found themselves embroiled in the biggest murder case in British history. Substantially revised and updated since Shipman's suicide in prison, this is a compelling account of these monstrous crimes and of the man who committed them. The authors have had unparalleled access to friends, colleagues and patients. Their in-depth and authoritative investigation looks at how he killed, how he was able to get away with it for so long, and - most important of all - why.
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For an August night, the weather was atrocious. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
15 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
As a reader from Hyde who knew Dr Shipman I was impressed that this book was a fair summary of what had happened. It helped me come to terms with some of the disbelief I was still experiencing that a person I knew and respected could be a murderer and such a prolific murderer. The details were far more accurate than those in Addicted to Murder which I had also read but found shallow. It is carefully and sensitively written. It's background of Dr and Mrs Shipman's lives also helped to put into balance what I had read and what I already knew of the family. Worth a read for anyone interested in just how this dreadful tragic affair came about.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I have read several of the books on Harold Shipman and I thought that this was the best and most immediate overview about his life of crime, written soon after the event. As time goes on, the full effects of his murderous ways will be played out. His life will have a huge impact on the role of doctors and how the public can trust them.
I read it as part of my research on new regulation of doctors in the UK and I was dismayed and shocked by what he got up to, particularly how he abused his position as a doctor. Not one ounce of remorse, but just a cynical disregard of others.
The book is essential reading to learn about the man. As a psychiatrist with an interest in addiction, I could see only too well, his addictive behaviour and I hope that it does not stigmatise people with addictive disorders. Brian Whittle avoids hyperbole and sticks to the facts. It is, as you might expect from a journalist, easy to read, in the style of a quality newspaper article. It's not a great work of literature, but it does a great service to "Dr" Shipman's victims, whose experiences need to be told. The best of the bunch!
I read it as part of my research on new regulation of doctors in the UK and I was dismayed and shocked by what he got up to, particularly how he abused his position as a doctor. Not one ounce of remorse, but just a cynical disregard of others.
The book is essential reading to learn about the man. As a psychiatrist with an interest in addiction, I could see only too well, his addictive behaviour and I hope that it does not stigmatise people with addictive disorders. Brian Whittle avoids hyperbole and sticks to the facts. It is, as you might expect from a journalist, easy to read, in the style of a quality newspaper article. It's not a great work of literature, but it does a great service to "Dr" Shipman's victims, whose experiences need to be told. The best of the bunch!
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Without doubt, the authors have done a magnificent job in their research of this story. Shipmans early life, through to his education and the subsequent meeting of his wife is explained at a lively pace, but during the middle chapters, the book seems to lose its way a little.
There becomes a repetitive feel about it when we are told, for about the tenth time, that Mrs Grundy was the last victim. Our authors seem to bog us down with too much detail about irrelevant stuff; one of many examples being the exhaustive detail we are given about a Mrs Helen Ogborn (down to her father once being the driver of a "Robin Reliant") who was a co-ordinator of the local Victim Support Group.
The story does pick up again in the final section of the book, which concentrates on Shipmans arrest and trial.
Don't get me wrong, this is a good book and well worth the read for anyone interested in the Shipman story...but it's about seventy pages too long.
There becomes a repetitive feel about it when we are told, for about the tenth time, that Mrs Grundy was the last victim. Our authors seem to bog us down with too much detail about irrelevant stuff; one of many examples being the exhaustive detail we are given about a Mrs Helen Ogborn (down to her father once being the driver of a "Robin Reliant") who was a co-ordinator of the local Victim Support Group.
The story does pick up again in the final section of the book, which concentrates on Shipmans arrest and trial.
Don't get me wrong, this is a good book and well worth the read for anyone interested in the Shipman story...but it's about seventy pages too long.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Compulsive read
This book was on I couldn't put down. Very sensitively written by the author. This was a portrait of an evil man who should have never have slipped through the net. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Lynne Hudson
Prescription for Murder
I enjoyed reading this book - I can well remember the Harold Shipman trial. I couldn't quite understand how Harold Shipman was allowed to practice as a GP when he was a known drug... Read more
Published 5 months ago by foxy lady
Strangely compelling
This is a well structured and well crafted book that deals with a difficult subject with sensitivity. Read more
Published 7 months ago by Sally Walker
Good account
This is a detailed account of the life, crimes and death of Dr Harold Shipman. There are lots of quotations from a variety of people who knew him in various guises. Read more
Published 14 months ago by Junius
What the Doctor Ordered
No one knows precisely how many people Dr Harold Shipman killed but it was certainly in the hundreds. Read more
Published on 31 May 2010 by Neutral
Satisfying a craving for curiosity
There are a few stand-out serial killers in British criminal history - Peter Sutcliffe, Fred and Rosemary West, Donald Nielsen, to name some - and Harold Shipman. Read more
Published on 19 Jun 2009 by A. Gilchrist
It isn't cheerful, but it is compelling.
What an extraordinary book this is, very well researched by Brian Whittle and Jean Ritchie. It tells the story of the infamous mass murderer Doctor Harold Shipman, known to his... Read more
Published on 17 July 2007 by D. N. Carter
A struggle to finish...
This book started off well enough, but seemed to give up on itself towards the end. When writing a factual account, it is still important to write in such a way that it captures... Read more
Published on 18 Oct 2003 by Natalie
An Excellent Book With Some Good Photos
This is an extremely interesting and well written and researched book about Dr Fred Shipman and his very sad and tragic case. Read more
Published on 28 Aug 2002 by Louise
Excellent
I really enjoyed this book. It covered every significant detail and in an entertaining style.
Recommended for anyone looking into a killer's mind. Read more
Published on 13 Dec 2000
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