Starvation Heights was the nickname the locals gave to the "spa" in the hills above their town. The "spa" where all the rich people lost their money and some their lives.
Gregg Olsen tells a story in his books. Whether fiction or non-fiction, the stories are fascinating. I have read many of his books and the non-fiction all set the tone with the question......how could this have happened? In small town America, where everyone knows their neighbors and their neighbor's business, how did one woman manage to damage so many lives for so long? Mr Olsen follows two sisters who check into this facility and how one sister managed to escape her death and bring down the doctor's secrets. The aftermath is just as fascinating, watching as the doctor justifies her treatments to a jury until the walls start to crack and leak their secrets. As long as Gregg Olsen keeps writing, I'll keep reading his books. I've not found a bad one yet.

Horrifying and depraved. Gregg Olsen has a way of writing that brings you to the darkest depths of humanity while still making the story fast paced and unputdownable (that's a word right?) There is always light sprinkled through the book that gives you a bit of hope. This book was really well done!

A disturbing true crime cracker.. Two sisters travel to starvation heights to ungo a fasting treatment. Starvation heights is more than it appears. Murder remains hidden and then a fight for justice.

A true story that shows how far the world has come. Excellent character development woven into a good descriptive backdrop helps you relive the horror throught the eyes of all the characters throughout the years.

The book shines with excellent research. I felt like I was there reliving the story. Determined to see it through to the end.
It is always a pleasure to read a true crime which is well written beautifully executed. I look forward to your next one

I love true crime and to go with that I really enjoyed Starvation Heights. The story of Dr. Hazzard and her “cure” for illness through fasting (although she was no actual doctor) was new to me and I’d never heard of it before. So this story was a fresh perspective for me. It is set in the early 1900s. I am a proponent of fasting but what this “doctor’s” patients endured was so much more horrific than what we call fasting today. The harrowing true stories or her patients as accounted by Olsen had me reeling. Feeling both anger and sadness. If you like true crime this is a must read.

I always love a True Crime book! When I'm looking for a true crime book I always go to Gregg Olsen! So when I had the opportunity to read this ARC I was so happy. This book was really interesting since this was set back in 1911. It's always crazy to think crime was around back in the so called simpler times. But this was another well done story and I was also able to listen to the Audiobook. I would recommend this to a true crime fan.

Thanks NetGalley and Thread Books for allowing me to read this ARC,

Gregg Olsen's true crime books are an auto-buy for me -- I was captivated by If You Tell and American Mother, so I look forward to any chance to read another of his narrative journalistic nonfiction works. In Starvation Heights, Olsen details a harrowing torture "sanitorium" run by "Dr." Linda Hazzard. Hazzard's cure-all? Strict fasting diets that leave those under her care completely emaciated, some of them dying as their organs and bodies shut down from lack of nourishment. Sisters Clara and Dora Williamson, heiresses to a fortune and with little to do, find Hazzard's methods intriguing and are looking to try anything they think may cure their ails. But after a severe fast that leaves one sister dead, it's up to the sisters' long-time nanny and caregiver to save them from a woman who knows nothing about saving people and only seems to be after their money. This wasn't my favorite of Olsen's nonfiction works, but still interesting and worth the read for true crime fans. Olsen knows how to weave a story and shock readers.

**Thank you, NetGalley and publishers, for a DRC in exchange for an honest review.**

I was really hoping this would delve into the life and background of Dr. Linda Hazzard more. Since Gregg Olsen is local to the Kitsap Peninsula, I was really excited to see how he would cover the history of the area and how this all came to be. We spent so much time focusing on the trial that everything else felt like an afternthough, for example, only a very brief exploration of the fire that destroyed the sanatorium was done. The focus on Claire and Dora Williamson got a little monotonous. I wish it would have dug into some of the other victims of Dr. Hazzard.

I have enjoyed other work by the author and will continue to pick up his books, however this specific title was a let down.

The story was intriguing and it’s what kept me reading. The writing was initially pretty interesting and captivating but quickly became dull and difficult to follow. I was disappointed that the author chose to focus on one particular patient/s story rather than exploring more of the motives and psychology of why it happened, and also went pretty heavy on the boring stuff and skimmed over the interesting stuff. Overall it was a fairly good read but I probably wouldn’t recommend it to anyone.

Thank you to #NetGalley for the copy of #StarvationHeights by #GreggOlson
They say truth is stranger than fiction and this story is a case in point.
It amazes me how evil some people are, and how some perfectly rational people can be so gullible.
A very good real crime book.

There have always been plans and programs to live your best life, marketed and hawked to vulnerable, gullible buyers.
Starvation Heights highlights a great charlatan who sold recipients a bill of goods, promising extreme fasting would bring relief from a litany of medical ailments.
It didn’t surprise me when I read the outcome or the outrage that followed.
It’s an interesting look at 20th century chicanery and hoodwinking.

Fascinating! I wasnt sure how I was going to like this one since it is a much older true crime from the early 1900s, but i found it incredibly gripping. I have never heard of this case before now. its extremely disturbing and i'm surprised it is not more notorious, then again i do live on the east coast so who knows. I thought it was very well written and well paced.

I chose to read this because in the past I have enjoyed reading from Gregg Olsen before. I was not disappointed this time around. I've been in the true crime community for years now and I've only now learned the details of the Starvation Heights/ Dr. Laura Hazzard case. Olsen certainly knows how to set the scene. He has a beautiful writing style even though his works are based on gruesome and disturbing incidents. That being said there were some weird jumps in the story that made it jarring and the first few chapters were repetitive. Other than that the writing itself was great. Laura Hazzard makes for a fascinating villain. She was delusional, cruel and obnoxiously good at manipulating. I think she'd be a fabulous cult leader. I find it disgusting what she did and I find it worse that the state of Washington was content in letting her continue. I understand it was the early 1900s but still. Anyway, If you like books with a lot of court scenes and beautiful writing, check this one out.

This is one of those rare novels that manages to be deeply informative and a page-turner at the same time. Greg Olson has managed to juggle a shocking early 20th century criminal case with compelling characters and intriguing history to relate a true story relatively unknown to most of us.

The real life characters, two wealthy British sisters lured by the promise of health and vitality and the “Doctor” in whom they placed their trust, are brought to life with luminous clarity managing to preserve the reader’s curiosity while controlling the flow of information and turning this small bit of Pacific Northwest history into a fascinating read.

STARVATION HEIGHTS is a powerful brew of intrigue laden history, mystery and suspense with casual details that suddenly take on surprising significance all served up to reveal a tale so dark and shocking that it literally takes your breath away. This is a narrative that delivers as only Greg Olson can.

Gregg Olsen couldn’t write a bad book if he tried. Starvation Heights reads like a crime novel rather than a piece of historical non fiction and I devoured it in a few days.
It’s a fascinating case that I’d never heard of and Olsen weaves the various sources and witnesses of the time into a chronological and suspenseful tale.
A must read for all true crime fans.

@greggolsen has written another truly disturbing true crime book, with this one focusing on the Dr. who starved her patients in the early 1900s. I bounced between the e-book and audiobook for this one. This true crime story is not one that I was aware of and is well researched.

Thank you @threadbooks and @netgalley for allowing me to read and listen to this book in exchange for my honest review.

I was introduced to the true story of Claire and Dora Williamson through a YouTube video by Caitlyn Doughty on her Ask A Mortician channel. She recommended this book for further reading and information on the horrors of this story. Its hard to believe this is true, but Gregg Olsen does a wonderful job of laying out this story. He is a master at telling the story of people "caught in extraordinary circumstances". (Goodreads bio) I found myself wondering how Dr. Hazard (yep, that's the name) kept getting away with the thing he she did. I'm glad to have been introduced to Greg Olsen and have already set my sights of a couple more I'd like to read from him.

Thanks to NetGalley for the digital review copy.

Starvation Heights was very fascinating, but also extremely disturbing. It’s hard to think that this is based off a true story because it is just chilling. The author does a fantastic job on telling the story, and it honestly reads like fiction novel. It keeps you totally engrossed and wanting to read just one more chapter.

If you’re looking for the perfect winter read that will truly thrill and haunt you in equal measure, I cannot recommend Gregg Olsen’s Starvation Heights: The Chilling True Story of the Doctor Who Starved her Patients to Death (Thread Books 1997 [reissued 2023]) more. By turns captivating and heartbreaking, Starvation Heights kept me guessing until the very end.

Olsen’s book recounts the story of “Dr.” Linda Burfield Hazzard, but it begins with the stories of two wealthy women, Claire and Dora Williamson. The two sisters, who were extremely and inseparably close, were somewhat obsessed with their health and wellbeing. Their money allowed them to pursue various medical treatments and natural ‘cures’ for the various ailments they believed they had. So, in 1911, when the two women encountered Linda Hazzard and her so-called ‘fasting-cure,’ wherein extreme dieting could lead to healthier bodies and minds by clearing out and limiting the toxins in the body, Claire and Dora became deeply intrigued.

Treating their time under Hazzard’s care as a holiday, the two sisters travelled to her sanatorium deep in the forests of the Pacific Northwest. However, within a month of arriving, the two women were found to be emaciated and in extreme crisis. Both were near death from starvation and were deeply unwell. As Olsen goes on to account, Claire and Dora were not the first to fall victim to Hazzard, and in the aftermath of their time at the sanatorium—known to the locals as Starvation Heights—and in the trial that follows, the extent of Hazzard’s malice, greed, and callousness is revealed to the public and to the reader. As jewelry and other valuables start to disappear from the Williamson’s belongings, and papers and bank drafts they don’t remember signing start to move their wealth to the Hazzards’ hands, Dora Williamson resolves to do all she can to escape the torture, isolation, and awaiting death at Starvation Heights.

The first time I heard about this case was on My Favourite Murder, years ago. At the time, I found it to be one of the most chilling and shocking true crime cases I had ever heard. The systematic starvation, torture, and abuse of people at the hands of a woman in a position of authority and trust is almost too shocking to contemplate. The story of what Dora and Claire endured at the hands of Hazzard is truly not for the faint of heart. However, Olsen, who has also had a sharp spike in popularity due to interest in his recent true crime book If You Tell (Thomas & Mercer 2019), is an expert true crime writer who is able to strike a balance between informative storytelling and suspenseful narrative. In the first part of this book especially, I was hooked and on the edge of my seat. I could hardly stop myself from flipping to the end to see how this narrative ended.

In many ways, this book is straightforward true crime, presenting the facts of the case, the backgrounds of those involved, and the ordeals contained in the aftermath of such trauma. Starvation Heights is well-researched, thorough, and clearly required a great deal of work in the archives—in newspaper archives especially—to piece this story together. Alongside all of his evidence, he finds a way to accurately pace the story and weave crucial details together seamlessly. For those who have never heard of this case, or people like myself who have been fascinated by it, Olsen’s book will offer fresh insights.

Fans of historical true crime will really appreciate Starvation Heights and Olsen’s narrative work here. I highly recommend this book for both Olsen’s writing and the truly shocking elements of this case from over a century ago!
Please add Starvation Heights to your Goodreads shelf.

Don’t forget to follow True Crime Index on Twitter and please visit our Goodreads for updates on what we’re reading! You can find Rachel on her personal @RachelMFriars or on Goodreads @Rachel Friars.

About the Writer:

Rachel M. Friars (she/her) is a Doctoral Candidate in the Department of English Language and Literature at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario. She holds a BA and an MA in English Literature with a focus on neo-Victorianism and adaptations of Jane Eyre. Her current work centers on neo-Victorianism and nineteenth-century lesbian literature and history, with secondary research interests in life writing, historical fiction, true crime, popular culture, and the Gothic. Her academic writing has been published with Palgrave Macmillan and in The Journal of Neo-Victorian Studies. She is a reviewer for The Lesbrary, the co-creator of True Crime Index, and an Associate Editor and Social Media Coordinator for PopMeC Research Collective. Rachel is co-editor-in-chief of the international literary journal, The Lamp, and regularly publishes her own short fiction and poetry. Find her on Twitter and Goodreads.

Starvation Heights by Gregg Olsen is the gripping true story of early 20th Century healer "Dr. Hazzard". This fake doctor used dangerous fasting techniques combined with daily enemas on her patients as a cure to all that ailed them.

What is truely shocking is how long she got away with her murderous treatments.

A fascinating non-fiction read for fans of medical and/or true crimes.

As usual Gregg Olsen tells a true crime story that reads like a novel. I was fascinated by the story here and appreciated the deep dive into the lives of the victims. While I did crave for some more intel into "Dr."Hazzard's motivations, this was a fascinating read.
Thank you Bookouture and Thread books for the ARC of this one!