Rating: 
Summary: Creepy to the last page...
Review: James Stewart is one of the top two or three writers whose work I have had the pleasure to read. He is meticulous in his reporting and his research is unassailable. The more I read, the more terrified I became that someone could actually "skate" through the system for so many years leaving a wake of corpses in his path. Stewart is a remarkable storyteller who can't be missed. The evil Dr. Swango comes alive in this fine work.
Rating:
Summary: Like watching a 20-year auto crash
Review: My wife started reading this first (actually it was a book on CD). She didn't know it was real. When I told her it wasn't fiction she was visibly stunned. You cannot believe what the fraternity of the medical community will do to protect its own... while this whackjob calmly knocks of dozens of people. It is an incredibly well researched, well written account of The System gone nuts. You will be scared, frustrated and educated as to How Things Really Work in medicine, colleges, etc. And you will never look at a(n unfamiliar) doctor the same. A fabulous book... 10 stars.
Rating: 
Summary: Worth a Read
Review: The most important thing to keep in mind while reading this book is that its subject, Michael Swango, is a serial killer. He is an aberration. That being said, the idea of medical care professionals being killers is a nightmare that our medical system has to make even more impossible and rare.Mr. Stewart shows how Swango was abetted by the system's clubby nature to protect its own against charges and suites, how he used the desperation of the more outlying medical facilities for doctors, and how psychopaths can charm and persuade those around them that the evidence to the contrary, their eyes are deceiving them. This is a good read, but in some ways a very difficult one. It is interesting and compelling and yet it feels like being caught in a horrifying dream. Just as hard cases make bad law, these rare but horrible events make us want to do something, anything, in order to allow us to believe this could never happen again. But the reality is killers kill. There are things the medical establishment could and should do in order to better weed out bad doctors, nurses, and others who staff our health care system. But to think in terms of a major restructuring in order to avoid something so extremely rare is as unrealistic as doing nothing. The book ends with the possibility that Swango would be released a few months from the publication date. However, Swango has since pleaded guilty to four murders in order to avoid the death penalty and extradition to Zimbabwe. So, he is in prison for four consecutive life sentences. Thank heaven for that! If this topic is interesting to you this is a very good book. But be prepared for reading about a very sick person and the horrible things he did to innocent and trusting people.
Rating:
Summary: A Nice Piece Of Work
Review: Like Den of Thieves, James B. Stewart has produced another well researched book, this time about Michael Swango. This is a true crime biography of a serial killer that had easy access to both the tools and victims he needed to fulfill his twisted fetish. It's a surprising journey, how just when you think he pushed his luck to far, he manages to slip through the cracks and resurface. It's an interesting read, that may startle you, and well worth it.
Rating: 
Summary: Worth the time to listen to, but read the book, too
Review: I was given this book to read at a hospital sponsored meeting on physician credentialing issues. The book emphasizes the need for the strict credentialing processes of the medical profession. It also emphasizes the difficulty posed to this process by the seriously personality disorder individual. The author paints with too broad a brush in his sweeping indictment of the entire medical profession in allowing the credentialing of someone like Michael Swango and in doing so misplaces the blame for his heinous acts. Michael Swango is a serial killer who poisoned people remorselessly both in and out of hospitals and would have done so with or without a medical license. The medical profession is probably better than most at identifying the personality disordered individual and protecting the public from those that pose a threat. The really disturbing thought highlighted by this book is the struggle we have with identifying the charming, intelligent psychopathic personality and getting them help prior to the commission of serious criminal acts.
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