Free shipping on orders over $99
Behind the Gates of Gomorrah

Behind the Gates of Gomorrah 1

Life inside one of America's largest hospitals for the criminally insane, treating the real Hannibal Lecters of this world

by Stephen Seager
Paperback
Age range: + years old Publication Date: 01/01/2015
3/5 Rating 1 Review

Share This Book:

 
$29.99
A extraordinary, eye-opening look behind the razor wire into life inside the walls of one of the most notorious hospitals for the criminally insane, a hellish world inhabited by mass murderers, serial killers, and other figures from our nightmares.
ISBN:
9781760112301
9781760112301
Category:
True crime
Age range:
+ years old
Format:
Paperback
Publication Date:
01-01-2015
Publisher:
ALLEN & UNWIN
Edition:
1st Edition
Pages:
288
Dimensions (mm):
234x153x21mm
Weight:
0.36kg
Stephen Seager

Stephen Seager is a board-certified psychiatrist, a former professor of psychiatry at UCLA School of Medicine and a multiply published author.

Click 'Notify Me' to get an email alert when this item becomes available

You can find this item in:

Show more Show less

Reviews

3.0

Based on 1 review

5 Star
(0)
4 Star
(0)
3 Star
(1)
2 Star
(0)
1 Star
(0)

1 Review

If you were working in a forensic mental health facility, what would you write about? Whose story would you want to tell?

I can pretty much guarantee that the answer you come up with will be different to the stories that Dr Seager decided to tell in his novel.

“Behind the Gates of Gomorrah” builds up quite an evocative image in your mind. You’re already thinking about the worst of the worst – the manipulative, violent, insane criminals of the “Hannibal Lecter” ilk.

Would it disappoint you if these types of characters are glossed over heavily in the book, and that the main focus is on Dr Seager’s day to day battles over cigarettes, staffing issues and cost cutting?

Less a book about the peculiarities of his patients, and more to do with the inanities of a forensic facility, the book doesn’t quite live up to it’s name.

Dr Seager’s struggle with the humanization of the patients at the facility is an interesting moral dilemma – can you forget the atrocities and become friendly with these men? He waxes and wanes on this topic, as does his commitment to the position. There are many family talks around the table about what to do.

Perhaps the most poignant part of this book is how it highlights the lack of resources, security and funding that is available. The vignettes are like a cry for help, when nurses and doctors are being assaulted regularly, and keeping staff is like winning the lottery.

There’s a couple of chapters that feel misplaced – gun control rants and congressional spending for instance, that the book could have done without.

Seager attempts to inject some humor and ‘One flew over the cuckoos nest’ narrative into some of the book, but it’s a little sparse to get you through the whole thing.

There’s better books out there that speak of forensic patients in different settings (I’d recommend a few John Douglas books), but as this book is rather short in length, you may still find it entertaining.

Contains Spoilers No
Report Abuse