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  • Tremors in the Blood

  • Murder, Obsession and the Birth of the Lie Detector
  • By: Amit Katwala
  • Narrated by: Matt Reeves
  • Length: 9 hrs and 51 mins
  • 2.5 out of 5 stars (2 ratings)

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Tremors in the Blood

By: Amit Katwala
Narrated by: Matt Reeves
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Publisher's Summary

Nominated for the CWA Dagger Award 2023

‘A wonderful book’ - Guardian

Truth, murder and the birth of the lie detector

Henry Wilkens burst through the doors of the emergency room covered in his wife’s blood. But was he a grieving husband, or a ruthless killer who’d conspired with bandits to have her murdered?

To find out, the San Francisco police turned to technology, and a new machine that had just been invented in Berkeley by a rookie detective, a visionary police chief, and a teenage magician with a showman’s touch.

John Larson, Gus Vollmer and Leonarde Keeler hoped the lie detector would make the justice system fairer – but the flawed device soon grew too powerful for them to control. It poisoned their lives, turned fast friends into bitter enemies, and as it conquered America and the world, it transformed our relationship with the truth in ways that are still being felt.

As new forms of lie detection gain momentum in the present day, Tremors in the Blood reveals the incredible truth behind the creation of the polygraph, through gripping true crime cases featuring explosive gunfights, shocking twists and high-stakes courtroom drama.

Touching on psychology, technology and the science of the truth, Tremors in the Blood is a vibrant, atmospheric thriller, and a warning from history: be careful what you believe.

©2022 Amit Katwala (P)2022 HarperCollins Publishers Limited

Critic Reviews

"Katwala manages to bring history alive in this riveting delve back into the archives, placing you right at the heart of one of the most consequential – and controversial – inventions in criminal history." (Chris Stokel-Walker, author of TikTok Boom and YouTubers)

"A gripping, forensically detailed account that reads more like a mystery than history." (Angela Saini, author of Superior and Inferior)

What listeners say about Tremors in the Blood

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Well researched but overall disappointing

The author had clearly done a lot of research, but didn’t seem to know how to use it. The history of the polygraph and the Berkeley police department is quite interesting but the book spends far too much time describing every detail of criminal cases which are only tangentially related and could have been briefly mentioned. There are also quite a few moments where information is presented uncritically, or where the author makes it clear that a story was debunked, but then tells it anyway.

The conclusions the author draws also don’t seem particularly supported by the information presented- e.g. a key point in the book is that the polygraph ended up ruining the lives of its creators, but it only seemed like a small factor and it’s not really explained how this was the case.

The narrator’s use of slightly dubious accents for the characters also didn’t help.

I did finish the book but wouldn’t recommend it to anyone who doesn’t have a special interest in the topic.

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Neither entertaining fiction nor illuminating history

A mix of descriptive crime-noir and historical account, this book is not very satisfying on either level. The crime stories are turgid and the history superficial. Don’t bother!

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