This book is a bit uncomfortable, in a good way. It has big “podcast” energy, sort of like a large format “Did you hear THIS crazy story?” townie bar conversation.
Andrea Dunlop is an author and podcaster, her sister was lost to her due to Munchausen by proxy. Because of her personal experience she created a podcast based on a famous case of MBP, Hope Ybarra, who pretended to have cancer 4 times and faked that her daughters had cerebral palsy and cystic fibrosis. At first her family thought she was delusional. Then they discovered she was guilty of fraud, falsifying medical documentation.
Mike Weber was the sheriff/law enforcement on the Hope Ybarra case, he has made his career on several child abuse cases to varying results.
On one hand, this book is a good guidebook for those who want to know the patterns. On the other hand, it is also a good guidebook for how to work on this and pull it off. For me it felt like “eek this is none of my business” and I legitimately felt like a rubber necker… but I suppose there is a bit of that in all true crime genre.
It was an eye opener. I learned a lot. I have a hard time wrapping my mind around MBP is both a mental illness and a crime.
Thanks to Netgalley and St Martins Press for the ARC. Book to be published February 4, 2025
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