First published 2016
Rabia Chaudry believed in Adnan Syed's innocence from the beginning. When he was convicted in 2000 for murdering his ex-girlfriend Hae Min Lee, a Baltimore high school senior, and sentenced to life plus thirty years, Chaudry refused to give up. After nearly all appeals failed by 2013, she reached out to Sarah Koenig at This American Life. Koenig's investigation became Serial, the Peabody Award-winning podcast heard by over 500 million listeners worldwide. But the podcast left gaps. Chaudry fills them here with new evidence she argues destroys the prosecution's case. She presents a potential alternative suspect, forensic evidence suggesting Hae was killed and held elsewhere for hours, and withheld documentation that undermines the cell phone evidence. The book reveals how Serial fans joined a crowdsourced investigation into a case full of errors and unexpected developments. Chaudry also shares Adnan's prison experience and includes his personal reflections through previously unseen letters, making clear that justice remains elusive.
Genres: crime, non-fiction, biography-memoir, true-crime
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Baltimore, Maryland
Period: 2000s, 2010s
410 pages · Hardcover · St. Martin's Press