Adnan's Story

The Search for Truth and Justice After Serial

By: Rabia Chaudry

Narrated by: Rabia Chaudry

Length: 14 hrs and 30 mins

Publisher's summary

After more than twenty years in prison, Adnan Syed’s murder conviction was overturned, and he was finally set free. Rabia Chaudry’s New York Times bestseller and award-winner Adnan’s Story reveals how the case was mishandled and became the subject of Sarah Koenig’s Peabody Award-winning podcast Serial.

In early 2000, Adnan Syed was convicted and sentenced to life plus thirty years for the murder of his ex-girlfriend Hae Min Lee, a high school senior in Baltimore, Maryland. Syed has maintained his innocence, and Rabia Chaudry, a family friend, has always believed him. By 2013, after almost all appeals had been exhausted, Rabia contacted Sarah Koenig, a producer at This American Life, in hopes of finding a journalist who could shed light on Adnan’s story. In 2014, Koenig's investigation turned into Serial, a Peabody Award-winning podcast with more than 500 million international listeners.

But Serial did not tell the whole story. In this compelling narrative, Rabia Chaudry presents key evidence that she maintains dismantles the State’s case: a potential new suspect, forensics indicating Hae was killed and kept somewhere for almost half a day, and documentation withheld by the State that destroys the cell phone evidence—among many other points—and she shows how fans of Serial joined a crowd-sourced investigation into a case riddled with errors and strange twists. Featuring information about Adnan’s life in prison, and weaving in his personal reflections with never-before-seen letters, Rabia’s account is “a true story about real people. Adnan’s Story adds context and humanizes it in a way that could change how you think about the case and about Serial itself” (Los Angeles Times).

“Chaudry’s clear, vivid and highly readable account of the case will bring the story to life for readers unfamiliar with the podcast, and even the most devoted Serial fans will find fresh insight and a vast amount of new material. Chaudry’s legal training serves her well as she marshals her defense, but so too does the Pakistani heritage and Muslim faith she shares with Syed.” —Washington Post

©2016 Rabia Chaudry (P)2016 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

"'Serial' barely scratched the surface of Adnan's case, and Chaudry's writing and narration show her skilled legal mind at work as she tries to piece together what happened." - AudioFile Magazine

Excellent Book for those who listened to Serial

Rabia is very passionate about Adnan's case and it comes across in her work. She is an excellent narrator as well. I was hesitate to purchase this book because I was already a fan of the serial podcast and I have lurked around some subreddits on the case and I wondered if there was anything interesting left to hear. Boy was I wrong. As a side note I am now more convinced that Adnan was not involved in Hae's death whereas before I was really not certain.

Fascinating

Listen in this order: Serial (season 1), Undisclosed (season 1), then this book. I love Rabia and her voice, and I was worried this book would just be a review of everything we learned in Undisclosed, but there was so much more. #freeadnan

Intriguing, heartfelt, infuriating and moving.

Well done Rabia! I thoroughly enjoyed this audio book. I was captivated the entire time. I wish it never ended.

A real page turner!

The book was very well done. I exercised more so I could listen longer! I definitely recommend it to anyone interested in the inner workings of the justice system...

Adnan' Story!!

This makes me want to listen to Serial, undisclosed and Serial Dynasty all over again! Thanks Rabia.

simply

pure

(To submit a review it requires a minimum of 15 words hence this grouping of words)

Would recommend with some exceptions

I thought this book was well written, however it is most obviously written with bias and a lot of it as the author is the equivalent to Adnans cousin. With that being said I think there was a lot of research that went into producing this book which made it credible and worth the read. Drawn into this book by hearing how good the podcast series Serial was, I was a tad disappointed that I felt the author left us hanging at some points and the story line seemed a bit choppy. Overall good read and has influenced me to see another side of this boys story from a more personal perspective.

Insightful

I appreciated the personal i insight. into Adnan's life in prison . He is truly a n exceptional young man and I pray that he will be free soon to make his mark on the world.. Narration was a bit choppy at first but flowed better towards the end..

A fascinating "read".

I felt like after Serial and Undisclosed there was nothing new I could learn about Adnan and his case. I was wrong. I learned so much about what happened to Hae and how Adnan felt about everything, and it reinforced my belief in his innocence. I highly recommend this to anyone wrapped up in the case, like so many in the world.

Important truth told with personal passion

I'm not sure this would translate to anyone who hasn't listened to the SERIAL Podcast, but for those who have, it's a must hear. The author/narrator doesn't always have the best grammar, but that tends to lend itself to the realty of the story. It is not a "story" at all. It's someone's life, and someone's death.