Convenient Suspect

By: Tammy Mal

Narrated by: Suehyla El-Attar

Length: 10 hrs and 40 mins

Publisher's Summary

On Thursday, December 15, 1994, Joann Katrinak and her three-month-old son, Alex, went missing from their Catasauqua, Pennsylvania, home. Four months later, when their bodies were found in a lonely patch of woods, the police would launch a three-year investigation leading to the arrest of Patricia Lynne Rorrer - a young mother who had never met either victim - as the monster responsible.

In what would become Pennsylvania's first use of mitochondrial DNA in a criminal case, Patricia Rorrer was quickly tried, convicted, and sentenced to life in prison without parole. But did the jury make the right decision? Is Patricia Rorrer truly guilty? As new evidence continues to surface, including allegations of prosecutorial misconduct and evidence tampering, that question requires an answer even more.

With a subject matter and storytelling style reminiscent of the hit podcast Serial, Convenient Suspect will appeal to a wide audience. The audiobook reveals information never before made public - information gathered directly from more than 10,000 official documents, including Pennsylvania State Police reports, FBI files, forensic lab results, and the 6,500-page trial transcript. Through four years of intensive research, countless interviews with those involved, and hundreds of letters, phone calls, and personal visits with Patricia Rorrer, the truth about the evidence used to convict her can finally be revealed.

©2017 Tammy Mal (P)2017 ListenUp Audiobooks

Very very one sided

All evidence supporting guilt was glanced over while all other evidence was questioned as a huge sweeping conspiracy. “As with Andy’ is not a defense. There seemed to be a lot of diverse evidence against her. And when the hair was tested after the case and matched to patty, the author argues ‘why was the victim’s dna not also on the hair’. What a stretch, very biased

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Amazing Story!!!

Wake up innocence project!!!
This book was so well done. Incredible story! The hard work of the author is evident throughout the story. The only thing annoying on audible was the amount of times the performer said quote.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

"Quote. End Quote"

I actually really enjoyed the book. Well written and researched. I'll be honest in saying I did find the the constant "quote and end quote" around every line of dialogue kind of disruptive. It took away from the flow of the book and got downright annoying in some sections. I really liked the reader though, and perhaps there were reasons the book was read like that? I listen to many true crime books and this was the first where I noticed this issue. Other than that niggle it was a good book, and sure does make you wonder about the way the investigation was handled.

the book was great it has me believing her.

hopefully things will work out for her and the higher Court looks good at this case.

Suspect probably deserves a better advocate

What disappointed you about Convenient Suspect?

Although the author points out early on that her work is not strictly objective, the easy suppositions about prosecutorial misconduct partnered with the just-as-easy dismissals of her subject's contradictions became a bit too much to take. It doesn't help that she later claims to be only supporting the truth, rather than taking a pro or con position.

Would you ever listen to anything by Tammy Mal again?

Doubtful. She provides a kind of bar room or reality show logic to her positions, even relying on a "C'mon, it doesn't work that way. And you know it!" plea in her alternative jury summation. I can't imagine it would have helped her case with a real jury. Which is a shame, since the subject of the book probably deserved better.

Did Suehyla El-Attar do a good job differentiating all the characters? How?

She didn't get much of a chance. The incessant "quote...end quote" staccato necessarily prevented any kind of differentiation of characters. She did capture the snarky nature of the author's intent, particularly in her alternative summation for the jury. So, I guess that's a job well done.

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

Frustration. As has been noted in several reviews, the author uses quotations repeatedly. Perhaps in the text version, it took up space as dialogue, but as an audiobook it is enormously distracting. The worst thing, however, is that most of it is unnecessary. Only disputed language, keenly relevant wording, or particularly outlandish statements really require such treatment. In this case, meaningless minutiae is "quote...end quote"d. It may have been better is the narrator had been allowed to just speak dialogue, with characterisation.

In addition, another genre convention of fictionalising characters is overdone. An associate of an associate of one of the principals is given a fictional name.... and never is referred to again. What's with all the fake names?

Great book

Fascinating and tragic story that Mal captured perfectly. And the narrator’s voice is very pleasant

It's worth the read

I couldn't stop listening to it. It was a very interesting and a very sad story.

Great great great until...

this was great until midway through. the author started with QUOTE - UNQUOTE. For nearly everything. it was not needed. It ruined the whole book in the audible sense. Very irritating. I was totally into the story. what a shame.

Quote great book unquote

Loved the story it hit close to home. Well written also. I don't know if it's actually written in the book or not but all the quote unquote made it hard to listen to at times. Otherwise great book

Counting Hairs and Re-examining a Flawed Case

What a book and crime/legal case! I ordered the Audible book yesterday afternoon and could not go to bed until I had listened all the way to the end, then listened again to the concluding segments from chapter 20 on again this morning. Tammy Mal has masterfully described the characters and their relationships, examined the evidence and case files and reports in depth, and counted the hairs and the holes in the prosecution's case against Patty Rorrer, resident of North Carolina, for the murder conviction in the case in Pennsylvania of Joann and her baby. The first use of mitochondrial DNA for a case in Pennsylvania with contaminated samples by either at crime scene or in the labs and in very recent years the FBI reports that the lab results and reports prior to 2001 may be flawed in 90 percent of the cases.

The investigators in North Carolina may have problems also with chain of evidence and pushing possible witnesses to backtrack on statements.

Whether you watch process for juries, prosecution, defense, or appeals, or just the news, this book should be as much an eye-opener for the reader as it was for the author. People should be appalled that the evidence may have been scrambled or has been misplaced or destroyed. How many cases are having problems with the "Brady rule"?

Counting hairs--you got to read the book!

"Audible 20 Review Sweepstakes Entry"

Very good but...

I enjoyed this audiobook but the constant narration of "quote" "end quote" for quotes was so annoying particularly bad in the court hearing content, surely there is a better way to do this for the listener. It detracted from the overall meaning of the sentence/paragraph. Dropped 2 stars just based on this.

Fantastic!

Absolutely amazing book, heard about it from the podcast True Crime Garage, if you are able to listen to an audiobook, then you are able to listen to a podcast, so go get that listened to!

Probably the most gripping audiobook I've ever listened too, to the point where I sat in my car for 15+ minutes parked outside my home because I needed to know how it finished.