Adnan’s Story: The Search for Truth and Justice After Serial

Attorney, scholar, and human-rights activist Chaudry tackles the audio edition of her book chronicling the ordeal of her younger brother’s best friend Adnan Syed, the subject of the first season of the popular true-crime podcast Serial. (Syed, who has spent almost two decades imprisoned in Maryland for the death of his former girlfriend Hae Min Lee, was recently granted a new trial.) Chaudry brings a palpable sense of passion and drive to the recording. When speaking in the first person with regard to being Muslim and her close connections to Syed, Chaudry’s delivery takes on an engaging conversational quality. When reading the complex maze of transcripts and evidence accounts, Chaudry’s manner seems a bit less polished. Yet fans of the radio-journalism style that the very case in question helped bring to the forefront will appreciate her thorough, no-nonsense approach. The audiobook also includes a special PDF of documents related to Syed’s case, a straightforward, no-frills display of the written record that presents the wide-ranging scope of Syed’s defense. A St. Martin’s hardcover. (Aug.)