We are introduced to the author of the book, Bryan Stevenson who is a member of the bar in two states Alabama and Georgia. He then receives a call from the local Judge Robert E. Lee about a case which involves a man called Walter McMillian’s. He knew that he could have gotten into great danger but he decides to do the right thing and confront the case. In the county of Monroe an eighteen-year-old woman is brutally murdered. The murder took everyone by surprise and even after a few days of investigating no one could find concrete evidence to point out who was the killer.
The Serial podcast investigates the likelihood of a wrongful indictment occurring in the life of Adnan Syed, a man charged with the murder of Hae Min Lee. In his case, there is one piece of incriminating evidence that first makes investigators believe he is guilty. Jay Wilds, the case’s sole witness, tells a story (or stories) of what he says happens the day Hae dies. He claims Adnan kills her, puts her body in the trunk of her own car, and then buries her at Leakin Park around 7pm. Using Jay’s statement as a base, investigators then get a hold of Adnan’s cell phone records from the day of Hae’s death.
Works Cited Chaudry, R. (2016). Adnan Syed is innocent. Now find Hae Min Lee's real killer | Rabia Chaudry. Retrieved December 16, 2016, from https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/jul/06/adnan-syed-new-trial-hae-min-lee-rabia-choudry McDonell-Parry, A. (2016). 'Serial' Subject Adnan Syed: 4 Key Pieces of Evidence, Explained.
Rather than being an individual of complete and absolute evil, the serial killer is an addict. Formed by a dysfunctional upbringing and defective learning, the serial killer becomes contingent on fantasy as a coping mechanism. This is, in some respects, no different from the alcoholic using their drink of choice as a survival mechanism. Just as addicts tend to fall into a downward spiral, until all else in their lives centers around the addictive substance, the serial killers life begins to revolve around fantasy. The uprising develops to something so controlling that ultimately fantasy turn out to be the focus of the serial killers being.
Sarah Koening is the host of the podcast Serial, a story that follows the murder of teenage Hae Min Lee and her alleged murderer Adnan Syed. Koening put herself out into the world with the serial podcast in 2014, and once the podcast was finished it ended up being worth twenty-five million dollars. Even though Sarah deliberately says throughout the podcast that she is pursuing this case for her own curious reasons, she really wants us to listen for her own personal gain. She demonstrates this want for fame, money, and views by effectively making the case a narrative rather than an expositive story, through her author's craft and use of rhetorical devices, and her constant use of cliffhangers at the end of each episode.
The most difficult thing an author can do when telling a story, is attracting an audience, and maintaining the audience’s engagement. In Serial, while telling the story of Adnan Syed, Sarah Koenigs attracts the audience with her purpose which is proving that Adnan Syed was wrongfully convicted and isn't completely guilty. Sarah maintains the attention of her audience by using emotional, and logical appeal, while also establishing credibility. In other words she uses the rhetoric made up of Pathos, Logos, and Ethos.
The art of storytelling is one full of powerful devices. In Sarah Koenig’s Serial, our world is crammed full of narrative acrobatics and linguistic precariousness, courtesy of a podcast so grounded in language, the audience is ultimately lead to one of the most prevalent themes: ambiguity. Koenig consistently provides her listeners with such damning evidence throughout the podcast, and then almost always provides a stream of doubt: “Maybe Adnan misspoke… maybe he’s lying… maybe he’s hiding something…”. Serial becomes a courtroom, Sarah Koenig becomes the defense and prosecution, and the podcast’s audience becomes the new jury to the Adnan Syed case. However, unlike Adnan’s real jury, who left the courtroom with enough conviction to sentence
In Mindhunter by John Douglas and Mark Olshaker we are brought into the world of the FBI’s serial crime unit where John Douglas spent his twenty-five year career. In this autobiographical novel the readers are shown in chilling details the behind the scenes of some of Douglas's most influential and gruesome cases. Which brings new light to the most recognized serial killers of our time such as Charles Manson, and Ed Gein. Douglas shows the hard truths about life as a FBI agent and the hard reality of meeting and getting to know psychotic people to their very core. Throughout Mindhunter, John Douglas showed his writing skills, teaching, and the overall compelling factor of his novel.
Murders occur on a day-to-day basis all over the globe. Though many are covered in the news, many are left in the dust and never gain any relevance. The murder of the Clutter family, an exemplar of a case left under the dust, occurred in Holcomb, Kansas in the late 1950s. Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood follows the Clutter murder, yet primarily focuses on the stories of the killers, Dick Hickcock and Perry Smith.
As the investigation unfolds and the lives of the killers intertwine, the true complexity of the situation
The novel is written in a journalistic style, citing facts of the case. By starting the novel off with the murders, the author is able to build a mounting terror as the reader finds out the motivations of the killers in the novel. The author writes in a non-judgmental style about the opinions
As to the serial killer’s letter was short handwritten and almost exclusively composed of simple main clauses, obtaining several grammatical “mistakes”, but at the same timesharing features that were well-executed, complex narrative patterns and importantly an unusual rhetorical device, like the repetition of verbs in two consecutive sentences and changing the context to express irony and cruel humor (Smith). Analysis contributed to obtain a search warrant for Mr. Hummert’s computer and office, a search that produced a quantity of work related e-mails and other documents written by him (known documents), were positive verbs were contracted, patterns of the use of “I am and I’m as well as do not and don’t” appeared in comparison to sentence strings confirmed of a pattern of similarity, convicting Mr. Hummert
Keonig further cultivates this scepticism of Adnan’s case through the skilful use of archival audio from Kevin Urick's testimony, where he claims that Asia Mclean wrote the affidavit "to please [the family] and get them off her back," contradicting the scanned letter and affidavit that Asia Mclean wrote. Koenig enhances the investigation by leveraging contemporary texts as means to communicate more evidence through the use of the serialpodcast.org website housing the statements written by Asia, allowing the audience to take on the role of internet sleuths. This interactive approach empowers responders to critically evaluate Adnan Syed's case, actively participating in the fight against injustices held within the US judicial system. However, while this process can offer an illusion of impartial participation, when Keonig states that to accept Jay's version and stories they would have to accept that “Adnan wasn't just a killer, but a master liar and manipulator.” influencing the responder's perception towards Adnan's innocence, rendering the responders vulnerable to Keonigs own conformational bias and selectively curated information.
Death, rape, murder, psychopath: words that vehemently cry for horror and taboo yet carry a mystique and fascination to not only the criminally obsessed, but also to the average person. As a result, authors and directors tend to capitalize on the viewing public’s urges for crime and thriller, often recreating stories of the world’s most tragic, sadistic serial killers in history through biographies, documentaries, television shows, and movie adaptations. Unfortunately, these dramatizations can sometimes overshadow the impact of these crimes, exploiting the violence for entertainment rather than the tragedies itself. However, in 2012, illustrator Derf Backderf revolutionized a new medium to portray the true crime genre with his graphic novel My Friend Dahmer. This comic book style memoir details of
All characters are accused and redeemed of guilt but the murderer is still elusive. Much to the shock of the readers of detective fiction of that time, it turns out that the murderer is the Watson figure, and the narrator, the one person on whose first-person account the reader 's’ entire access to all events depends -- Dr. Sheppard. In a novel that reiterates the significance of confession to unearth the truth, Christie throws the veracity of all confessions contained therein in danger by depicting how easily the readers can be taken in by
