Customer Reviews

Court TV Presents: Murder in Room 103: The Death of an American Student in Korea--and the Investigators' Search for the Truth

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In her MURDER IN ROOM 103, Harriet Ryan presents the story of Jamie Penich, a foreign exchange student who was murdered in a cheap hotel in Seoul, South Korea. Her friend and fellow exchange student, Kenzi Snider, is eventually charged with the crime. Ryan's book is, more than anything else, a look at investigative techniques - specifically the accuracy of the results obtained by an investigator with a preconceived theory who repeatedly interviews a suspect while refusing to accept any answer that does not fit his preconceptions. It also deals with the ethics of this kind of investigation. Ryan shows how this kind of investigative technique can, especially with people who wish to be cooperative and to not offend, lead to invalid confessions.

Ryan's writing is competent, literate, and intelligent. She does not engage in unnecessary drama, nor does she impose her personality on her narrative. In summary, MURDER IN ROOM 103 is a professional piece of work.
I have rated it three stars, though, because I just didn't find the story interesting enough - though the basic subject is worthy of discussion - to warrant 294 pages. There is a fair amount of repetition in the narrative, and while it does not reach the annoying level regularly attained by the low level true crime hacks, it does little more than add to the length of the book.
I do think that given her writing ability, a scholarly article by Ryan on the subject of investigative techniques could be rewarding. MURDER IN ROOM 103 is not a bad book, but neither is it particularly compelling reading.

This is a book that should be on every true crime maven's must-read list.

Following the brutal murder of a young American college student studying abroad in South Korea the authorities are confronted with a perplexing mystery. Was the young girl murdered by an American GI she met that evening in a Seoul nightclub frequented by off duty GIs or was she killed by a Korean intruder in her sleazy Seoul motel? Contrasting the radically different investigative skills of the Korean police and the US Army MP investigators, the author follows the investigation as it runs its lengthy course. Following the arrest of a most unlikely suspect the Korean authorities try the defendant according to Korean legal procedures which are shockingly different then ours. The trial and its ambiguous aftermath lead the reader puzzled as to whodunit.

Kudos to Ms. Ryan for producing a real page turner!

This is a wonderful book and it is full of information. A student in one of my death investigation classes asked me if a person could falsely confess to a murder. Her question was based on Ms. Ryan's very informative web project on the court-tv site.

The answer is prety clear, yes people falsely confess. In this case, there is a very good opportunity to bring the person(s) who committed this murder to justice. This is an absolutely fascinating, yet tragic story.

This book will keep the heat on the person who did this terrible crime.

This is the first book by CourtTV's Harriet Ryan. She has written extensively for the CourtTV site, but this is her first book, and I hope not her last. This is a very confounding case, very succinctly told, interesting from first page to the last. These girls were American students studying in Korea. They had been there for only 2 weeks when, on a drinking/partying weekend, tragedy stuck which left one of the girls dead. The circumstances of the case were a mystery from the very beginning, but Ryan illuminates the Korean way of justice, walks us through it, and compares it to our own. The story is terribly sad, not just because of the death of a young girl but because of the havoc wreaked on the other girl's life. I hope in time Kenzi will be able to reclaim her life and will be able to smile again.