A Daughter's Deadly Deception: The Jennifer Pan Story

As much as I hate to admit it, I finally quit. This book is like trying to put a 5000 piece puzzle together...blindfolded! After struggling through half of the book I really had little idea what was going on. The entire case centers around cell phones...MANY cell phones! There are legitimate cell phones as well as throw away cell phones involved and that is the only evidence in this case. There is NO forensic evidence. Along with all the cell phones and cell towers there are five defendants, five attorneys, 3 1/2 years of investigation and many, many other people and witnesses. One sentence in the book says that this case had "by far the most sophisticated telephone analysis evidence ever, scanning more than a million pieces of mobile phone data." There was "640,000 bits of phone communication spanning over a year." I rest my case!If you are up for it, go for it but it was more mumbo jumbo than I wanted to read about and try to figure out. And actually, the reader knew the whole time who did the crime and that convictions were certain.Would I recommend it? A resounding no!!

The author takes a nicely balanced view of Jennifer. You pity and dislike her at the same time. The mystery is how some people thrive under tiger parenting and some rare few are poisoned. This oddity is not addressed by the author or by the outside commentators. Another mystery is why Daniel would pull away from an ideal girl friend. Had he stuck with her, would she have healed or eventually hated and killed him?It is a shame the author could not interview Hann. One wonders how he is weathering the years alone. The reader ends by caring about the Tans and wishing them the best. And I for one ended the book by wanting to meet Jennifer Tan and just hold her for a long time.

Very informative. I was pleasantly surprised at the detail, especially hearing from her brother throughout. It does a great job dissecting and discussing the issue of 'Tiger Parenting'. I felt it was fair to her parents while not giving them a pass for their role in how Jennifer developed. It also lays out Jennifer for who she is. IMO a sociopath. I think if she had somehow gotten free from her parents she would have continued her world of lies and deception, and I think she possibly would have ended up killing someone for money. She was headed in that direction. But it turned out that Tiger Parenting = match and sociopath = gasoline.Ultimately the final chapters are a perfect ending to the story, with the final words coming from her father, her brother, and mental health experts.I only gave it 4 stars because there are times where the storytelling gets a bit confusing, like when talking about all of the different cell phones, nicknames, who is calling who and when.If you have any interest in this story, this book is a must have.

"A Daughter's Deadly Deception" is a decent true-crime book. It's unfortunate, I suppose, that I judge all true-crime writing by Ann Rule and Vincent Bugliosi, thus I found this book somewhat lacking. Still, it's a horrifying story, both in terms of what happened to Jennifer and what happened to her family. If you're looking for something new in the true-crime session, I would recommend the book. Just don't expect it to be outstanding or you'll be disappointed.

True crime at its best some may feel like it was too much information. I felt it had just enough and very detailed. As read of true crime I love when author tells it all not just who and where what ..but the why and why is detailed with facts to back it up I hope he plans to write more.

This book gives great insight into the mind of Jennifer Pan and also the strange relationship between her and her boyfriend Daniel Wong. Their text messages in baby talk are particularly disturbing. However, when examining all the cellphone correspondence amongst everyone involved in the murder for hire plot, this story gets long winded and confusing. I almost just wanted to skip that whole part.

The story of this young lady is both fascinating and tragic. It seems that lying was her go-to form of communication. The last third or so of the book is a character analysis which seemed a bit over done to me.

The extent to which this young woman went to deceive her parents is amazing. If only she had put that much energy in actually going to school and college. Much of the story is difficult to comprehend and may be attributed to cultural differences. For example, why wouldn't her parents have been expecting to attend her high school graduation? Such a shame that this intelligent young woman chose a deadly path.

Mind blowing story of the most incredible deception carried out over years and years, chilling story of the calculated deception of family and friends ending in murder. The section written by the father and her brother is heart breaking and describes so well the feelings and destruction left in the wake of their daughter and sister's deception. Very sad for them.

Great book

Could have been better

Grimaldi's writing is top notch. Sometimes a newspaper writer can't make the jump to books, but she's done it with bells on.Thoroughly researched and insightful, as well as very accurate regarding the investigation and the evidence. Good conclusions drawn (on both sides of the scales) about the "Tiger Mom" concept that pressures so many Asian youth to be number one in a mind-numbingly narrow range of professions and pastimes. As with most murder stories, a horrible crime, but an excellent book about it.

It was a very detailed story. Speaks about Jennifer lifestyle leading up to the murder. Although I disagree with the "tiger parenting" in Asian culture, it gives no one the right to take someone elses life. My condolences to the Han Pan family! 😢Even if you have gotten a chance to watch the documentary, I would still advise you to read the book! It goes further in depth than the film.