Review: A Daughter's Deadly Deception: The Jennifer Pan Story by Jeremy Grimaldi

Author: Jeremy Grimaldi
Publisher: Dundurn
Publication Date: November 2016

From the outside looking in, Jennifer Pan seemed like a model daughter living a perfect life. The ideal child, the one her immigrant parents saw, was studying to become a pharmacist at the University of Toronto. But there was a dark, deceptive side to the angelic young woman.

In reality, Jennifer spent her days in the arms of her high school sweetheart, Daniel. In an attempt to lead the life she dreamed of, she would do almost anything: lie about her whereabouts, forge school documents, and invent fake jobs and a fictitious apartment. For many years she led this double life. But when her father discovered her web of lies, his ultimatum was severe. And so, too, was her revenge: a plan that culminated in cold-blooded murder. And it almost worked, except for one bad shot.

The story of Jennifer Pan is one of all-consuming love and devious betrayal that led to a cold-hearted plan hatched by a group of youths who thought they could pull off the perfect crime.

 A Daughter's Deadly Deception: The Jennifer Pan Story is about a woman who plots the murder of her parents to get out form under their thumb.. I have always found true crime novels fascinating and this book was definitely fascinating.  The book is in two parts.  The first half deals with the crime and the subsequent investigation into the murder and attempted murder of Pan's parents.  The second half of the book looks into Pan's life and the possible reasons for her decision to plot the murder of her parents.

The book was definitely engaging and well paced.  I never felt bored or  like I was reading a dry Wikipedia page.  I thought the author did an excellent job of laying out the facts of the case.  He included a few theories as to how Jennifer turned into the sociopath.  I thought the section on tiger parenting really fascinating. I never felt like the author was sympathetic to Jennifer or that he tried to excuse her actions.  My take? She was a master manipulator and liar who had no qualms about ruining people's lives for her own gain.  One of the other thing I appreciated about the book was the "Where are they now?" section at the end.  It saved me some time on Google.  I recommend this to any true crime enthusiast.