Murder at Yale

by Stella Sands

Annie Le seemed to have it all. A beautiful graduate student at one of the world's most prestigious universities, she was also deeply in love. But just days before she was set to get married, Annie went mysteriously missing...and her fiance started to fear the worst.

Raymond Clark III seemed like an average, all-American boy next door. He was a sports hero in high school, adored by friends and family. But he had a secret dark side--and a history of violence that was about to come to light.

Annie and Ray worked in the same lab facility. Security records indicated that, on September 8, 2009, Annie entered a restricted basement area...followed by Ray. On the thirteenth, the date of her wedding, Annie's lifeless body was found. DNA evidence at the crime scene was eventually linked to Ray. Why did he do it? What did Annie do to set him off? This is the shocking true story of a "Murder at Yale."

Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction, Crime

247 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2010

Reviews

[Ronnie Cramer · Rating 1 out of 5]

Starts off okay by describing the disappearance of a Yale graduate student and the the tragic result of the search for her. The book then starts quoting extensively from media accounts (the author clearly watched a lot of TV coverage), and gives us page after interminable page of outlandish speculation by everyone from profilers to pundits. Ironically, it's a fairly innocuous headline on the Fox News website--'Yale Professor Questioned in Graduate Student's Disappearance'--that's singled out for admonition by a university spokesperson (who mischaracterizes it), and dutifully reported by the author--even though it's correct. A strange and unsatisfying book that ends before trial; hence the padding, I suppose.

[JoyAnna · Rating 2 out of 5]

Author should have waited until after the trial to write the book. It's basically a magazine article stretched into a book. Not anything new that I didn't know about the case and just ended without finding out the "why" of why he did it. I guess I will Google to see that information. It was a sad story of a gifted young lady who might have made a real difference in the medical field had she lived. He had not gone to trial as the book ended so you have no idea even what sentence he might have been given. Left me unsatisfied

[Leeann Sheriff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anne Le is a student ready to graduate and get married. She has done everything to make her life perfect. She comes up missing and the investigation gets underway. I love the photos that were used in the book and reading the story gets me to realize just how twisted someone could be. There were many mistakes that were made, security breeches and it had to come to the death of this educated woman to finally do something about non students working in the research departments.

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book with a very good, if not incomplete, story. The author should have waited until more information was available after the crime. Too many questions left unanswered. The constant speculations of what MIGHT have happened take away from the story.

[Susan]

I gave up on this book after about 25 pages. The writing is not good (sentences began with "and" or "but"). I felt events were being stretched out to make the narrative book length rather than the magazine article it probably should have been.

[Tami · Rating 4 out of 5]

True Crime

[Karen · Rating 2 out of 5]

So sick of hearing all the quotes from media outlets, the public, the friends of Annie Le and Clark, etc. Too much speculation!

[Danielle Villardi]

read for class. not rating for .. obvious reasons. however the author writing “hmmmmmm” at the end of every other chapter was incredibly funny

[Stephanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the true account of a 2009 murder that occurred at Yale. Young Annie Le was a grad student soon to be married, who disappeared from one of the school’s science labs just days before her wedding. Several days later, her body was found, and so was an abundance of evidence that led to the main suspect, Raymond Clark III. At the time of publication, the trial had not yet begun, and I believe it still hasn’t, as the book was just recently published, so we are still awaiting the verdict on Raymond.

I enjoy reading true crime to keep up to date and I also find it fascinating to try and understand the psychology of criminals. I remember this murder taking place and how sad it was because Annie was so intelligent and was a soon to be bride. I don’t understand what could lead someone to perform such a heinous act!

If you are interested in true crime or followed this story, you may be interested in picking this one up, however, the writing was not too great. It was extremely repetitive, and relegated the same information over and over again. The writing seemed quite amateur. In addition, it probably would have been better to publish this book after the trial, because we don’t find out in the book what Raymond’s fate will be, and we never find out what his motives were, just a TON of different theories.

Definitely not the best true crime I’ve read. Only read it if you’re really interested in this case.

[Victoria · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book should not have been published prior to the verdict of the trial. The strongest areas of the writings were Parts I and II, which gradually laid out the details of the investigations into Annie Le's murder. They were informative and presented a thorough portrayal of the process. Parts III and IV, however, were a mess. The author seemed to have quoted every media broadcast about the case that she could find as filler material for a page minimum she needed to meet. A good portion of the second half of the book was also devoted to speculation rather than fact. The writer's tendency to insert phrases such as "Hmmmmm....suspicious" and end every chapter dramatically with sentences such as "It seemed that for now and in the foreseeable future, Le's wedding was not to be" was very irritating.

[Allie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Decent amount of information on the murder of Annie Le, but as the author gets further into the case, she starts describing, in full, interviews from Dr. Phil or Larry King, or any other news anchor she could find. All of it being speculation at that point, because she finished the book way before any information was even available or the case even brought to trial.

Could've been a good book if it was complete and written by somebody else. The writing was very poor as every poignant sentence was ended the same. I swear she wrote "but the wedding was just not to be" no less than 10 times.

[Shelby Lamb · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story itself was interesting... as in the murder... though sad. Of course. I commend the author for writing a novel-length piece on something that could be summed up in 50 pages. So even though it was quite repetitive and dragged out, I gave it three stars for the strenuous effort. You will find yourself wanting to skip over parts to get to the juicer part of the meat, based on how repetitive it is. At the end of it you still might not have closure. Maybe the killer did not have a real motive other than to kill. Pleasure killing, they call it. Psychopaths love the thrill. Cheers.

[Susan · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was just OK. I prefer to know how the story ultimately ends by the time I am done the book. With this book, we know she was murdered and someone was arrested. That's it. We don't know if he was indicted, was there a trial, guilty or not guilty, why did he do it, what ultimately happened to him?? We know none of these things. Big disapointment.

[Denise Whelan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I felt this book should not have been written until the full outcome of this case. There would have been more people to talk to and interview. Annie Marie Le should be the name remembered, not that of her murderer. Such a sad and tragic end to the life with such a promising future ahead!

[Amanda · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not very well written and obviously had no real conclusion since the trial hasn't even started yet.

[Leah · Rating 1 out of 5]

I thought the chapters were all a bit too repetitive, almost as if the chapters summarized the previous ones. .. Wasn't my favorite read.

[Cynthia · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author gave too many facts and left out all emotion...the question was never answered as to "why" he committed the murder.

[Liz Macias · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not a fan of this book. It was published before the case even went to trial. I would have been more satisfied just looking up the information online :(

[Heather Bennett · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lacked an ending And substance for me. Although, I feel somewhat responsible for it though since it had not been tried at the time author wrote the book.

[Kara · Rating 1 out of 5]

The first half was alright, but then I found I was forcing myself to continue. I love reading true crime(even when there is no verdict, hence closure). I certainly didn't love this though.