Notes on an Execution
by Danya Kukafka
I listened to this one through audible while painting the hallway and let me tell you on more than one occasion I had to stop, rewind, and confirm I heard what I heard.
The book expertly toggles between the perspective of a convicted serial killer waiting on death row and the women who collide with him on his rampage through life.
The flow between these characters allows you to experience the women in his life before, during, and after he chose the life of a monster. You watch as he manipulates and blames every woman in his path for his weakness, when really it was his all along.
Each story of the women around him is told with heartbreaking honesty and a fair amount of grit. I loved each one of them, from the heartbreaking story of Lavender (his mother) to the gutsy realism of Saffy the young detective. All the women in this novel are as layered and complex as we are in life.
The writing was beautiful and cruel in all the right places and kept me hooked.
I hope you get a chance to give it a read… or a listen.
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