NATIONAL BESTSELLER ?Defiantly populated with living women . . . beautifully drawn dense with
detail and specificity . . . Notes on an Execution is nuanced ambitious and compelling.?
?Katie Kitamura NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW (Editors' Choice) A searing portrait of the
complicated women caught in the orbit of a serial killer. . . . Compassionate and
thought-provoking. ?BRIT BENNETT #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Vanishing Half
Recommended by New York Times Book Review • Los Angeles Times • Washington Post • Entertainment
Weekly • Esquire • Good Housekeeping • USA Today • Buzzfeed • Goodreads • Real Simple • Marie
Claire • Rolling Stone • Business Insider • Bustle • PopSugar • The Millions • The Guardian •
and many more! In the tradition of Long Bright River and The Mars Room a gripping and
atmospheric work of literary suspense that deconstructs the story of a serial killer on death
row told primarily through the eyes of the women in his life?from the bestselling author of
Girl in Snow. Ansel Packer is scheduled to die in twelve hours. He knows what he's done and
now awaits execution the same chilling fate he forced on those girls years ago. But Ansel
doesn't want to die he wants to be celebrated understood. Through a kaleidoscope of women?a
mother a sister a homicide detective?we learn the story of Ansel's life. We meet his mother
Lavender a seventeen-year-old girl pushed to desperation Hazel twin sister to Ansel's wife
inseparable since birth forced to watch helplessly as her sister's relationship threatens to
devour them all and finally Saffy the detective hot on his trail who has devoted herself to
bringing bad men to justice but struggles to see her own life clearly. As the clock ticks down
these three women sift through the choices that culminate in tragedy exploring the rippling
fissures that such destruction inevitably leaves in its wake. Blending breathtaking suspense
with astonishing empathy Notes on an Execution presents a chilling portrait of womanhood as it
simultaneously unravels the familiar narrative of the American serial killer interrogating our
system of justice and our cultural obsession with crime stories asking readers to consider the
false promise of looking for meaning in the psyches of violent men. Poetic and mesmerizing . .
. Powerful important intensely human and filled with a unique examination of tragedy one
where the reader is left with a curious emotion: hope. ?USA TODAY ?A profound and staggering
experience of empathy that challenges us to confront what it means to be human in our darkest
moments. . . . I relished every page of this brilliant and gripping masterpiece.?ASHLEY AUDRAIN
New York Times bestselling author of The Push