'𝜤𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒂𝒏 𝒂𝒎𝒃𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒖𝒔 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒄𝒆𝒑𝒕, 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒆. 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒂 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒍𝒐𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒃𝒆 𝒃𝒂𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒐𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒄𝒉𝒐𝒊𝒄𝒆𝒔.𝑻𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒌 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔 𝒐𝒓 𝒓𝒖𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇.'

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This novel does all those things that good novels should do. It placed me in scenarios and lives that, hopefully and thankfully, I'll never have to experience. And it made me think long and hard about those experiences and lives.

Told from several different POVs, Notes on an Execution follows Ansel Packer - a man on Death Row for the murder of several women. His story - and it is his story, no matter how uncomfortable it might make us to centre him - is told by the women whose lives he has affected through his violence.

This novel approached huge themes such as justice (the prison system, the death penalty, the rehabilitation of violent criminals) trauma, child abuse, DV and male violence. It asks us to think about nature Vs nurture, about the values of good and evil and what they mean. What acts are unredeemable? Who is beyond redemption?

I have some fairly strong opinions on the death penalty, and the nature of evil. And some views on the justice system and how that operates in a discriminatory manner in society. This novel really gave me some food for thought. 

It's not 5★ - the pacing is off in places, some of the ideas were fleetingly dealt with and probably could have been given more weight, it felt repetitive and laboured in parts. 

But generally, this was a cracking book. Loads of TWs, as you'd hopefully have assumed.