Notes on an Execution by Danya Kukafka

​A man sits in a 6x9 cage awaiting an execution. A man has done terrible things; things the state has deemed it fair to take his life for, but how did he get there? What forces had to align to shape him into this person he’s become, this person whom society rejected so permanently?
This is an origin story. A story of the making of a sociopath and a serial killer. It is a complex and compelling story specifically because its protagonist is a reluctant monster – a monster who doesn’t want to be one, a monster who above all just wants to be a regular person.
Alas, it wasn’t in his stars. Some people get off to a rough start and manage to make the best of it and some get overwhelmed by that rough start and forever shaped by it.
This is a story of the latter, told through the eyes of the many women in his life, from the mother who abandoned him as a child to the sister-in-law who cautiously observed him from a distance to a foster care acquaintance who became a cop determined to stop him to the female jailer who he hopes will save him to the young woman who sees the best in him.
In the end, the man becomes defined solely by women, from those who knew and even tried to love to those he killed. It’s a trajectory that almost seems inevitable, which makes it all the more tragic.
It certainly makes for a powerhouse of a story. Emotionally complex, engaging, affecting, stark and very well written, this is a journey into the darkness fans of pitch-black psychological fiction are sure to enjoy. This is my second read by the author. Both books have been absolutely great. Recommended.