The novel focuses on a man on death row named Ansel Packer. Kukafka skillfully uses the second-person present tense to heighten the drama, and toward the end she makes devastatingly clear the toll taken by Packer’s killings. In Notes on an Execution, Kukafka seeks to interrogate that cultural preoccupation and clich. Notes on an Execution: The bestselling thriller that everyone is talking about Danya Kukafka Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945) Praise for Notes on. Those sections alternate with passages from the points of view of his mother, who was also abused, and of a New York State police investigator devoted to getting justice for Packer’s victims. There’s no mystery at the heart of Notes on an Execution, Danya Kukafka ’s poetic and mesmerizing second novel (William Morrow, 320 pp., out of four, out Tuesday. He grew up with an abusive father and began killing and mutilating animals when he was three. Flashbacks, starting with Packer’s birth to a 17-year-old mother in 1973, trace his path from childhood to what seem to be his final hours. That surprising attitude is accounted for by the early revelation that he befriended one of the prison guards and is plotting a last-minute escape. (Out of 200+.) It’s the rare unicorn of a novel that is masterfully written, has a page-turning plot, and manages to make a statement about our society all at the same time. However, Packer, who’s killed multiple women across the country, including in Texas and New York, isn’t worried. Danya Kukafka’s brilliant sophomore novel, Notes on an Execution, will take top honors as the best book I’ve read this year.

This masterly thriller from Kukafka ( Girl in Snow) opens on death row in a Texas prison, where Ansel Packer is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection in 12 hours.

Kukafka notes on an execution