Lots of us are fascinated by serial killers, but most of the time we read thrillers about the act itself. Notes on an Execution takes us not only inside the mind of Ansel himself, but events that shaped his life and into the lives of others affected by his actions.

I found Danya Kukafka’s newest novel to be completely mesmerizing. I went down the rabbit hole of what each of the characters were feeling and how they would cope with the life they were dealt. What makes a killer who they are, and what happens if only the slightest thing changes?

Thank you for the opportunity to review! Link to 2/24/20 Instagram post:

https://www.instagram.com/p/CZH7DqkrXzG/

In twelve hours Ansel Packer will be executed. As the time unwinds, three women parse the life of a serial killer. Lavender is his mother, Hazel the twin sister of his wife, and Saffron the police captain involved in his capture. In Notes on an Execution their stories strip the filters from Ansel’s own Auto-tuned portrayal of himself and his life’s Theory, leaving behind nothing more than another man who kills women.

While they may have been called forth due to their link to Ansel what Execution does is bring these women front and center. Their stories bloom on the page. Lavender as the mother of an infant and a five-year-old, who left them behind on an isolated farm. Hazel, whose dreams were dashed while she was still a teenager, leaving her to fester in her sister Jenny’s shadow. And Saffron, going from an unprotected childhood in foster care to protecting and serving as a detective.

Only one timeline in Execution is absolute, the moment of Ansel’s death. Beyond that the chapters are fluid, marked by different years in each woman’s life. Each with its own layers of trauma, whether it’s the beaten down Lavender running away from a sadistic boyfriend, sending the police to the farm in the hopes it will save her boys’ lives. Or Saffy who tumbles into a wild child lifestyle after aging out of the foster system. A dead friend pushes her to the opposite side of the equation—judgement and justice. For each author Danya Kukafka trespasses into the darkest parts of intimacy, naming the dangerous needs and desires that sometimes lie beneath the surface of normal.

One of the most compelling elements in Execution is Ansel’s diminishment. The macabre mystique attached to the term “serial killer”, a label magnified in the media and in the minds of all of us who consume books, documentaries, and entire TV channels on the subject, is stripped of its almost mythic enhancement to its bare essence. A man who killed women. Period.

Through Lavender, Hazel, and Saffy Kukafka illustrates the same trauma, damage, pain, and darkness as Ansel, but with wholly different outcomes. The novel is no mystery, even if the truth is not immediately apparent. The novel is not a mystery, even if the truth is not immediately apparent. Rather, Notes on an Execution is a literary labyrinth, an exploration of paths and where we choose to go.

I had extremely high expectations for this based on so many friends’ enthusiastic reviews, and while I liked it, it didn’t move me quite the same way as it has others.

It’s the story of Ansel Packer, counting down on Death Row to his execution, and the story, more importantly, of the women whose lives he ended or impacted. It elicits questions about why people make the choices they do. Why did Ansel choose to kill? How do our pasts define who we become? Why do some turn their pain to good, while others choose evil?

In the respect that it makes you think about the nature of trauma and who some become as a result, I found this fascinating. I liked that the story showed the impact of Ansel’s parents on his life without making his choices look sympathetic. I also liked that the focus was more on the women whose lives he affected. It’s definitely a thought-provoking, almost philosophical book that would be fantastic for discussion.

That said, there were a few things - in this case, all “P”s - I couldn’t connect with:

1. POV. I felt a pervasive lack of connection to the characters, other than perhaps Saffy, Ansel’s one-time friend and now lead investigator. Ansel’s chapters told in second-person POV, and omniscient third-person POV chapters for the remaining characters kept me at a distance I don’t think I would’ve felt if told in first-person, so I never felt as emotionally invested in them.

2. Purple prose. Holy heck there was too much flowery language. Things would flow nicely for awhile, then Kukafka would throw in these overwrought similes or metaphors that just sounded eye-rollingly pretentious to me. Some readers love that. I’m just not one of them.

3. “Porn” Lite. OK, OK - not porn proper, and it’s only a few scenes, but I don’t need graphic descriptions of what parts are going where and doing what, or what those parts look like. Eww. (Here’s another “p” word for you: prude. That’s me.)

Despite my issues, it’s a good book and I think it will land well with most readers. I mostly enjoyed it, and I like the ideas that it explores. Those who love this seem to really love it, so I’d check out some of their reviews if you’re debating this one. I’d still recommend it!

★★★ ½ (rounded down to 3)

Thanks to William Morrow and Custom House, NetGalley and author Danya Kukafka for this ARC in exchange for my honest opinions. It’s due to be published January 25, 2022.

Tick tock…
Inmate #999631 is a serial killer on death row awaiting his execution.
But he has also has a name.
Ansel Packer is determined to change his fate.
But is it too late?
Is this really justice?

Notes on an Execution is a powerful story of literary fiction that captivates the reader with a look into the mind of a serial killer. What is Ansel Packer’s story? Why did he murder “the Girls”? Told mostly through the perspectives of the women in Packer’s life, Kukafka presents a sympathetic portrait of a man haunted by the rejection he feels from the abandonment of his mother and ultimate failure to to find a sense of belonging in a world where he is misunderstood.

“Bad people feel pain, too.”

From his jail cell where the elephant stain on ceiling is his only friend, Ansel seeks comfort, absolution, and freedom from himself. He writes a manifesto in order to justify how the different choices we all make lead to an infinite universe of possible timelines. This sentiment is mirrored in the narratives of Saffy, the police detective, his mother, Lavender, and Hazel, his ex-wife’s twin sister.

While I would not classify this book as a mystery or thriller, I was immediately intrigued by Kukafka’s fantastic writing. In fact, I had a very difficult time narrowing down my selection of quotes to include in my review. The writing is absolutely stunning. While I am not sure that I agree with where this story ultimately went, I also find myself just as glued to the pages or the television screen watching documentaries about serial killers. Why are they revered as a type of martyr because of their heinous criminal acts? This concept definitely gave me a sense of pause and reflection.

As a thriller junkie, I found that this book does not really fit in the genre where my interest lies. However, if read as a piece of literary fiction, it is stunning.

“There is good and there is evil, and the contradiction lives in everyone.”

4/5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow publishing for the ARC of Notes on an Execution in exchange for an honest review.

This book was so well done, and I just couldn't put it down. Told in alternative timelines of Ansel on the day of his execution compared to periods of time over his life from the perspective of women in his life. I don't often feel the need to discuss books with friends, but I will definitely be encouraging my friends to read this book so we can share our thoughts with spoilers. That said, for this spoiler free review, the things I liked most about this book was the strong women characters (especially Saffy!), all from different backgrounds and experiences, and the absolutely immersive writing style. And to be honest, I like how (to me), Ansel was presented as sort of a loser with super low self awareness about how others saw him (there is a great quote from Saffy at the end). Even though this covers a very heavy topic, I was completely engrossed and kept picking it up every chance I had.

Thanks to netgalley and the published for the eARC for my honest review.

It is hard to find enough positive addictions to characterize Notes on an Execution: powerful, riveting, insightful, moving are only a few. In this story of a killer's last hours as he awaits execution and in the stories of his mother, the other orphans with whom he grew up, and some of the people closest to his victims, Kukafka has written a book that is at once gripping and emotional, a book that forces readers to look deep inside themselves. I could not put it down until I had finished it. Many others will have the same experience. I am eager to see what this talented writer has in store for us next.

Thanks to William Morrow for an advanced copy of Notes on an Execution.

This is the first book I have read by Kukafka. It was such an intense read about the countdown to Ansel's execution. The interesting part of this book is that there are flashbacks to his childhood and then adult life that helped explain to the reader how he ended up behind bars. The story definitely makes you think about others that may currently be on death row and wonder how and why they ended up there. I think the saddest sentence in the book for me was after Ansel was arrested for his ex-wife's murder he said "I don't know why I murdered those women". Makes you think that his story is not uncommon.

Overall an intense and though provoking book. I highly recommend.

Notes on an Execution is an interesting look into the last day before Ansel Packer, Prisoner #999631 is to be executed. Ansel gives us part of his story each hour. In between the hours that are passing, we learn more through his mother, Lavender; his wife’s twin sister, Hazel, and a police detective, Suffy. I liked the concept of the multiple point of views of the characters as the author presented their pasts and present lives. However, I felt the chapters were much too long, and it was hard to keep track of each person. This is the type of book where the reader needed to take notes. My thanks to Harper Collins and NetGalley for an ARC of this book. The opinions in this review are my own.

First and foremost, huge thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollinsPublications for selecting me to read this ARC.

I found this book extremely interesting. My favorite parts were hearing from Ansel himself in his final hours of his life. While I enjoyed reading about the other characters and the building of the background story, it seemed like just a lot of filler room.

A powerful look at a killer and his victims.

Ansel Parker is twelve hours away from justice as he awaits his execution in a Texas jail. He’s a serial killer and he’s scheming to escape. Parker’s story is revealed through a narrator’s telling of his story as well as flashbacks from his mother, his wife’s twin sister and a female detective. Parker’s early childhood years shed some light on how he became the man sitting on death row. Saffy Singh, the detective, overcame a troubled childhood of her own and didn’t stop investigating Parker even when her superiors believed she had the wrong man for the murders of three seventeen-year-old girls.

Parker wants people to understand him. Yet he doesn’t really understand himself. But it’s the stories of the women that are the most compelling and affecting. Author Danya Kukafka has written a very heavy, powerful book that is sad and troubling. And so well done. Notes on an Execution is intelligent and thought-provoking.

Notes on an Execution by Danya Kukafka is an interesting story centering around a killer on his execution day. The book is written through each hour of his last day, interspersed with chapters telling the stories of various women affected by this man’s life—his mother, the detective who won’t give up on the case, a victim’s sister.

I was intrigued by the story and it was interesting to follow how the killer was caught. Unfortunately, it got a little slow for me in parts and while I normally don’t mind alternating viewpoints, it was a lot of follow sometimes. Overall, it was a good story.

3.5/5

Notes on and Execution came to me highly recommended. It’s presented as something a little more contemplative than much of the genre, and with that I’d have to agree. This story could have easily been packaged as your standard thriller, a cold case with a plucky detective following a trail that’s personally close to her. But that’s not the route Danya Kukafka chooses to go; instead she takes the wind out of those sails immediately. We know how it ends, we know who is responsible and we know he is going to die.

Told through a series of flashbacks and roving perspectives, Notes on an Execution performs a type of contact tracing (pardon the use of a pandemic phrase) through Ansel Packer’s life. Ansel has been sentenced to die for a slew of murders he confessed to committing, with the present day chapters beginning in the 12 hours leading up to that event. The chapters set in the past utilize the POV of three different women, all connected to Ansel in some way: Lavender, Hazel and Saffy.

These are not the women who’s paths he altered the most, but ones that feel a degree removed from his direct orbit. Because what this novel is first and foremost is a measure of impact, not origin. Ansel is the meteor that crashes into the planet’s surface, shifting the plates even in places he didn’t hit directly. The idea of causation, what drives someone like Ansel to hurt others, is discussed quite a bit, but with no firm position taken. There’s evidence provided for either, or both, though that’s as far as Kukafka chooses to go.

But as I was reading this I could not stop asking myself, what is the collective fascination with men that do these kinds of things? Why do we care? Should we? I’m not particularly interested in empathizing or sympathizing with men who hurt women because they can, even in a fictional sense. There’s an anthropologist argument for a kind of post-mortem examination of these kinds of men, but the societal fixation on them goes way beyond that. I don’t buy the excuse that they’re important to study in order to learn how to prevent the same cycle from repeating again. I think we really just want to see how much of our own selves is reflected back at us from them.

Because whatever we wish to learn about someone like Ansel, there is little evidence that they will learn anything in return, besides ways to better manipulate those around them. All the women in the novel who were affected show remorse or regret for what they believe is their own complicity in the violence. Everyone except Ansel seems to have the capacity and, importantly, willingness to confront their own actions. Ansel still blames every woman around him, and to an extent some vague idea of the ‘universe’, for what he alone did.

All of this is acknowledged by Kukafka to some extent. She may also be trying to draw attention to the same issues with media consumption of stories like this by writing it in this way. But by also writing a story about a psychopath serial killer, isn’t she just feeding into that obsession as well? I’m not convinced the portions that explore that idea are anything more than clever lampshding.

By the end of this book I was tired. I imagine the people raving about Notes on an Execution felt similarly, too. It’s not a light book, designed to challenge the reader, not necessarily to entertain. But for me, it was really a chore to get through the Ansel chapters at the end. He mourns for nobody but himself, with his ridiculous “theory” well-depicted by Kukafka as another method to deflect blame and elevate himself above the inelegance of murder. But its constant repetition, especially of the refrain that ‘one small choice would have changed everything’, makes me wonder if we were supposed to take some of that to heart as well. I think that line of thinking sounds like a soft exoneration.

The epilogue of sorts didn’t work for me. It was full of hypotheticals of what the women would be doing if they were still alive, which is nice in theory but reading it felt like an afterthought. Without that section, though, Ansel would be given the last word. Maybe I would have appreciated it more if the women left living got to send off the book instead, but who knows. Overall a lot to think about, but not the home run I was expecting.

Wow. This book was not at all what I was expecting, It was suspenseful and had a bit of mystery to it. It dove into the main character, Ansel's, childhood, time in foster care, teen years, adulthood and how all of his experiences shaped who he became. I loved how the time leading up to Ansel's execution was told in alternating perspectives of his and the women who were part of his life/capture in one way or another. Read this when it releases on January 25, 2022. Thanks to William Morrow and NetGalley for an early digital copy of this book.

Beautifully written and truly original. This is a novel that explores the women in a serial killer’s life that is on death row. Kukafka challenges the reader to remember that even the bad feel pain. This is an incredibly thought provoking read that aims to have the reader feel empathy. The multiple points of view, timeline shifts, and overall unfolding of events add to the novel’s originality. This is a novel that stays with you.

Wonderful book... exemplifies well the how an upbringing can really affect one's life. Kukafka is eloquent and really captures the emotions the characters are facing. I will be recommending this book to patrons!

In an unlikely look at a serial killer, the author deftly handles both empathy for the killer while highlighting the lives not lived of the victims. This combination of compassion for both the killer and his victims blends into a compelling story of both grief and an examination of the American justice system.

We first meet Ansel Packer when he has twelve hours left before his scheduled execution. All legal avenues of postponement have been exhausted but Ansel is still holding out hope of escape from his sentence. The story then switches perspective to the points of view of three women associated with him: his mother, the detective trying pin the killings on him and the sister of a woman prominent in his life. The reader then learns more about Ansel and perhaps what led him to killings, the lives of his victims and how he was finally convicted. We follow Ansel as the clock ticks down to his inevitable meeting with death with flashbacks of his life and those connected to him.

This is a riveting read. The pacing and sparse narrative style compels the reader forward to explore the fictionalized account of the pysche of a killer, what drives him and what happens to those closest to him. It is an interesting story rich in depth of character and, ultimately, a look at how we are fascinated by serial killers.

Thank you NetGalley and William Morrow for an advance copy of this book. The publication date is January 25, 2022.

Wow! This book kept me frantically reading through the night. The characters were so well thought out and their stories so realistically constructed, flaws and all. It felt like I was reading about real people. Encouraging our library director to buy this one. It needs so much more attention!

It is a little bit slow paced despite the time setting of the book however it has a very intriguing plot. It somehow gave me a little bit of Munchausen syndrome when I read it because I don’t know if I’m gonna be on the antagonist side or not. The book reminds me of Danielle Steele style of writing. It is very descriptive and not that much dialogues but it works.

This book is not quite a 5, but it is more like a 4.5. It is thought-provoking and is one that you will think about after your read it. I like how the story is told by several different people. It helps you see the situation through many different lenses. Ansel's childhood is heartbreaking and the author does a great job of showing how that impacts who he becomes. It is a haunting story of human decisions, consequence, and suffering.

I gave it a good 50 pages but the characters did not sit well with me. I was unable to fully immerse myself and connect with this story and did not finish. I even put it to the side and tried again, without success. I hope this book is a win for others, however, it was not for me.