A review by ashleymg99
Notes on an Execution by Danya Kukafka

challenging dark reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This was a book i was skeptical about. as a former true crime junkie, i’ve grown weary of the way we talk about real life tragedy, as if it’s a piece of salacious gossip. Too many times are cases talked about callously, carelessly, and real people suffer because of this.

What drew me to true crime is the curiosity of “What makes a person do THAT?” and anyone who spends any amount of time will have a lot of answers, patterns that we look for that have clearly damned theses poor monsters. Abusive parents, a hit to the head at a young age, various traumas that explain away why they weren’t quite right in the head. 

At first, I was afraid that Notes was going to focus on the wasted brilliance of Ansel Packer, the evil genius who got away with murder, until he didn’t. A poor child who never had a chance to be anything but tragic. but what was surprisingly refreshing was that as you go on, the book gives him no grace. He is revealed to be exactly what he is, middling intelligence, cruel, selfish, and ultimately, a man who is nothing special. 

There are millions of men out there who want to hurt women—people seem to think that Ansel Packer is extraordinary, because he actually did.

I devoured this book. while this is not based on a real crime, the story is not far from not just one, but dozens, hundreds of real life cases. It handles every character with care and grace, even Ansel, in the end, in a way he doesn’t deserve. He’s give the voice that his victims don’t have, and realizes that just the fact that he could have been good in another time and place  isn’t enough to undo the evil he’s done in the here and now. 

This is not a crime drama, a whodunnit mystery, or an exploration of the twisted mind of a serial killer. it is the stories of many fractured individuals, weaving together a tragic fabric that urges the reader to reflect on life, death, justice, and humanity. 
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