The cultural obsession with serial killer’s, and the glamorisation of them has always sat uneasily with me. Add on the objectification of the victims and I start to feel angry. Women deserve better.

When I read the press release for Danya Kukafka’s book Notes on an Execution I was bowled over. A novel about a serial killer, told through the women left behind. It is a smart idea and the way she has written it is just superb. I was left in complete awe. I am not sure exactly how Danya Kukafka managed to write such a perfect book, but I will be reading it again to try and find out.

The subject is met with feminist delicacy and outstanding talent. What a combination. This is the book that women deserve. There is so much compassion in this book, and once you have read it you will not forget it. A completely triumph.

Ansel Packer is scheduled to die in twelve hours.

He knows what he’s done, and now awaits the same fate he forced on those girls, years ago. Ansel doesn’t want to die; he wants to be celebrated, understood.

But this is not his story.

As the clock ticks down, three women uncover the history of a tragedy and the long shadow it casts. Lavender, Ansel’s mother, is a seventeen-year-old girl pushed to desperation. Hazel, twin sister to his wife, is forced to watch helplessly as the relationship threatens to devour them all. And Saffy, the detective hot on his trail, is devoted to bringing bad men to justice but struggling to see her own life clearly.

This is the story of the women left behind.

Blending breathtaking suspense with astonishing empathy, Notes On An Execution presents a chilling portrait of womanhood as it unravels the familiar narrative of the American serial killer, interrogating our cultural obsession with crime stories, and asking readers to consider the false promise of looking for meaning in the minds of violent men.