Notes on an Execution by Danya Kukafka

Content warning: violence, animal abuse

Notes on an Execution by Danya Kukafka is a provocative dissection of our society’s compulsive obsession with true crime and particularly the enigmatic serial killer trope. The book starts with a grim scene: Ansel Packer is an inmate on death row awaiting his execution.

As the story alternates between his final thoughts and the lives of the three women that have been affected by his actions, Danya Kukafka gradually peels off the layers of the narrative and reveals how each character is roped into this interwoven tapestry of violence and tragedies. The pacing of the story is magnificent with the stark contrast between the different sections. Ansel’s sections always carry an underlying sense of urgency as his execution is drawing near. The sections of the three women (Lavender, Hazel, and Saffy) are slower and more insightful as the characters slowly unfold their stories. It is also quite enthralling to see how Ansel develops his Theory over the years and how he desperately tries to mould it around his twisted behaviours. To some extent, that so-called Theory is his attempt to pacify himself, to justify his heinous deeds, and to create an asylum where he could revel in his self-proclaimed superior intellectuality.

The story truly begs the argument regarding the glorification of homicide perpetrators and the morality of true crime content. It is worth bearing in mind that the true-crime genre is, after all, rooted in the tragedies of real people and their loved ones.