Death Row: The Final Minutes

Death Row: The Final Minutes by Michelle Lyons

Paperback, 304 pages

Published 3rd May 2018 by Blink Publishing

Shelves: crime-thriller-mystery, death, non-fiction, read, read-in-2020, series-or-companions, title-appeal

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Description via Goodreads:

IN 12 YEARS, MICHELLE LYONS WITNESSED NEARLY 300 EXECUTIONS.

First as a reporter and then as a spokesperson for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Michelle was a frequent visitor to Huntsville's Walls Unit, where she recorded and relayed the final moments of death row inmates' lives before they were put to death by the state.

Michelle was in the death chamber as some of the United States' most notorious criminals, including serial killers, child murderers and rapists, spoke their last words on earth, while a cocktail of lethal drugs surged through their veins.

Michelle supported the death penalty, before misgivings began to set in as the executions mounted. During her time in the prison system, and together with her dear friend and colleague, Larry Fitzgerald, she came to know and like some of the condemned men and women she saw die. She began to query the arbitrary nature of the death penalty and ask the question: do executions make victims of all of us?

An incredibly powerful and unique look at the complex story of capital punishment, as told by those whose lives have been shaped by it, Death Row: The Final Minutes is an important take on crime and punishment at a fascinating point in America's political history.

This was one of those books that I picked up as soon as I saw it - the title told me that this was something that I would find extremely interesting. Despite this, I also have to admit that I was slightly doubtful that it would give me a fresh, new insight into what is a deeply emotive, complex and controversial subject. Thankfully, this book and author surprised me with the openness and honesty they held. 

Death Row: The Final Minutes is a book about both the final minutes of several Death Row inmates and also the story of the author, Michelle Lyons  and her late colleague Larry Fitzgerald. 

I think that you will either love or hate Michelle which could be problematic for readers, but I like to think that if I knew her in 'real life', we'd be friends. Lyons was incessantly passionate about her job - at points quite fiercely so as seen in her retorts to anybody who disagreed with her or the death penalty. I can understand and admire her passion but I don't think that the two opposing views on the death penalty were addressed as much as they could have been and sometimes it felt that she was so stuck in her own way of thinking that she couldn't consider  opposing thoughts. Michelle continuously tells us that the majority of executions that she watched didn't affect her, but it soon becomes clear that, unsurprisingly, they did. I admire Lyons refreshing honesty in this book and her recognition that her stoic front didn't completely reflect what was really going on inside her head.

The book gives us great insight into Death Row and its workings, using both transcripts of voice notes and diary entries from Lyons as reference points. These are the true highlight points of the book - getting to learn what it is really like in the death chamber - how the prisoners, executioners and observers all react in their own, unique ways.  We get to learn about both the build-up to execution and the details of the execution itself. For me, whilst reading about the prisoners last words were moving and often profound I found the most interesting and harrowing part hearing about the observers, or often lack of, in the chamber - particularly the mothers of both the victims and the perpetrators. 

It was of course very interesting to read about the last words and requests of the Death Row inmates and it's something that I think most people will find very emotive and thought provoking. You can easily go online and find prisoners last words and their last meal requests, but nonetheless I thought there was a good, genuine, selection shared in this book. I really enjoyed reading about Michelle and Larry's interactions with the prisoners but I wish there was more of this interaction included - though perhaps i'm just greedy for more information! 

Overall this was an interesting read and I think it will appeal to anybody who is interested in true crime, criminology or forensic psychology. Death Row: The Final Minutes offers an honest and unique view on execution and how it affects those who have to witness it. 

The Handmaid's Tale

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Attwood

Paperback, 324 pages

Published 5th July 2007 by Vintage (Originaly published August 1985)

Shelves: adult-fiction, books-i-own, dystopian, favourites, read, read-in-2020, series-or-companions

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Description via Goodreads:

The Republic of Gilead offers Offred only one function: to breed. If she deviates, she will, like dissenters, be hanged at the wall or sent out to die slowly of radiation sickness. But even a repressive state cannot obliterate desire – neither Offred's nor that of the two men on which her future hangs.

Brilliantly conceived and executed, this powerful evocation of twenty-first-century America gives full rein to Margaret Atwood's devastating irony, wit and astute perception.

The Handmaid's Tale is a difficult book to review. In fact, it's a difficult book to even shelve. Is it science fiction or is it realistic fiction? I only know that for sure that it's a modern classic that is even more scarily relevant now in 2020 than it was when it was first written in 1985. 

The Handmaid's Tale is something that you really have to experience for yourself - it's a book unlike any other that I've read before as you're aware that it's set in the dystopian Republic of Gilead but you're also aware that what it happening is shockingly relevant - maybe not directly, but the undertones, the insinuations and ideas are most definitely there. It's the philosophy that is relevant, rather than the actions portrayed. This is where its main success lies. For anyone who's intrigued by religion, women's rights and feminism, this is a necessary read. 

This is a relatively short book at only 324 pages, but it took me quite a while to get through -  although it's written well, the subject matter can feel draining. There isn't a huge amount of character development in the book apart from that of the narrator, Offred, but as I say, this doesn't really cause concern. Although I have no deep insight into the personalities of the characters, I can imagine their feelings and concerns. 

Gilead is somewhere I have a good picture of in my head - both the workings of the Republic and  the atmosphere there. I can most certainly imagine the dreary dystopian, yet familiar setting. The fact that the setting is so familiar - a once regular town in the United States, something that we can all relate to from personal experience or films - is one of the things that make it so disturbing. 

Overall, this is a powerful book which I will probably revisit in the future. The book has always been on my radar, but since watching and adoring the TV adaptation of the book, I knew I had to read it straight away. I would highly recommend both. I'm looking forward to following it up at some point by reading The Testaments which I hope will expand on some of the characters that we were introduced to and just what happens to the women and children of Gilead.

Cries Unheard: The Story of Mary Bell

Cries Unheard: The Story of Mary Bell by Gitta Sereny

Hardback, 416 pages

Published 13th April 1999 by Macmillan

Shelves: abuse, books-i-own, crime-thriller-mystery, memoirs-biographies-etc, mental-health, non-fiction, read, read-in-2020

My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Description via Goodreads:In 1968, at the age of eleven, Mary Bell was tried, and convicted, of manslaughter after the death of two small boys in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. Her friend, and neighbour, thirteen-year-old, Norma Bell, no relation, was acquitted. Gitta Sereny attended the trial, and spent the next two years researching, and writing, what has become a classic study, The Case of Mary Bell. Over the years, however, she came to realize that if we are ever to understand the pressures which bring a child to commit serious crimes, only they, when adult, can tell us.

Twenty-seven years after her conviction, and her sentence of detention for life, after her mother's death, Mary Bell agreed to talk about her harrowing childhood, her two terrible acts nine weeks apart, her public trial, and her twelve years of detention - seven of them, beginning when she was sixteen, in a maximum security women's prison.

Nothing she said in the five months of intensive talks with Gitta Sereny was intended, or can be taken, as an excuse for her crimes: she herself rejects all mitigation. But the story of her life forces the reader to ponder society's responsibility for children at breaking point. It challenges our willingness to commit ourselves to the prevention of violent acts such as Mary committed. It is a clarion call to review our system of justice, and punishment, as it applies to the most needy amongst us - our children at risk.

Cries Unheard is a brilliant tour de force, meticulously piecing together the terribly damaged life of Mary Bell, who only as an adult, and loving parent herself, grew to realize the moral enormity of her crimes. But it is not an isolated tragedy. There are thousands of children in prison across Europe, and in America. And in Britain, where punitive justice for children is most formalized, recent cases such as the murder of James Bulger show the urgency for our attention, our compassion, and our action.

Cries Unheard tells the story of Mary Bell, a girl who was only eleven years old when she was convicted of murdering two boys - aged 3 and 4. Most of my knowledge about Mary Bell comes from my grandmother who lived in the same area as Bell at the time of her crimes and knew both Bell and the victims families. The other knowledge comes from one TV documentary and the small amount of information about the case which is on the internet. Due to the locality of the case, I'm always wanting to learn more about it and this seems to be the most comprehensive book available about Bell. I have also been told that this book caused quite the stir in my hometown of Newcastle Upon Tyne. 

This is the second book that Gitta Sereny has written about Mary Bell, the first being The Case of Mary Bell: A Portrait of a Child who Murdered, which is referenced throughout this one. 

Quite honestly, the first book seems referenced a little too much - despite thankfully including all necessary information to the case and even including some excerpts. I did briefly consider reading the first book but in all honesty, after reading this one, I don't feel the need to - it doesn't seem like there's much more to learn. The book contains a lot of information about Mary Bell both before, during and, mostly, after her conviction which was good - I felt like we got a good insight into all aspects of her life. The book did have a good amount of information and I am glad I read it as I did find it interesting and I learnt a lot about Mary's life, the murders, the court trial and what happened afterwards. I am fairly confident I now have a good firm knowledge of the case, but of course, I can't  be sure that everything that I read was true. I am pleased that there were conversations with more reputable sources mentioned in the book - such as Bell's psychologist and mentors - which I am much more inclined to believe. 

This is somewhat of a biography of Bell, written by Sereny but interspersed with direct quotes from conversations with Bell after her release. The purely factual parts of the book and the information about Newcastle in the late 60's seems accurate and interesting. I think Sereny did a great job of setting the scene of the murders in the first half of the book and was especially good at describing what working class life in Scotswood was like.  The first section of the book was a useful, informative account of the crime.

In the second half of the book, it was certainly interesting to get insight about Mary and her life from the woman herself, to see how she communicates and thinks, but the problem about that is that she seems to be a prolific liar - something that is made clear in the book and can actually become quite frustrating. We read pages and pages of Bell's recollections, only for them to often then be quickly disproven by people that have been responsible for her care. It was very hard to understand what to believe about Mary and to be honest, the author didn't help. Despite her brief protestations, I also often felt like she seemed overly sympathetic to Bell and had been somewhat 'drawn in' by her. Sereny offers a lot of opinions on Bell's psychological state, none of which seem significant due to the sense of bias and the fact that Sereny is purely a journalist - not a psychiatrist, psychologist or criminologist. 

My main issue with this book was that, at points, it felt very disjointed. Although there is some sort of intended chronology in the book, the author has a tendency to jump around the timescale. I was particularly bewildered as to why Sereny decided to address Bell's early life at the end of the book - it would have made far more sense to include it at the beginning and it would've really helped to develop an understanding of Mary's actions and personality. I actually believe that I may have seen the whole situation in a different perspective if she had included that information at the beginning. 

Unfortunately, I was disappointed with several aspects of Cries Unheard but as aforementioned, I did also find it interesting and gained a lot of knowledge about Mary Bell and her life so far - I am glad that I read it despite its faults. If you're particularly interested in this case or are interested in what happens after a child is convicted of murder in the UK, this is worth a read. 

                      

Small Great Things

Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult

Hardback, 506 pages

Published 22nd November 2016 by Headline

Shelves: adult-fiction, books-i-own, contemporary, cultural, lasting-impression, read, read-in-2020, realistic-fiction

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Description via Goodreads:

Ruth Jefferson is a labor and delivery nurse at a Connecticut hospital with more than twenty years' experience. During her shift, Ruth begins a routine checkup on a newborn, only to be told a few minutes later that she's been reassigned to another patient. The parents are white supremacists and don't want Ruth, who is African American, to touch their child. The hospital complies with their request, but the next day, the baby goes into cardiac distress while Ruth is alone in the nursery. Does she obey orders or does she intervene?

Ruth hesitates before performing CPR and, as a result, is charged with a serious crime. Kennedy McQuarrie, a white public defender, takes her case but gives unexpected advice: Kennedy insists that mentioning race in the courtroom is not a winning strategy. Conflicted by Kennedy's counsel, Ruth tries to keep life as normal as possible for her family—especially her teenage son—as the case becomes a media sensation. As the trial moves forward, Ruth and Kennedy must gain each other's trust, and come to see that what they've been taught their whole lives about others—and themselves—might be wrong.

With incredible empathy, intelligence, and candor, Jodi Picoult tackles race, privilege, prejudice, justice, and compassion—and doesn't offer easy answers. Small Great Things is a remarkable achievement from a writer at the top of her game.

Although this book debuted in 2016, it couldn't seem more relevant than it does right now. Small Great Things is a story about prejudice - specifically the very relevant and extremely important issue of racism. At a time where the Black Lives Matter movement is, rightfully, so prominent in the news, there couldn't be a better time to pick up this book and open your eyes to the everyday challenges for people of colour in a society that clearly embraces white privilege.

This is the story of Ruth Jefferson, an African American nurse who is blamed for the death of Davis, the newborn child of Turk and Brittany Bauer, two white supremacists. The storyline is something typical of Jodi Picoult and it was something that I was excited to read about, I could only hope that she'd give such a serious, emotive and what can be a divisive topic, justice. I was particularly concerned that Picoult, as a white author, ran the risk of appearing to speak for people of colour, but I think that she avoided that through her creation of Kennedy - Ruth's female lawyer who slowly realises that she's been benefitting from white privilege for the whole of her life. Both the author herself and Kennedy admit that they have been passively racist in their lives and I'm sure a lot of white readers will shock themselves and begin to realise that they have been too, despite their intentions. Like she does for her others, Picoult has clearly done a lot of research for this book and it shows. She helps school the reader on racism and white privilege in a very relevant, matter of fact, informative way without sounding preachy.

Ruth is a beautifully written character who seems very real, in both the sense of ability to imagine her as a person and her genuine personality. I really can't fault her character at all and for me, she was certainly the star of the book. Her passion, strength and honesty were all extremely admirable as were her relationships with her family - particularly her son, Edison. I initially didn't think that Kennedy was remarkable but she certainly redeemed herself as the book progressed and she had a pivotal role in teaching the reader about white privilege. 

The characters I weren't so keen on were Turk and Brittany, though not solely because they were white supremacists. I realise that Picoult did research these characters but unfortunately, for me, they just didn't seem 'real' enough. Understandably, they were there for the shock factor but I just felt like they didn't have enough substance to them and that's all they were there for.  Of course, there really is no excuse for white supremacy, but I would have liked some more reasoning from Turk and to see his attempts of justification for his beliefs rather than simple aggression. 

Overall, I thought this was a page-turner with a great purpose and I believe it achieved what Picoult intended it to. The main story was brilliant but I don't think that the epilogue was necessary - it was the only thing that slightly diminished the story for me and reduced my rating.  I am a big fan of Jodi Picoult and I can't wait to see what she offers next.

Auschwitz: A History

Auschwitz: A History by Sybille Steinbacher

Paperback, 167 pages

Published 15th August 2006 by Harper Perennial

Shelves: better-than-expected, books-i-own, historical, non-fiction, read, read-in-2020, ww2

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Description via Goodreads:

At the terrible heart of the modern age lies Auschwitz, a name that has become synonymous with evil. Here the utopian twentieth-century dream of employing science and technology to improve and protect human life was inverted from the latter part of the 1930s through the end of the Second World War, as the same systems were manipulated in the cause of efficient mass slaughter. Historian Sybille Steinbacher's powerful and eminently important book details Auschwitz's birth, growth, and horrible mutation into a dreadful city. How it came to be and how what followed was allowed to occur is a story that everyone needs to understand and remember.

As someone who is very interested in the Holocaust, especially Auschwitz, I  am willing to pick up any book that I can about the subject. At only 167 pages long, I didn't expect much from this short book but I can confidently say that I was positively surprised by this book - it has incredible substance for such a short work. 

I have both studied and visited Auschwitz- Birkenau and this really brought everything back to the forefront of my mind. Reading through the book was like taking another walk through the now museum and I imagine that it will be able to transport any reader there with its accurate descriptions. I was pleasantly surprised that this book didn't only focus on the concentration camp but also the town around it and helped us to learn how it was established, something which is often overlooked in books about Auschwitz. I was particularly interested in the insights into the people on the outside of the camp - those living in the surrounding areas who apparently knew what was happening inside and reacted in several different ways.

Despite the book being concise, it feels like Steinbacher doesn't leave much out in this book - teaching us fact after fact about the camp and the events surrounding it. I think that there is a lot to learn from this book and it would be of great benefit for almost anyone to read. It would especially be helpful for those who need an introduction to the Holocaust or to Auschwitz. It certainly made me consider things I haven't thought of before and it also taught me some new information that I wasn't aware of. This is a  book that I will definitely be recommending to others.

Love as Always, Mum xxx

Love as Always, Mum xxx by Mae West (with Neil McKay)

Paperback, 272 pages

Published 6th September 2018 by Seven Dials

Shelves: abuse, books-i-own, crime-thriller-mystery, memoirs-biographies-etc, mental-health, misery-lit, non-fiction, read, read-in-2020 

My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Description via Goodreads:

The true story of an abused childhood, of shocking brutality and life as the daughter of notorious serial killer, and master manipulator, Rose West.
You're twenty-one years old. Police arrive on the doorstep of your house, 25 Cromwell Street, with a warrant to search the garden for the remains of your older sister you didn't know was dead. Bones are found and they are from more than one body. And so the nightmare begins. You are the daughter of Fred and Rose West.

It has taken over 20 years for Mae West to find the perspective and strength to tell her remarkable story: one of an abusive, violent childhood, of her serial killer parents and how she has rebuilt her life in the shadow of their terrible crimes.
Through her own memories, research and the letters her mother wrote to her from prison, Mae shares her emotionally powerful account of her life as a West. From a toddler locked in the deathly basement to a teen fighting off the sexual advances of her father, Mae's story is one of survival. It also answers the questions: how do you come to terms with knowing your childhood bedroom was a graveyard? How do you accept the fact your parents sexually tortured, murdered and dismembered young women? How do you become a mother yourself when you're haunted by the knowledge that your own mother was a monster? Why were you spared and how do you escape the nightmare?

Anybody who knows me well knows that I can never resist watching the latest true crime documentary on TV or resist the temptation of scouring over a true crime article. It seems like I'm not alone and as the interest in both solved true crimes and mysteries seems to soar, there are always some cases that you know that almost everybody will have come across at some point. One of these is the infamous case of Fred and Rose West, a couple who abused and killed their acquaintances and their own daughter.

There are countless documentaries and books written about this couple - a lot of which I have watched, read and studied, but what sets this one apart is that it's written by Mae West - one of their surviving children.  As soon as I saw that this was written by someone who has personally had their life directly affected by the actions of the couple, I knew that I had to read it to gain a true insight into what really went on in the lives of the Wests and those who knew them. 

Whilst I already knew a lot of detail about the case, this book offers a whole new perspective - that of a child who knew Fred and Rose well before anybody else did. This is a memoir from someone who trusted and most significantly, loved these two people who, to the majority of people, will never seem deserving of it. It's important to note that although I keep referring to Fred and Rose, this book isn't just about those two people - it centres around the family dynamic of the Wests and we get great insight into her relationships with her siblings throughout Mae's life, both before and after her parent's convictions. Reading Mae's writing about her late sister is particularly moving and heart wrenching. 

It is interesting to see how Mae's thoughts and feelings evolve and change throughout the whole of her life  and as you read, you can really see how her experiences change and shape her thought and feelings. It can also, however, be frustrating at times, seeing how Mae is clearly being manipulated and twisted by her mother in particular. There were points where I wanted to throw the book in frustration, seeing what Mae could not at the time, but this also brought the raw authenticity of the book into view. Mae is clear and honest within this book - she recognises some of her naiveté but also still holds on to the fact that she is still a daughter who is in want, or perhaps even need, of a loving mother. The conflict in her thoughts and feelings makes for a very interesting, albeit very sad, read.

If you know this case, it's likely that you will know some of the horrific things that went on within 25 Cromwell Street, but in this book you begin to learn even more. I wasn't expecting to learn much new information about the crimes themselves and I was left speechless after reading some of Mae's recollections, not only of the murders but also of the abuse and torment that came before and after. 

There are some very graphic and traumatic scenes described in detail which seem even more poignant when they're being described by the victim. The Wests did not only inflict physical abuse on their children - the mental abuse seemed equally, if not more, torturous. This is definitely something to be aware of when reading - prepare to take a lot of breaks as it can become very mentally draining. 

For anyone who is interested in true crime, especially in case of the West family, this is an absolute must read. Whilst I didn't find the actual writing to be fantastic - unfortunately I found that sometimes the book seemed a little disjointed and  quite repetitive, the content alone is gripping enough to recommend. I applaud Mae for her honesty, the raw emotion she displays in this book as well as the admirable strength she has used in order to make a life of her own.

The Christmas Mystery

The Christmas Mystery by Jostein Gaarder

Paperback, 247 pages

Published October 7th 1999 by Phoenix Press (first published 1992)

My shelves: books-i-own, childrens, christmas-books, classics, historical, magical-realism, read, read-in-2011, translated, young-adult
My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Description via Goodreads


The bestselling modern classic. Fifty years ago a girl disappeared from her home in Norway. She ran after a lamb and found herself travelling right across Europe to Palestine, and back through 2000 years to meet the Holy Family in Bethlehem. There she met angels, shepherds, wise men and other biblical characters who joined her on her pilgrimage; and she heard of many of the things that happened in the world in the last 2000 years. In present-day Norway, a boy acquires a strange old Advent calendar. Hidden in each of the windows is a tiny piece of paper. Little by little these pieces unfold the girl's story, and as we learn what happened to her, another story is revealed - that of the strange old man who made the calendar.

My Review


It's really quite a risky thing to try and retell one of (if not the) most well known stories in the world, especially if you're going to put a twist on it. However, I'm pleased that Gaarder did it because he managed to execute it very well. The choice of chick-lit Christmas themed stories is bountiful, and I do enjoy them, but to be able to read a different take on the original Christmas story is a rare treat.
I believe this book was primarily targeted at Children, but this could certainly be classed as a family book. Gaarder shares an important story and he also incorporates some more philosophical questions in this book - infact, because of this, I'd probably recommend it more for older children, perhaps 8yrs +.
The story of the birth of Christ is retold in this book, in the form of following young girl named Elisabet as she travels through different countries and time, retracing the steps of several biblical characters (sheep included), as they make their way to Bethlehem.
This story as staged as a story inside another story. The protagonist, Joachim, stumbles across a magical Advent calendar in an old bookshop, and each day he opens a new window, another part of the story is revealed. Reading this book during Advent was fantastic and like Joachim and his parents, I was eager and excited for another window to be opened to see what happened next during Elisabet's journey.
The Advent format of this book was really exciting and it wouldn't be a bad idea to use this book as a type of calendar itself (if you could resist reading on!). I'd urge people to pick this up for a slightly different, easy to read but interesting Christmas read.