I really wanted to stay up reading all night to finish reading The Execution of Noa P. Singleton. With 100 pages to go and the clock light flashing after midnight, I just had to put the book down and turn off the light. But I didn't want to. I've been hearing about the novel all summer. My online book loving friends have been talking all about this psychological thriller and I was anxious to include it as part of my "Conquering the Book Stacks" goal in August.
Noa P. Singleton has been on death row awaiting her execution for the past ten years. Six months before "x-day", the mother of her victim Marlene Dixon suddenly visits and introduces her to Oliver, a young attorney who is willing to help Marlene, herself a high-powered lawyer, seek clemency for Noa. Marlene has had a change of heart and doesn't want to see Noa die. Perhaps life in prison will be a better punishment for the murderer of her only daughter. But what Marlene really wants is the truth.
Written as a prison memoir by Noa, The Execution of Noa P. Singleton by Elizabeth L. Silver takes us back to her early life and the events that set in motion the crime for which Noa was convicted and sentenced to death by the state of Pennsylvania. Brilliant in style, Silver takes the reader into the mind of the convict. Noa is a memorable character, conflicted and sympathetic--who is simultaneously trying to impress with her pretentious vocabulary and metaphors, yet pass herself off as a humble victim of circumstance. Her story of how the girl, once at the top of her high school class and admitted into an Ivy League School, ends up on death row is compelling, dramatic and just a bit over-the-top.
There is swearing in the novel.
**I received a complimentary copy of The Execution of Noa P. Singleton in exchange for an honest review**
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