For those of you who regularly read my blog, you know by now that I’m an absolute sucker for a good psychological thriller – and right now, no name looms larger in the genre than Freida McFadden. I’ve read several of her books (and reviewed Do You Want to Know a Secret? here if you missed it), so it felt only natural to dive into her latest novella, Death Row, part of Amazon’s Alibis collection; a series of quick, twisty thrillers from various authors.

Death Row follows Talia Kemper, a woman on Death Row for the brutal murder of her beloved husband, Noel – a crime she insists she didn’t commit. As her execution date draws terrifyingly near, Talia’s desperation to prove her innocence spirals into paranoia, confusion, and something even darker. Then, in a chilling and surreal twist, the prison chaplain arrives to give her last rites, and Talia is convinced the chaplain is none other than Noel himself. Is her mind unraveling under the weight of guilt and impending death? Or has something far more sinister and inexplicable happened?

In classic McFadden fashion, the novella is full of the sharp turns and mind-bending twists her fans have come to expect. The story moves quickly, and the tension ramps up in such a way that I found myself finishing it in one sitting – exactly the kind of compulsive late-night binge-read Kindle Unlimited was made for.

That said, I did find Talia to be a difficult narrator to connect with. Her voice felt distant at times, and I struggled to fully root for her, which made the emotional weight of her situation feel slightly muted. She also kind of annoyed me with how entitled she seemed in the “before” chapters. Still, the plot itself more than makes up for that distance, keeping you guessing right up until the final page, and then leaving you wondering long after you’ve closed the book. It’s one of those stories that invites multiple interpretations, and I’d love to hear what you think really happened. Was it madness? A haunting? A bad dream? Something else entirely? Death Row is the first of six entries in the Alibis collection, and if this novella is anything to go by, the series promises to be a wild ride. If you give this one a read, drop me a comment – I’m really interested to hear your theories!