Michelle Lyons

Death Row: The Final Minutes is a nonfiction book written by Michelle Lyons that goes over her accounts of witnessing nearly 300 executions in the Texas prison system. She started off working as a journalist where she witnessed and wrote about each execution in a local paper. She eventually ended up working in the prison system and got to know a lot of people on death row up until their execution.

I liked this book. It was not boring and the accounts were interesting. She was not biased at all and it shed a good light on the prisoners. It was factual when it came to their crimes but it also showed that in the end they were still human and some of them accomplished great things even while in prison.

I also liked that she brought in the view point of her boss, Larry Fitzgerald and his accounts of death row and the inmates. Even though he passed away before the book was published, it was still tasteful and showed him in a positive light.

★★★★ I would recommend.… (mais)

Michelle Lyons acts as a go between for the Huntsvilles Walls unit in Texas and press, families etc. Essentially Death Row is a chronicle of the time she spent there, the prisoners executed and the people she knew. The novel reads like a diary as she recalls those awaiting death by injection and explains how attached she became to so many. There are some interesting facts such as the number of executions greatly increased under the Bush presidency and delays of up to 20 years before most residents could expect their final meal in preparation for that unavoidable meeting with their creator. I find it difficult to write a review on this book as it is essentially just a record of her time at the unit, how it affected both herself and her immediate family (she was divorced twice) and how she was forced to retire due to intimation and bullying.… (mais)