Just Jennifer

Execution of Noa P. Singleton by Elizabeth Silver (Crown, June 2013)

Noa P. Singleton is a young woman on death row in Pennsylvania for killing another young woman, Sara.  Six months before she is scheduled to die, Sara’s mother Marlene Dixon arrives at the jail with an attorney from her firm telling Noa that if Noa will tell Marlene why she shot Sara, Marlene will plead Noa’s case for clemency to the governor.  Noa doesn’t give Marlene much, telling only part of her story, the rest of which is revealed through her internal monologue, and letters Marlene writes to Sara.  As Noa’s story is told, it is clear she is not interested in saving herself, though her motives are not apparent at first; Noa comes off as cocky as times and apathetic at others, a completely unlikeable, but completely engaging character.  It becomes clear that Noa never had a shot from the time she was a child, but Sara did and events that Noa, and Marlene, set in motion, took those chances away from her.  At first, Marlene might be seen as the savior Noa is looking for, but as her story unfolds, things are revealed that make her as reprehensible and culpable, if not more than Noa.  An utterly compelling plot with many hidden secrets and characters that are difficult to like but fascinating nonetheless, make this a first novel that you won’t soon forget.