Genre: Speculative Fiction | Crime Thriller | Dystopian Fiction
Release Date: Expected 17th August 2023
Publisher: HQ
Prosecutor Justine Boucher has only asked for the death penalty once, in a brutal murder case.
In doing so, she put her own life on the line. Because, if the convicted are later found innocent, the lawyer who requested the execution will be sentenced to death.
Justine had no doubt that the man she sent to the chair was guilty.
Until now.
Presented with evidence that could prove his innocence, Justine must find out the truth before anyone else does.
Her life depends on it.
"They'll hate me. Well, half of them will hate me. But a woman can survive hatred. Hatred doesn't kill you. Hatred isn't on the same plane as a lethal cocktail working its way through your veins or two thousand volts of electricity stopping your heart."
Okay, now I have a complicated relationship with Dalchers work, I’ve found a lot of her previous writing problematic and struggled to reconcile the masterful dystopian hellscapes she creates with some of the damnable scenes and undertones. But The Sentence is the first book of hers I can say I'd recommend - it is completely breaking the mould from the usual narrative her stories follow and shoes a lot of evolution in the writing.
This is a harrowing, haunting narrative that delves into the complexities of the death penalty and capital punishment, asking us to examine a flawed justice system and those who ‘play God’. It is intense and suffocating, with a deeply affective uncanny valley feeling that gives us a familiar yet entirely strange world to see.
Justine's narration was a little convoluted for me, her story being told in a non-linear way that at times made it feel like the out of order style didn’t serve a purpose but it was still mostly readable and followable, allowing us to build up an image slowly but still giving gaps for us to make our own judgements. She leaves a lot to us, leaving things unanswered, and tasking the reader to make their own opinions — so if you’re looking for some neat and tidy conclusion, this isn’t the book for you. Her discoveries and moral journey pushed this story into a distressingly raw and honest human place — full of desperation, fear and love. As we switch to the perspectives of a death row inmate, I cannot overstate the pit in my stomach and the painful emotion Dalcher wove into these characters as they forced us to confront both mortality and morality.
Every character showed us a different facet of just how complex being human is — how blurry right and wrong can sometimes be, how easily we can condemn people from afar, how easily we can fall and how people shape and change us. It delves into both the beautiful and most deranged parts of people in a terrifying vivid way that stayed with me.
A deeply provocative and uncomfortable read that probes into human nature and our relationship with death — it’s not what you’d call an enjoyable read, but certainly a memorable one.
⭐⭐⭐
I was gifted an advanced reviewers copy of this title in return for an honest review. Please check content warnings before reading as this title contains subjects that may be upsetting or triggering.
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