hmmm...I'm hovering between a 2.5 and 3 star rating for this one.

I'll start with what I appreciate about the book. It's extensively researched and I can definitely appreciate the work that goes into interviewing people, sifting through archives, and parsing the language of court cases. It's also a really accessible account of the legal and political landscape surrounding the death penalty in Texas (and nationally to a certain extent). The author doesn't get too bogged down in the legal details so I think this book ultimately is a good overview for someone who has a mild interest in understanding the legal mechanics of the judicial system.

My number one complaint is that the book feels extremely disjointed and hard to follow most of the time. The chapters seem like they would be better off as standalone articles; there's not really any connection between the various sections. When there were connections between multiple chapters, I found it hard to follow. The author jumped between timeframes in weird and unpredictable ways. I found myself going back a few pages many times in order to understand what was going on when the author rapidly flipped from one anecdote to the next.

I also feel like the title is an inaccurate description of the book. This wasn't so much charting the "rise and fall" of the death penalty, but was more of a biographical account of the lawyers, judges, and death row inmates in Texas. I missed the theme of "rise and fall." I struggled to find the overarching theme or argument from the author. Again, this book was more autobiographical/ethnographical.

Finally, at times I felt like it was overwritten. Particularly when talking about the lawyers involved in the cases. It's interesting to read about both prosecutor and defense attorney's responses to the cases, but there was too much anecdotal information that wasn't necessary to further the alleged theme of the book.

This isn't a bad book, but it's not the best either.

Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC!