Thank you for providing me with an arc. I found the novel to be overall quite thoughtful and thought-provoking! I wasn’t sure this would be as good as it was and it exceeded my expectations. I am definitely looking forward to what this author is going to put our next! Thank you for providing me with an arc. I found the novel to be overall quite thoughtful and thought-provoking! I wasn’t sure this would be as good as it was and it exceeded my expectations. I am definitely looking forward to what this author is going to put our next!

This book was sent to me as an ARC on NetGalley. However all opinions are of my own.
This was interesting as we followed 12 cases, some of them were harrowing and left me on the edge of my seat. It was interesting to see how the prosecutors and juries had come to their decisions.

"There has always been a strong presumption in criminal justice that the system got it right the first time: that defense lawyers did a competent job, prosecutors acted honorably, judges conducted a fair trial, and juries accurately determined the facts. The reality of the presumption, though, is hard to assess. "

In "A Descending Spiral," Marc Bookman educates the reader on the unfairness and imperfections of America's judicial system, and especially when it comes to deciding to implement the death penalty. In these 12 essays, Bookman covers police brutality and misconduct, corruption, mental illness, the factors behind false confessions, racism and xenophobia, as well as, the role unbiased police officers/lawyers/judges/juries could play in these cases.

For those who have previously read or watched documentaries on incarceration and the death penalty, a lot of the information in this book will be familiar, but still shocking. It feels unacceptable that we're in the 21st century and Black jurors are still kept off juries and that detectives accused of misconduct usually come out of these accusations unscathed. And the saddest part is that this trust towards the system, makes it impossible for those wronged by it to challenge it and turn their lives around.

"Some losses, like liberty, can't ever be repaid and some wrongs can't ever be made truly right."

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me the opportunity to read this ARC!

This book is tough to read at times but is incredible. Everyone should read it, but especially those who think the death penalty is in any way good or useful. This book beautifully shares stories, hard truths, and insightful words of wisdom. If you want to find good articulation for your opposition to the death penalty, this book will help you. If you are unsure if the death penalty should exist, this will help you see the horror, terror, and pain it causes. If you think the death penalty is good, this will help you see how misguided you are.

I know some people are genre loyalists, but try to bounce around and try new things - and nonfiction is always a genre I end up loving. With that, happy belated #PubDay to A DESCENDING SPIRAL: Exposing the Death Penality in 12 Essays by Marc Bookman, and thank you to @netgalley and @thenewpress for the chance to read an eARC to review.

Even though I'm a fairly fast reader, this one took me quite a while to get through - only because the content was heavy. Bookman, a longtime, capital defense attorney, attempts to breakdown the many issues with the death penalty and how it is, unfairly, handed out. From touching on racial bias in the jury, judge and lawyer, to lazy investigative practices, to poor representation, to conversations around complex mental health issues, Bookman systematically breaks down many of the issues found in death penalty cases and offers a compelling argument for ending the practice.

For fans of JUST MERCY, this book thats the conversation one step further and provides plenty of real-life examples that will have you frustrating, thinking, "how the f*** do people think this is okay?", and crying for those were unfairly or unjustly executed.