I was so intrigued by the premise of this book and it didn't disappoint.

Hearing about how people handle being sentenced to death as well as the one who speaks to them in their last moments was very thought provoking.

It is not a book I could read cover to cover but one I dipped in and out of.

Thanks to Netgalley for the chance to read this interesting story!

5 stars
Raw, honest, deeply moving, and powerfully personal - these are just a few of the descriptors that come to mind when trying to describe this book. While not a Christian myself, I grew up with a lot of extremely religious Christian friends and their drive for salvation and a personal relationship with Jesus has always stuck with me. Pastor Jim Brazzil is a refreshingly and unflinchingly honest storyteller, who chronicles his time working with death row inmates in the American prison system (mostly Texas, if I recall correctly). He is not afraid to discuss his own flaws and shortcomings while working the lifepath that God laid out for him to follow, which I actually found quite refreshing. My biggest takeaway? We don't have to be perfect beings to still be able to accomplish powerful things.

Despite all the overtly religious subject matter, and despite what you might personally believe about God, the death penalty and the American justice system, the stories here are in turns uplifting, humorous, profound, and self-reflective. I was not expecting to openly weep multiple times while reading this book, yet here we are. So beware if you decide to read this while at work or around a lot of people in public because you might become a soggy mess several times over.

Thanks to NetGalley, author Carina Bergfeldt, and Buoy Media for giving me an advance readers copy of this book for free in order to read and review. All opinions are my own and have been provided voluntarily.

I was eager to read this book but I struggled with it. Jim is a Baptist preacher who serves as the prison chaplain and shares his experiences in the book. The underlying judgment that is weaved throughout was not sufficiently counterbalanced by his having any understanding of his own unconscious bias and unconscious sexism and I have to wonder how he could be so close to those who were imprisoned without his at least wondering about the systemic issues in our country.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

"He is the last person to touch them before they die.
His face is the last they see before they are executed.
He stands there with one last goal: to get them to heaven."

This book's description intrigued me. A journalist writing of her conversations with a prison pastor. I did enjoy this book as it is a fascinating read describing his experiences with prisoners on death row. It was touching and disturbing and most definitely thought provoking, because as a reader you are prompted to consider the value of life, mortality and the power of faith and grace. For me the only negative feelings I had about this book was that I was at times put off by the pastor's own opinions on subjects of race, capital punishment, sex and rape that he describes as his experiences with prisoners and his interviews with the author. However, the way he communicates to the author his opinions of forgiveness, redemption, grace that is needed in life is truly inspiring. He beautifully describes how he was able to provide spiritual guidance, support to those at the end of their lives, and also how it is possible even in our darkest moments to find gifts with the power of faith and love of God.

Considering the topic, this should’ve been a book that I loved reading. However, I was unsure why so much of the chaplain’s personal life was discussed, it seemed to have tons of sexism and racism, and I was disturbed that he never believed that the death penalty was wrong, even after seeing so many people lose their lives in that way. Still, there are things to be cleaned from this book. It can offer a new lens into carceral system, chaplaincy, and the death penalty.

I absolutely LOVED this book. Jim gently describes horrific events - not only holding the ankle of hundreds of prisoners WHILE they are injected and die, but also talking with them a few hours, 30 minutes before they die. It's a completely unique and rare experience. Without Jim describing this world to us, virtually none of us could ever fathom it.

You know how they say there are both good people and bad people in every job, every race, every city etc.? It's fascinating to learn how there are both good people and bad people in prison. I didn't love the author. Her personality in the book is rude, short, cold. I didn't enjoy her parts or voice at all. But it didn't matter in the end because Jim giving us a full view into his complex and fascinating world overshadowed her.

He is a loveable, likeable, warm, sweet person. I am completely non-religious and even I didn't mind the aspects of prayer and God because I'm sure at 30 minutes before we know we're to be injected and die, we'd all try to find comfort and prayer to God, the universe, wherever we're going next.

This was the story of a Baptist preacher and his experience witnessing hundreds of executions as a prison chaplain, told through personal interviews the author had with him.
He reflects on the impact that different inmates had on him as well as his spiritual journey. It sort of reads like a therapy session between the two. I might have enjoyed it more had it not rubbed me the wrong way at several points, and it had nothing to do with his ideology.
I struggled with some things the Chaplain had to say; using the term "having sex" instead of calling an act "rape", as it actually is, because it makes him uncomfortable; looking at the disproportionate statistics of black vs. white incarceration and choosing to believe it's simply because Blacks commit more crimes, and not that there could be racial targeting going on. (And don't even get me started on his impressions of the women's prison...) These things aggravated me. But the author challenged those viewpoints, so I won't fault her writing for that. And if she supposedly gained some personal clarity and catharsis through her interviews with the chaplain, then I'm glad for her. I do think the chaplain's efforts were sincere and sometimes touching.
I don't know why the story deviated so often to irrelevant parts of his life (His sex life? Whether his wife ever had an orgasm? What??) It felt awkwardly placed. 
I enjoyed reading the chapters that focused on victim mediations, though, and I thought it was very interesting to see how some people are able to offer forgiveness in spite of such awful tragedy. 
Overall, I just wished I had felt more of an emotional reaction to it, as opposed to frustration. I wasn't getting the sense of this person being so deeply affected by his experiences in a way that truly moved me as I was reading it. But maybe it's just the way he expresses himself. Maybe I just couldn't get over the bits that irritated me.