Death Row by Freida McFadden is a short story that is part of the Alibis collection. The story follows a woman on death row for murdering her husband—even though she claims to have an alibi. I thought the concept was really interesting, especially because I love Freida McFadden as an author and have read most of her full-length novels. I was really curious to see how her mystery and thriller style would translate into such a short story.
The story is told through two different timelines: the past and the present. The past shows how she met her husband and the events leading up to his supposed death, while the present follows her experience on death row. She also has these strange recurring dreams about her husband, but every time she’s about to kiss him, she wakes up. Things get even stranger when she sees a man who looks exactly like her husband during a visit with her lawyer, making her question whether he’s actually dead.
Spoiler alert: This is where things got a little confusing for me. We eventually learn that she really did plan to kill her husband because she believed he was cheating on her, only to discover that the entire situation was a huge misunderstanding. The story then seems to give us two different versions of how things could have ended. In one, she gets hit by a semi while trying to stop her husband from turning on the stove, and as she’s dying, he lets her go. In the other, the accident never happens, her husband survives, and they get their happily ever after.
Honestly, I still don’t know exactly how I feel about this one. The concept was interesting, and I liked the way the different timelines came together, but the ending left me with mixed feelings. I also have to say that the main female character is kind of a horrible person! I understand being upset because you think your husband is cheating, but jumping straight to murder is definitely another level of crazy.
Overall, I’m glad the ending was happy in a sense, but I’m still not completely sure what to make of the story. It was an interesting and quick read, but because I’m so conflicted, I think 3 stars is the perfect rating for me.