Every reader has those guilty-pleasure authors, the kind whose works might not grace the hallowed halls of literary greatness yet possess an undeniable pull that keeps you turning the pages. For me, Freida McFadden, a pen name for Sara Cohen, fits this mold perfectly. Despite the criticisms that often surround her writing, there's something about her twisted plots that draws me in. Clearly, I’m not alone in this; she's a #1 New York Times Bestselling author renowned for her sometimes delightfully trashy plot twists.

Enter Death Row, a 2025 novella in the Alibi series for Amazon Original Stories that recently made its way into paperback via Poisoned Pen Press. Priced at $10.99, it feels a bit steep for a mere 73 pages, but, fortunately for me, I received my copy as a birthday gift and zipped through it in just twenty minutes.

The story revolves around Talia Kemper, a woman condemned to death for the murder of her husband, Noel. She possesses a rock-solid alibi and no identifiable motive, yet her fervent declarations of innocence fall on deaf ears. Then, in a chilling twist of fate, she encounters a man in the visiting area who looks unmistakably like her husband. She believes her husband is alive. Naturally, no one believes her.

For the past two days, I have had the privilege of reading the novella collection If It Bleeds by Stephen King (Available on Hardback and Kindle), courtesy of Scribner.

The first tale is Mr. Harrigan's Phone, which tells the story of a young boy, Craig, who gets a job helping a neighbor, Mr. Harrigan, with his yard and, later, reading to him. The job doesn't pay much, but Mr. Harrigan gives him greeting cards four times a year with a one-dollar scratch ticket inside each one. Although his father said, "He's a cheapster," Craig likes the old man, especially when those scratches paid off. He thanked Mr. Harrigan by buying him a first-gen iPhone.