Death Row

Death Row (2025) is a psychological thriller novel by Freida McFadden. McFadden’s novels explore the impacts of trauma and betrayal on human psychology. Death Row is no exception, as this novel focuses on Talia Kemper, a woman convicted of murdering her husband and now counting down to her execution. Still insisting on her innocence, Talia is stunned when she believes she sees her supposedly dead husband alive during a prison visit—launching a desperate race to uncover the truth before the clock runs out.

McFadden is a prolific writer in the psychological thriller genre, whose experience as a physician specializing in neurology informs the subject matter of her works.

This guide uses the 2025 Kindle edition.

Content Warning: The source material and guide feature depictions of incarceration, illness/death, emotional abuse, and graphic violence.

Plot Summary

Death row inmate and protagonist Talia Kemper is on death row for the murder of her husband. She maintains her innocence, but if her latest appeal is unsuccessful, she will be executed in two weeks by lethal injection. Talia spends 23 hours a day in her cell and experiences extreme isolation. The only people she interacts with are her guards and her lawyer, Clarence Bowman.

Talia receives her dinner. The smell puts her off eating, and Talia thinks of her husband, Noel, who did not have a sense of smell. Talia remembers that tomorrow she is scheduled to meet with her attorney about her appeal. Talia is hopeful about her appeal prospects, wondering again how anyone could think that she would kill Noel, especially because she had an alibi for his murder.

In a chapter labeled “Before,” Talia is working as a server and sees the woman her ex-boyfriend cheated on her with enter. Talia decides to spit in her drink, and another waiter catches her. Talia is surprised when, instead of telling the manager, the boy helps her spit more into the drink. He introduces himself as Noel Kemper. Noel asks Talia if she wants to get a drink after work, and Talia agrees. Noel tells her that she needs to wake up before they go, and this reveals the scene to have been nothing but a dream.

Talia wakes to a vague beeping sound from somewhere in the prison. Her nightly dreams seem to be getting more vivid, almost as if Noel is really there with her. She falls asleep again. In another dream, Talia is annoyed with Noel for forgetting to call the wedding venue they want to secure their spot. Talia picks up her phone to call the venue to pretend to be the couple and cancel the date. At first, it seems like Noel is going to stop her, but instead, he offers to call himself, pretending to be the groom. She smiles, but an uneasy feeling comes over her, and she realizes that the entire interaction feels unreal. Talia leans in to kiss Noel, but before their lips meet, she wakes up in her prison cell.

Talia admits that she does not regularly receive visitors. Talia knows that her parents would visit her, but both are dead. Her father died when Talia was a teenager while in bed with another woman, and her mother died a few years later from cancer. Talia once more hears the distant beeping sound from somewhere inside the prison. Bowman tells Talia that her appeal was once again denied. Talia asks for another appeal, but Bowman tells her that there is no hope. As Talia turns away, the figure of another male visitor stops her. She realizes that the man is Noel.

That night, Talia has a dream recalling a party she and Noel threw. Talia reflects on how busy Noel has been since getting a job at a pharmaceutical company. Talia realizes that she has not seen her husband in over an hour and begins looking for him. Talia fails to locate him until she spies him out in the backyard, standing close to a woman she does not recognize. As she walks toward them, the strange sense of unreality comes over her again. When she reaches them, she asks the woman who she is and demands that she leave immediately. Talia accuses the woman of flirting with Noel, which causes him to smirk when he realizes how jealous she is. He assures her that he loves her and that he would never cheat on her. Noel pulls Talia close for a kiss. Before their lips can meet, Noel tells Talia to open her eyes, revealing once more that the scene was just a dream. Now awake, Talia realizes that every time she reaches out to kiss Noel in a dream, she wakes up. She thinks back to the man she saw two days previously, still convinced that he is Noel.

In another chapter labeled “Before,” it is nearly nine o’clock, and Noel is late again. Talia is annoyed, but unsurprised. Noel comes into the kitchen, apologizing profusely and explaining that one of their experiments ran long. Noel leans in to kiss Talia, but she interrupts, asking if he wants to eat. He says that he needs to shower, and Talia watches her husband go up the stairs, hoping that it washes off the distinct scent of another woman’s perfume from her husband.

Talia jolts awake, realizing that this is the first time she has dreamed about Noel’s suspected infidelity. She once again hears the beeping sound. Rhea, a correctional officer, tells her that she found out who the man in the visiting room was: Father Richard Decker, a chaplain who often comes to read last rites to inmates. Talia asks to meet with Father Decker, and Rhea agrees.

In a “Before” chapter, Talia berates herself for being so naïve as to miss every sign that Noel has been cheating on her. After smelling the perfume that first night, Talia has smelled it on her husband every night since. A text from her best friend, Kinsey, interrupts Talia’s thoughts, asking whether she wants to go to dinner. Talia ignores Kinsey’s text and goes to the stove. A thought occurs to Talia: The gas scent of their old stove never bothers Noel because he cannot smell it; therefore, were the house to fill with gas, he would not know to not turn on the stove to prevent an explosion.

Talia leaves a pot of spaghetti and meatballs on the stove for Noel, texting him that dinner is ready for him to heat up when he gets home. Talia feels distracted at dinner, and an older woman in her seventies approaches their table. She introduces herself as Lisbeth Sharp, Noel’s colleague. She apologizes for keeping Noel so many late nights at work. As Lisbeth walks away, Talia notices that Lisbeth smells strongly of the same perfume she has been smelling on Noel for weeks. Talia realizes her mistake and calls Noel multiple times, but it goes straight to voicemail.

In the present day, Talia sits across from Father Decker, convinced that he is actually Noel. Talia calls him “Noel” and Father Decker corrects her, which confuses Talia. Father Decker begins to recite the last rites, and Talia launches into a desperate plea for him to save her life. Father Decker stands up when he finishes and, in Noel’s voice, tells her that he loves her so much.

The day of Talia’s execution has arrived. Talia showers and dresses, but all she can think about is seeing Noel the day before, still not comprehending that he did nothing to save her. Rhea shackles Talia one final time and leads her out to the execution room. As the drugs flow into her arm, Talia mutters that she did not do it, and the executioner tells her that they know.

In a “Before” chapter, Talia’s calls to Noel go unanswered as she drives home. Suddenly, a call from Noel comes through, and he tells her that he did not turn on the stove. Relief and tears flood Talia as she begins to tell Noel how much she loves him, but her tears prevent her from seeing the stop sign ahead of her—a truck slams into Talia’s car.

In the present day, Talia hears a male voice that sounds like Bowman’s apologizing, telling Noel that the chances of Talia waking up again are slim because she has not made any attempts to breathe on her own since the accident. Bowman tells Noel that Father Decker visited the day before to read Talia her last rites. She tries and fails to squeeze Noel’s hand to let him know that she is there, but her hand does not respond. Dr. Bowman states that nurse Rhea washed Talia up and that she is going to inject a sedative into her IV before they turn off the ventilator. Noel squeezes Talia’s hand tighter, pleading with her to wake up. Dr. Bowman turns off the ventilator, and Talia drifts off.

In the Epilogue, a horn blares loudly in Talia’s ears as she realizes that the truck nearly slammed into her. Talia tries to shake off the strange sensation enveloping her that she just emerged from some kind of memory or dream. When she arrives home, Noel is waiting for her outside. Talia can hear the fire alarm blaring inside. Noel asks if she is okay because she looks shaken, and Talia explains that she was almost hit by a truck. She asks Noel why the fire alarm is so loud, and he tells her that he cannot hear anything. The beeping stops, and Talia notices that her sore throat feels better, too. Noel leans in to kiss her, and their lips finally meet. As they kiss, Talia thinks about how lucky she is to be with Noel, berating herself for coming so close to losing everything.