“THE ENCHANTED,” BY RENE DENFELD.

Wow! After reading numerous books on the Russian Gulags, looked at dozen of movies about prison life, read Capote’s “In Cold Blood,” I thought I might have become a little de-sensitized to stories about prison life but boy was I wrong.

Ms. Denfeld’s novel, “The Enchanted,” is truly a stunning departure from anything I have read about prisons, death-row inmates, the legal system, and the people who work in such environments.

It’s as though she has taken the harsh reality of Joseph Conrad, the musical and magical aspects of Toni Morrison and Capote, added her own investigative style and has created a transcendental, enchanting, yet chilling story about death row inmates and those who work in and around the prison system.

A truly remarkable achievement.