Nobody Is There

William Silvia heard voices, and by August 2026 Florida had signed his warrant anyway. Jeff Hood was his spiritual advisor, and these essays were written as the machinery moved — the first seventeen days before the execution, the last three days after it. Hood was in the chamber; his hand was on Silvia's leg when the poison started.

The book sets the record against the man: a shotgun purchase, a jury that recommended death eleven to one, a 2012 waiver of every appeal made by a severely ill defendant the courtroom let speak for its own illness, a Hurst door that opened and then closed on the signature. Ford v. Wainwright came out of Florida and was ground down to almost nothing. Nothing here is softened, and nothing is written from a comfortable distance.