Summary

The first part of this section of the book is titled “10 Hours,” and returns to the second-person, present-tense narration describing the last day of Anson Packer. This section begins with a reference to how Packer has seen the ocean only once – on the East Coast, in the company of Jenny, when he was “twenty-five years old and not yet married” (41), at a time when he believed that it was possible, “looking at the ocean, to believe it never ends” (41).

As Packer continues his day, he contemplates his escape plan with Shawna – specifically, her apparently enabling him to go free while she is transporting him from his current facility to the one where he is to be executed. He also contemplates what he is leaving behind – specifically, pages and pages of notes written on yellow pads on what he thinks of as The...