A review by life_full_ofbooks
Lenny Marks Gets Away With Murder by Kerryn Mayne

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I had so much anticipated coming into this book because it was one my longest holds on Libby- it was a wait of a few months!Sometimes, though, when the anticipation of a book is so great it can make the actuality of it seem a little flat, and that’s what happened with this one, unfortunately. 

Lenny Marks is a creature of habit and keeps to herself. When she’s not at the school where she teaches or at the grocery where she goes once a week to buy the same groceries for the same meals she cooks each week, she is at home playing Scrabble with Monica Gellar and watching FRIENDS reruns. She has no desire to socialize outside of work nor chat with Ned, the grocer who rings up her weekly purchase. Her foster mother, Fay, keeps telling her she has to “get a life” and Lenny decides to do just that when she receives a letter from the Parole Board. Knowing the letter isn’t anything good, Lenny focuses her energy on befriending her coworkers. When the letter keeps popping up, Lenny’s long suppressed and tragic past emerges as flashbacks that even a new life can’t keep at bay. 

I wanted to like this book, but I found so much of it to be off putting that I just couldn’t. This was a much heavier book than I expected it to be and I’m sure that factored into my distaste. Lenny is a very quirky character but not in a delightful way. I found the way she handled certain social situations to be very stressful (for me) and while I’m she has social anxiety, I just wasn’t up for it. 

Towards the beginning of the end I started to see growth in her but the way it came about was so quick it didn’t feel authentic. 

I can’t help but wonder if my feelings on this would be different if I knew going into it this was a heavy book. Fans of Eleanor Oliphant will likely enjoy this one.