I may be a bit of an outlier on this one, but the exceedingly slow pace of the first three-fourths of the novel really weakened it as a whole for me. Lenny, an almost 40-year-old primary school teacher in Australia, is truly a delightful character. Whatever happened the day her mother and stepfather disappeared when she was still a child, which she keeps deeply hidden inside of her, has affected her psyche immensely. She finds it extremely difficult to have any friends, let alone a relationship of any kind, and spends much of her free time watching reruns of Friends and playing Scrabble with an imaginary Monica Gellar. Eventually, her deeply hidden memories begin to surface, and she is forced to connect with some of the people around her and ignore many of her routines that have been set in stone for years. The last quarter or so of this novel, however, was delightful and made me glad that I read it. All in all, this was an interesting debut, and I look forward to reading more from this author.

Lenny Marks Gets Away With Murder. Or does she? Lenny reminds me of an Australian Eleanor Oliphant as she also struggles with social interactions and friendships. She is a middle-aged teacher who still hasn't processed her traumatic childhood. Through flashbacks the reader learns about her tragic past as Lenny finally learns what happened to her and her family as a teenager. She is a lovable character and I found myself rooting for her the whole time.

Lenny Marks Gets Away With Murder wasn’t quite what I was expecting.
Not in a bad way, really. But I think I was expecting more mystery and a little more humor instead of an unreliable narrator with repressed trauma and social awkwardness.
I did enjoy the story though, and it was well-written, so bonus points for that.
Overall, I’d give it 3.75 stars, and recommend it for fans of general fiction and drama.

I received an advance copy from the publisher, all opinions are my own, and a review was not required.

This is a great example of pushing through a slow read and it being worth it.

The story started off very slow for me, almost to the point where I dnf’d, but there was something about the writing, mystery and character of Lenny that kept me locked in and I’m glad I read through. I grew to love the character of Lenny, by the end, I understood and appreciated her growth so much better because I think her backstory was carefully carved out throughout the story.

I thought the mystery aspect was done very well also and I really liked that it played into multiple areas: the past, her own “ghost”, and the present. The story all flowed together offering an open wide story of Lenny’s life and I enjoyed it.

The Friends reference and Lenny’s attachment to it was absolutely perfect.

4 quirky character stars

If you are a fan of quirky characters, this one might be right up your alley! Lenny Marks is a teacher who loves routine. I had to laugh at some of her thoughts with her students' parents, especially at parent-teacher conferences!

She doesn’t really know how to cultivate friendships, and some people try to exploit her. When her anxiety gets to be too much, she starts doing anagrams of words people have said or that she thinks up in her head. She’s an ace at Scrabble!

What is quite murky is what happened in her past. We don’t know where her mother is, and she has bad thoughts about her stepfather. A surprise letter starts to unravel her fragile peace with the past.

The first half builds slowly, and things pick up in the second half. I enjoyed getting to know Lenny and was curious to know if the title was literal. Who would she kill? Or was she just able to get away with things?

Lenny Marks Gets Away With Murder explores trauma-induced isolation in the form of Lenny Marks, whose murky history has her embracing routine and a life with very few surprises. When she receives troubling news, it triggers her memories and forces her to finally acknowledge what happened in her childhood and from it, how to finally let go.
This is a darker, more tragic story than I assumed, and Lenny’s heartbreaking history could’ve used a few more pages to flesh out her trauma, and the ending could’ve also used a few more pages of resolution. If you move Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine, Lenny Marks will also leave an imprint on your heart.

This was not what I was expecting but in a good way. I went into this blind but with the title I was thinking something along the lines of Finlay Donovan. It was surprisingly not at all like that. Lenny has experienced trauma in her childhood that she is now working through as an adult. The murder doesn’t come till later but as she works through her past, she finally becomes who she was always meant to be. This book is truly a journey through overcoming trauma. I listened to this one on audio and it was so engaging that I binged it in one day. I loved the format and the narrator was very good.

This was an interesting read for me. I didn’t adore the book, but I thought the FMC was super interesting and her story and the progression we got was what really drew me in. The writing wasn’t my favorite, I think it felt a little bit disconnected at moments, and I had a hard time really getting into the story, but as I reflect back I think that might have been part of developing the unreliable narrator and Lenny’s story. Overall, though, I think that this is an excellent book for people who like literary fiction, or stories with unreliable narrators and slightly darker themes.

4 stars but I wish I could give Lenny Marks Gets Away with Murder 5 stars! My problem with the book was that the first part draggggeddd so much. I almost DNF around 45% but looked at reviews, most with 4 or 5 stars. Many said the book picked up in the second half so I stuck it out and I'm glad I did. I feel this pacing does the novel a disservice because many readers would choose to not finish the book before it got really good. This was a solid debut from the author and I really enjoyed Lenny's story as it unfolded.

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press and Kerryn Mayne for this ARC in exchange for my honest review. Lenny Marks Gets Away with Murder hits shelves on July 9, 2024.

This has been a highly anticipated read for me, and I cannot even begin to express my sadness over how disappointing I found it. I was attracted to the synopsis largely because Lenny sounded like someone I’d find relatable. There were certain aspects I could relate to, but I felt like the character was based on a bunch of stereotypes, and never given any depth.

I don’t think this was a well done exploration of neurodivergency or trauma, and the tone was far too light for the content.

I am immensely grateful to St. Martin’s Press, NetGalley, and Macmillan Audio for my copy. All opinions are my own.

It's a charming novel that really grows on you as you go.

Lenny is a teacher and she likes her routine as much as she hates anything that takes her out of it, like the teacher who keeps stealing her tea. But she wouldn't openly accuse her without due proof. Her daily life is disturbed with the arrival of a letter informing her stepfather is to go on parole and they want to hear from her a victim. She prefers not to think about it and go on with her days, she's almost managed to become friends with one of the teachers. However, there's a part of herself that is telling her that it's time to face the facts of what happened the day her mother abandoned her.

3.5 rounded up to 4.

Quality is pretty high for a debut novel, but the beginning was also very confusing for me. Although the first pages already got me loving Lenny, probably to express to us the depth of her trauma, the narration got messy for a while. To be honest, the book almost lost me there. Fortunately, it recovers well as we understand where it wants to go.

Something else that bothered me, aside from the convoluted first quarter, was the tone. When you get a book that doesn't take itself seriously, you don't doubt when things go right all the time. When you get a more serious book, you will demand results to be less optimistic. This book, however, couldn't set the tone well, or at least it was how I felt, which broke credibility at times. For example, what are the chances of a dog that was so mistreated by his owner be the best boy? Not only he never bites anyone he shouldn't, but he knows where to do his business? He knows how to take walks? He's able to socialize with other dogs? Lenny must be the luckiest dog owner ever, because the only times her new dog does anything different, it is to help her with something. In a book with a less serious tone, that would probably not be a problem, it could even be a running joke, but it didn't feel like that was the writer's intention. The dog is only one example, but there are a lot of coincidences, fortunate twists going on that didn't agree well with the tone that was set.

Despite all that, the story is beautiful. Heartbreaking at times, heartwarming at others, or even plainly funny. If this was a debut novel, I can't wait to read how Kerryn Mayne will progress.


Honest review based on an ARC provided by Netgalley. Many thanks to the publisher for this opportunity.

I cannot believe this was a debut novel. Written so well and hope this author continues to write.

It was written very well and just was unique and emotional. I just did not want to put this down i wanted to continue to read this book and find out what was going to happen.

The character build was good and just absolutely loved Lenny Marks! Lenny seems to have the telltale signs of autism and the struggles and social skills she has is very interesting with the story.

Lenny is trying very hard to leave her past behind but when a letter comes from the parole board her life start to unravel. This book was written very well and its so easy to relate to Lenny.

I will recommend this book to everyone and just a great story.

Thanks NetGalley for letting me read and review.

Thank you NetGalley, Kerryn Mayne and St. Martin's Press for granting me access to this book in exchange for an honest review.

FANTASTIC!!! What an amazing DEBUT novel that is uniquely original, masterfully written, and deeply emotional. I found myself completely captivated and fully invested in Lenny Marks and her story. She is such a delightful character, and I absolutely loved her! Lenny exhibits characteristics similar to a person with high functioning autism and therefore struggles with social skills and interpreting expressions. As a 37 year old primary school teacher, Lenny enjoys watching Friends, playing Scrabble, and using word games/anagrams during stressful moments. However, she has a troubled past that she has worked extremely hard to leave behind. When an unexpected letter from the parole board arrives addressed to her, Lenny's orderly life starts to unravel.

Overall, this is a wonderful character-driven story that is thought-provoking and will stay with you for awhile. I wholeheartedly recommend and eagerly anticipate reading more books by this author! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Lenny Marks is my favorite character of 2024! Her story is sweet, brave, and sad but somehow had me smiling throughout. Getting to know Lenny Marks is a journey well worth taking.

I loved this book! Thanks to the publisher and author for giving me an opportunity to review an advanced copy.

I was expecting something a bit sillier, but instead this was an interesting character study of the female main character Lenny. We discover her backstory in trickles and flashbacks, and it took me a little while to get into it for this reason, but once I got some hints of what might have happened, I got hooked. I related quite a bit - Lenny is written in an autistic-coded way, though it may be trauma response in the end - and her masking skills, social awkwardness, and routines made her quite sympathetic. As it progressed I loved to see a community form around her, and her increase in self realizations and remembering traumatic events, and increasing her confidence. From thinking everybody in her life has left her behind, to realizing she has a nice group of people around her.

This reminded me of Strange Sally Diamond, and I think if you liked that book, you'll like this one as well. Sweet and empowering.

This is one of those stories that fell into my pet peeve bucket, but having said that, I actually enjoyed it.

To start off, this story was too long for my tastes. Yes, unfortunately, this is one of those novels that fell into my pet peeve bag, but the more I learned about Lenny Marks the more I began to love the story. Does that sound crazy to you? Well, no worries, I’m about to show you some understanding.

Lenny Marks and I have a great deal in common. She’s a loner. You can time her by her schedule. She’s very meticulous about how her things have to be done. Her sense of humor is often mistaken for being rude. Her brutal honesty often takes people back and they find her super weird. She makes up stories about having friends and an exciting life, when in actuality, she’s a bit lonely, attractive; although she doesn’t think so, and she enjoys her job as a teacher. For me, what’s not to love about Lenny Marks. I identified with her totally and would love it if she were real because she and I would have some laughs because I'm a lot like her. That being said, where our similarities end is I’ve never had to think about murdering someone—to the point of actually carrying it out. Umm, no ma’am I’ve never had to deal with that. I have had bad thoughts, of course, but not actually the life Lenny has had to live.

She received a letter from a place she never expected to hear from again. In fact, she took said letter and stuffed it deep down in her purse so she wouldn’t have to ever think about it again. But for whatever reason, the letter kept coming to the surface. There’s something profoundly serious Lenny Marks must do, but she’s not sure she has the energy to deal with it. Her stepfather is finally being released from prison and Lenny isn’t exactly thrilled to learn of this news. Why would he be getting out of prison? I mean, all he did was kill her mother and brother. Certainly, a matter as sinister as that wouldn’t warrant anyone being released from prison, right? Hmm, yes, that’s what Lenny thought too.

As Lenny is trying to understand her feelings, she strikes up a rare friendship with the owner of a grocery store and discovers they have a great deal in common. The only problem is he’s dating her coworker. Bummer, right. She soon finds out that she’s not as alone as she once thought and her moods and idiosyncrasies aren’t as far out there as she may have once believed. Lenny Marks may not live an exciting life, but she’s living!

I absolutely loved Lenny Marks. Like I said, I wish she were real because she and I would have so much to talk about. I totally got her. She was so misunderstood by her peers, although her parents understood her enough. Her feelings and direct approach threw off so many people she encountered but that was only due to the fact they didn’t get her intellect. She was super smart and that scares people when you have that type of intelligence. Once again, I totally got Lenny.

Could this story have ended sooner than it had, of course, but I really didn’t care because I took my time reading this story and really enjoyed it. It’s not the type of story you come across every day. It was actually refreshing to read about a character that wasn’t popular and how she dealt with the everyday situations we all face in this thing called life.

Yikes… this book was really hard for me to stay invested. It’s a slow start. Couldn’t really connect with any of the characters initially. I felt like it took a while to get to the plot. But when the memories start to come back for Lenny, things moved a little better. This book was just ok for me and i feel like it’s not the popular opinion. Thanks to NetGalley and st martins press for the ARC!

This was a lovely book, heartwarming and thought-provoking throughout.

I'm not sure which genre this falls into, because it's dramatic fiction but also has a murder plot. I was almost going to call it a murder mystery, but it isn't really. There's no mystery about the murder suspect, or suspects, here. ( Not giving away spoilers!) The main part of the story is Lenny's self-development.

There's reference to severe physical, emotional, and sexual abuse, including to children.

It's easy to root for Lenny. She has dealt with unimaginable challenges in her lifetime, and she's trying to make it through each day putting one foot in front of the other. When an envelope arrives at her door, or rather her school, it sets into a motion a chain of events that may finally lift her out of her self-imposed retreat from life.

Pros:
Lenny is a wonderful character, and we see the story through her eyes. It's a good taste of what might be happening to those people that we think of as different, or off.
Fleshed out and nuanced characters. It puts the reader into the place of thinking which person would we be like? The "good": characters who support Lenny, or the immature characters who put her down?
Ned, who works at the grocery where Lenny shops, is a fabulous character.
Engaging writing and plotline. Many interesting events, such as Lenny's rescue of an abused dog, and unexpected twists, such as her neighbor Maureen's arc.
Satisfying ending.

Cons:
The only thing that I would put here is that the ending doesn't quite fit with how we see Lenny throughout the book. I don't mind seeing things tie up neatly at the end, that's why I put it as a pro. But this seemed a bit too optimistic for the tone of the book.

This was an excellent read that most readers will enjoy. I really had a hard time putting it down.

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, and Kerrin Mayne for an advanced copy for review.

This book started off slowly. I felt annoyance with the characters, both Lenny and her co-workers. This annoyance came from the happiness and excitement that Lenny felt when she was "invited" to trivia night and the impatience/negativity of the co-workers that didn't want her there because she was different (personality). After the letter from the parole board starts jogging Lenny's memory I became interested in piecing together the events of the murder. By the end, I felt more kindly towards everyone but I never really felt that the book was more than OK. Three stars. Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the digital ARC. This review is my own opinion.

While it was a tad slow to start, by the end I adored this book. I think the title is a bit of a misdirect since I'd say this book is largely about the affects of childhood trauma.

There is a bit of a mystery for both the reader and Lenny as buried secrets are revealed to both of us over time. Details matter in this story and many tie together in a surprising way. I admit to small gasps as some things were revealed and in the last quarter of the book I had to stop reading with my glasses since they'd become too smudged with tears.

Lenny was a character I was absolutely rooting for and I wanted her to be happy and safe. I'm probably making this sound rather dark but there was lightness to the story as well.

In the end, I was completely bowled over by this one.