Leather & Lark

Lark is one of the novel’s two protagonists and three first-person narrators; she is also Lachlan Kane’s love interest. Shying away from the term “serial killer, she calls herself a “deleter” of predatory men. She is motivated to protect her best friend, Sloane, even when doing so requires her to marry Lachlan, a man she hates due to his rough treatment of her during their first meeting. The novel depicts Lark killing several men who have hurt women and children, and she always completes her kills with deliberate artistry. In her innermost thoughts, Lark faces The Challenge of Embracing Authenticity, and at the beginning of the novel, she hides her murderous habits from everyone—even concealing her actions from her best friend Sloane, who is also a serial killer. Lark presents an outgoing and cheerful persona to the world, but this veneer masks the darkness that she does not trust others to see. As she states, “The only regret I’ve ever felt about the things I’ve done is that I haven’t shared them sooner with the one person who has never hidden her darkness from me” (256). Through her relationship with Lachlan, she learns to follow his example and comes to embrace the dark parts of herself.