Review of The Sideways Life of Denny Voss by Holly Kennedy

This bighearted novel holds a mystery, but its main focus is  neurodivergent main protagonist Denny and his dogged persistence, ambitious acts, decisiveness, wisdom, and loving kindness as he gets into increasing trouble, touches lives, faces loss, and establishes just who he is and wants to be.

“I guess that’s just how life works. Some days it’s like a fast-moving TV show and some days it’s not, and when things go sideways—like they usually do for me—you might find yourself going in a whole new direction, and when you’re doing life, going in that whole new direction, some things will change, but some things will stay a lot the same.”

Denny lives a quiet life in small-town Minnesota, caring for his elderly mother with the companionship of his blind and deaf Saint Bernard, George.

A developmental delay--caused by an accident at his birth--means that his options are limited, but Denny seems to keep finding himself in grave trouble. There was the time he kidnapped a neighbor's pet goose, the time he accidentally aided and abetted a bank robbery, and now he's under arrest for the murder of a candidate for mayor.

Trying to do the right thing seems to not work out very well for Denny. To set the record straight, he'll have to stay the course, be brave, and uncover painful secrets about his family's past.

A mystery buiilt upon a neurodivergent main protagonist's challenges with the surrounding world and thriving within them begs comparison to the main protagonists and their dilemmas in Molly Gray's The Maid and Mark Haddon's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. Denny's black-and-white consideration of circumstances around him allow the reader to see the unvarnished truth--or what the recognized truth should be.

As Denny's big personality, kindness, and discerning views become clear, the story tracks the lead-up to the recent death in the community and how Denny became a murder suspect. We see how he touches strangers' lives, frustrates neighbors, is ambitious in addressing societal wrongs, and we (and he) begin to understand previously unknown elements of his origin story--which he refuses to allow to define him.

The Author's Note details how Kennedy's character and some of the story's side plotlines were built from relatives and loved ones in her own life.

The Sideways Life of Denny Voss is a bighearted novel with an irresistible main protagonist and surrounding players, and the mystery keeps the story humming along. I loved this story.

More from This Author

Holly Kennedy is also the author of The Tin Box, The Penny Tree, and The Silver Compass.

For some other novels featuring neurodivergent characters, please check out the Bossy books at this link.