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littletaiko's review against another edition
4.0
The Lock Artist was the last book I read of the Anthony Awards nominees. The story of a young "boxman" who can open any safe or lock was an intriguing premise. Add to that the fact that he never speaks and you get an unusual story. It was a very enjoyable story that really made me want to learn how to pick a lock or crack open a safe. Fortunately, I doubt I'll turn to a life of crime since I don't really have the patience!
annevoi's review against another edition
3.0
The Lock Artist is a thriller of sorts, narrated by a mute "boxman," or safe-breaker, named Michael. His muteness is not physical, but psychological: when he was eight, he suffered a trauma—that is told about in detail only about fifty pages from the end—and he has not spoken since. Michael tells us at the outset that he is in prison, twenty years later. The bulk of the book outlines a year in his life when he was seventeen and eighteen—so, ten years earlier. Just a normal high school kid, with an aptitude for drawing. And also for picking locks and divining safe combinations. The sort of talent that can get you into trouble.
He tells the story by weaving back and forth in time, which is occasionally confusing when it comes to small details, but they're so small that you end up not caring, plus you know that Michael will eventually fill the details in. He's good about that. I enjoyed the narrative device.
The writing is consistently top notch, especially the dialogue. Where the book lacked, perhaps, was in scene setting—it mostly takes place in 1999/2000, but it could have taken place anytime for all it does not go into social/cultural/technological specifics (except the use of pagers). And although I had sympathy for Michael, he is a distant character, no doubt because of that muteness: we hear what's going on in his head as a novel way of relating conversations, for example, so we know what and how he thinks, but he's oddly unemotional. That goes with his character, of course. But it doesn't create a feeling of intimacy, and I missed that. Then too, most of the characters are crooks, who don't exactly invite others into their hearts.
If you want to know exactly how a safe-cracker cracks a safe, this books tells you. But it's decidedly not a technique only; it is very much an art, a way of listening and feeling. Michael does a good job of explaining that.
Here he describes his uncle Lito, who runs a liquor store and took him in after the tragedy:
I could tell Uncle Lito was trying hard to figure out what to do with me. "We're just a couple of bachelors," he said to me on more than one occasion. "Living off the fat of the land, eh? What do you say we go to the Flame and get a bite to eat." As if the Flame's food qualified as the fat of the land. We'd sit in the booth and Uncle Lito would run down his day to me in great detail, how many bottles of this or that he sold and what he needed to reorder. I'd sit there completely silent. Of course. Whether I was really listening to him, it didn't seem to matter much. He just kept up his end of a one-sided conversation, pretty much every waking moment. . . .
This habit of his, this jabbering on and on all the time . . . it's the kind of thing I'd run into a lot, wherever I went. People who naturally like to talk, it takes them a minute to get used to me, but once they do they just turn it on and never turn it off. God forbid there be one moment of silence.
The quiet people, on the other hand . . . I usually make them uncomfortable as hell, because they know they can't compete with me. I'll out-quiet anybody, in any venue for any stakes. I'm the undisputed champion of keeping my mouth shut and just sitting there like a piece of furniture.
All in all, I enjoyed this book. Great literature, no; but a satisfying tale, very much so.
He tells the story by weaving back and forth in time, which is occasionally confusing when it comes to small details, but they're so small that you end up not caring, plus you know that Michael will eventually fill the details in. He's good about that. I enjoyed the narrative device.
The writing is consistently top notch, especially the dialogue. Where the book lacked, perhaps, was in scene setting—it mostly takes place in 1999/2000, but it could have taken place anytime for all it does not go into social/cultural/technological specifics (except the use of pagers). And although I had sympathy for Michael, he is a distant character, no doubt because of that muteness: we hear what's going on in his head as a novel way of relating conversations, for example, so we know what and how he thinks, but he's oddly unemotional. That goes with his character, of course. But it doesn't create a feeling of intimacy, and I missed that. Then too, most of the characters are crooks, who don't exactly invite others into their hearts.
If you want to know exactly how a safe-cracker cracks a safe, this books tells you. But it's decidedly not a technique only; it is very much an art, a way of listening and feeling. Michael does a good job of explaining that.
Here he describes his uncle Lito, who runs a liquor store and took him in after the tragedy:
I could tell Uncle Lito was trying hard to figure out what to do with me. "We're just a couple of bachelors," he said to me on more than one occasion. "Living off the fat of the land, eh? What do you say we go to the Flame and get a bite to eat." As if the Flame's food qualified as the fat of the land. We'd sit in the booth and Uncle Lito would run down his day to me in great detail, how many bottles of this or that he sold and what he needed to reorder. I'd sit there completely silent. Of course. Whether I was really listening to him, it didn't seem to matter much. He just kept up his end of a one-sided conversation, pretty much every waking moment. . . .
This habit of his, this jabbering on and on all the time . . . it's the kind of thing I'd run into a lot, wherever I went. People who naturally like to talk, it takes them a minute to get used to me, but once they do they just turn it on and never turn it off. God forbid there be one moment of silence.
The quiet people, on the other hand . . . I usually make them uncomfortable as hell, because they know they can't compete with me. I'll out-quiet anybody, in any venue for any stakes. I'm the undisputed champion of keeping my mouth shut and just sitting there like a piece of furniture.
All in all, I enjoyed this book. Great literature, no; but a satisfying tale, very much so.
betty816's review against another edition
4.0
Held my interest... Mystery and romance all in one....took til middle to get going but then I flew thru it
carolpk's review against another edition
4.0
The Lock Artist recently won an Edgar for best novel. Steve Hamilton was in fine company for this award competing with authors Harlan Coben, Tana French, Tom Franklin, Laura Lippman and Timothy Hallinan. I hadn’t read all the nominees but the ones I did were really good so I thought Steve Hamilton’s winner should be good. It absolutely was.
I really like the way Hamilton told the tale. You know right from the beginning that something horrific and violent happened to 8 year old Michael but you don’t know what. The incident leaves Michael unable to speak. Skip ahead a few years; Michael, an orphan, and kind of an outsider in school, becomes quite popular with his classmates and others when they find out about a talent he has. Michael is able to open most any lock or safe. Soon this talent becomes of interest to some pretty shady characters and they groom Michael as a boxman, the man you go to when you need a safe cracked.
Revealing bits and pieces of Michael’s tragedy, weaving back and forth from present to past and back again, kept me turning the pages to see how it would all end.
The Lock Artist is first rate thriller, deserving of the award in my book.
I really like the way Hamilton told the tale. You know right from the beginning that something horrific and violent happened to 8 year old Michael but you don’t know what. The incident leaves Michael unable to speak. Skip ahead a few years; Michael, an orphan, and kind of an outsider in school, becomes quite popular with his classmates and others when they find out about a talent he has. Michael is able to open most any lock or safe. Soon this talent becomes of interest to some pretty shady characters and they groom Michael as a boxman, the man you go to when you need a safe cracked.
Revealing bits and pieces of Michael’s tragedy, weaving back and forth from present to past and back again, kept me turning the pages to see how it would all end.
The Lock Artist is first rate thriller, deserving of the award in my book.
sandin954's review against another edition
3.0
For the most part I thought this was a pretty good audio though I did not think it was as great as seemingly everyone else who has read it (including the Edgar voters). I liked the first person narration and the structure of the story but felt it could have been pared down quite a bit. My audio download skipped ahead a couple of times and when I went back to listen to what I missed I did not think it was all that important. The narration was done by MacLeod Andrews who did a very good job. I will look for further audios narrated by him.
erainbow8's review against another edition
3.0
Read this for the "book about a heist" prompt in the 2018 pop sugar challenge. It's YA, so definitely more predictable and cliche than other heist stories, but not bad if you take it for what it is.
medium_dave's review against another edition
4.0
The mute narrator's history is slowly revealed in this excellent thriller. It all comes together a little too neatly, but when you engage in Pulp Fiction style story fracturing, I guess that's to be expected.
jannenemarie's review against another edition
5.0
Loved this book. I will look for more from this author.
ericbuscemi's review against another edition
5.0
An excellent non-linear first-person narrative told by Michael -- writing from prison -- about how he grew up to become a safe-cracker, or "boxman." Each puzzle piece of the disjointed tale is interesting enough as a singular vignette, but together they fit together to form a perfect narrative.
The writing is beautiful. There are powerful scenes, and tense scenes, and particularly vivid scenes -- ones I don't think I will ever forget. Michael's talents -- artistic and illegal -- are written in a way that makes them at once magical and believable, and immediately able to be visualized.
It is a complete success as a coming-of-age story, a heist story, a crime story, and a love story. A definite must-read.
The writing is beautiful. There are powerful scenes, and tense scenes, and particularly vivid scenes -- ones I don't think I will ever forget. Michael's talents -- artistic and illegal -- are written in a way that makes them at once magical and believable, and immediately able to be visualized.
It is a complete success as a coming-of-age story, a heist story, a crime story, and a love story. A definite must-read.