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A review by lisaarnsdorf
The Lock Artist by Steve Hamilton
2.0
Really crime fiction rather than a mystery. Interesting premise, certainly a new idea. I did feel like the book was about 100 pages too long. There was too much lead up, and boring lead up at that, to get to the two big reveals. The two timelines also meant that details you had to make inferences about were explained so late in the story that it seemed odd to be referring to them again.
Learning how someone picks a long or breaks a safe was interesting the first time or two, but it quickly got tedious. I could have done with a lot less detail on those two points. I ended up skimming big passages. Similarly, I skipped big chunks of text about the protagonist digging a pool for days at a time.
Additionally, the female characters didn't strike me as realistic. The two many young women were amazingly psychologically damaged, inexplicably sexually motivated, and lacking in other personality traits.
I never felt connected to any of the characters. When some surprising deaths take place, I didn't so much as blink. I didn't feel at all invested in the characters to be upset that they were gone.
Not a bad read, just tedious. I think this could have been a great book if it were a lot tighter.
Learning how someone picks a long or breaks a safe was interesting the first time or two, but it quickly got tedious. I could have done with a lot less detail on those two points. I ended up skimming big passages. Similarly, I skipped big chunks of text about the protagonist digging a pool for days at a time.
Additionally, the female characters didn't strike me as realistic. The two many young women were amazingly psychologically damaged, inexplicably sexually motivated, and lacking in other personality traits.
I never felt connected to any of the characters. When some surprising deaths take place, I didn't so much as blink. I didn't feel at all invested in the characters to be upset that they were gone.
Not a bad read, just tedious. I think this could have been a great book if it were a lot tighter.