Genre: Book
Grade: A-
Notable People: Steve Hamilton
Title: “The Lock Artist”
Review: Hamilton, the fine creator of the Alex McKnight mystery series, took a break from that in 2008 to write this compelling standalone novel. The story follows the coming of age of a young man horribly damaged by his parents’ domestic violence, and death, and his traumatic treatment in the process. These events leva him unable to speak…not one word. He finds his calling as a master safe cracker, which leads him through the peculiar world of extremely dangerous and devious people involved in very high end, well planned thefts. Set in Detroit, New York and LA….it is a deeply haunting book that makes you jump out of your skin wanting to root for our protagonist. Hamilton is a superior writer and storyteller -really gets into people’s heads- and this is a wonderful surprise, albeit a dark one. Probably will learn more than you ever wanted to know about picking locks.