Was not expecting this book to be this good and so well done at all! Haven't given 5 stars in a while and was beginning to wonder if it was just me being over-picky and awkward, but the thing is, when it's 5 stars, you feel it. For me, it felt like 5 stars the whole way through so long as the ending held up. And it did. Recommend this to everyone. You don't need to be a big crime fan. I'm not. ( )

Well, looks like I read this in 2011 - no recollection of that!
This is the story of a young boy who is rendered mute after a horrific instance in his life when he was quite young. We don't find out the actual event until very late in the book.
Michael is a talented artist as well as someone who is very adept at picking locks. This lock-picking talent gets him involved with a seedy crowd. Along the way, he meets Amelia, who is also an artist. Through pictures they tell their story to each other.
It is told mainly in flashbacks, and you get a bit more of Michael's story through each chapter. ( )

I have this as my second "tortured soul" Steve Hamilton book, with Joe Trumbull of "Night Work" being the first, I suppose. However, with some time away from the book I no longer think that Mike, the Lock Artist is tortured. In the end, this is a book of hope. Mike has hope. Throughout the bad things that happen to him regardless of whose fault it is, Mike wants the reader to keep in mind that he's going to be OK--as OK as he can be. "The Lock Artist" is amazing.

[This is the third of three Steve Hamilton book reviews.] ( )

Solid 3 stars, my eyes glazed over during all the technical bits on lockpicking though. ( )

The Lock Artist has been on my radar ever since I heard Steve Hamilton talk about it at a local author event. Now... if only my reaction to the book hadn't been so mixed.

Michael is a fantastic character, make no bones about it. Showing how those around him deal with someone who doesn't speak illuminates both Michael's character and theirs. Unfortunately, most of them seem to think he's some sort of freak, and once they learn what his talent is, all they can think of is how to exploit his skill at opening any sort of lock he's faced with. Michael is the sort of young man you root for. You want him to get away from the bad guys. You want him to find the peace and happiness he deserves. Because he is a good person trapped in the aftermath of the horrendous things that happened when he was eight years old. Michael behaves as though he has some sort of survivor's guilt, that he deserves whatever happens to him. That trauma seems to have stolen his will, and that's one thing that drove me nuts about The Lock Artist.

The other thing is the glacial unfolding of the story. It seemed to take forever for the story to finally arrive at the point where we learn what happened to Michael all those years ago, and once we find out what happened, a lot of Michael's behavior makes sense. Unfortunately, I'd begun to lose patience with the young man long before the reveal, which undoubtedly says more about me than it does the book. How many times does it take for a person to grow a spine and learn how to refuse to do something he knows is wrong? I know teenagers yearn for acceptance from their peers, but when those peers are repeatedly shown to be entitled jerks who don't care about anyone but themselves, how long does it take for the light bulb to go off over a person's head? In Michael's case, a long, long time.

Between the extremely slow pace and my exasperation with Michael, my enjoyment of The Lock Artist was blunted. However, your mileage may definitely vary-- especially if you have more patience than I do. Steve Hamilton has created a fantastic main character whom I shall remember for a long time, no matter how much he exasperated me. ( )