Book Review: The Lock Artist by Steven Hamilton

Time to do some catching up. This is a full review but some of the following ones will be the speed-round version.


The Lock Artist by Steve Hamilton
Minotaur Books (St. Martin's Publishing Group)
304 Pages
Copyright 2009

From the inside cover flap:

"I was the Miracle Boy, once upon a time. Later on, the Milford Mute. The Golden Boy. The Young Ghost. The Kid. The Boxman. The Lock Artist. That was all me.

But you can call me Mike."

Mike is a traumatized young man, suffering a horrendous even at the age of eight that left him unable to speak. Marked by his silence, he finds himself an outcast, existing on the fringes of things until he finds two talents - art, and the ability to open any lock.


After a high school prank goes wrong, Mike finds himself serving his sentence at the home of Amelia Marsh. She is young, beautiful, and an artist. She is also the love of Mike's life and when her life hangs in the balance, he does what he has to do; he becomes The Lock Artist.


Hamilton writes a series of books set in Michigan's Upper Peninsula that includes my home town. This book as a stand alone but I knew going in it would be an amazing read and I wasn't disappointed. Mike is an intriguing character, his story told in bits and pieces, traveling back and forth from present day to past, finally coming back to the day that changed Mike's life forever.

I was eight years old when it happened. Not two years old. Not three years old. I was eight, and like any other kid my age, I knew exactly what was happening to me. Every single second, every single moment. I knew what was happening, and when it was all over, I could go back and reply it in my mind. Every single second, every single moment. Th next day, I could still do that. A week later, I could do that. A year later. Five years later. Ten years later. I could still go back to that day in June for the simple reason that I had never left it.

It is a gripping story that draws you in and holds you until the very last page. I cared enough about Mike and Amelia that I wanted to know what happened to them after the story ended. For me, that's a sign of an excellent story teller and Hamilton is clearly on his way to being one of the best.


Recommendation: Hamilton's story is one about love and what people do in the name of love. It is also about hate and what people do for it. And it is about triumphing over both. You can't beat a combination like that.