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    The Lock Artist
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    The Lock Artist
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    The Lock Artist
    Audiobook12 hours

    The Lock Artist

    Written by Steve Hamilton

    Narrated by MacLeod Andrews

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    Marked by tragedy, traumatized at the age of eight, Michael, now eighteen, is no ordinary young man. Besides not uttering a single word in ten years, he discovers the one thing he can somehow do better than anyone else. Whether it's a locked door without a key, a padlock with no combination, or even an eight hundred-pound safe...he can open them all.

    It's an unforgivable talent. A talent that will make young Michael a hot commodity with the wrong people and, whether he likes it or not, push him ever closer to a life of crime. Until he finally sees his chance to escape, and with one desperate gamble risks everything to come back home to the only person he ever loved, and to unlock the secret that has kept him silent for so long.

    Steve Hamilton steps away from his Edgar Award-winning Alex McKnight series to introduce a unique new character, unlike anyone you've ever seen in the world of crime fiction.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBrilliance Audio
    Release dateJan 5, 2010
    ISBN9781441815484
    Unavailable
    The Lock Artist
    Author

    Steve Hamilton

    Steve Hamilton was born and raised in Detroit, and graduated from the University of Michigan where he won the prestigious Hopwood Award for fiction. In 2006, he won the Michigan Author Award for his outstanding body of work. His novels have won numerous awards and media acclaim beginning with the very first in the Alex McKnight series, A Cold Day in Paradise, which won the Private Eye Writers of America/St. Martin's Press Award for Best First Mystery by an Unpublished Writer. Once published, it went on to win the MWA Edgar and the PWA Shamus Awards for Best First Novel, and was short-listed for the Anthony and Barry Awards. His book The Lock Artist is the winner of the 2011 Edgar Award for Best Novel. Hamilton currently works for IBM in upstate New York where he lives with his wife Julia and their two children.

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    Reviews for The Lock Artist

    4/5

    387 ratings42 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Really enjoyed this - a bit of skipping back & forth in time but it was not annoying. Shades of Shawshank Redemption by S. King with a touch of the main character from Darkly Dreaming Dexter (in self-awareness, not hobby).
      I recommend!
    • 4/5
      Very good book. I'm not normally a mystery/thriller reader but this one was recommended by author Maggie Stiefvater. It's about a young boy who through a traumatic experience early on in life has lost the ability to speak. He finds he is talented at opening locks which inadvertently leads him unwillingly into a life of crime.
    • 4/5
      Hamilton structures a quirky and innovative thriller around a young safecracker- or boxman- who has not spoken a word since a traumatic incident in his childhood. Raised in a rundown part of Michigan, Michael, named by the press "The Miracle Boy", finds amusement in opening locks he buys in a neighborhood antique shop. Indulging his love of drawing or spinning the chambers of the locks, Michael develops a unique skill that will prove invaluable to men who seek to exploit his talent. As Michael tells his story in chapters that alternate between the conflicts of the present and his past, from the days with comic books, drawing pads and Uncle Lido to a stint on probation, circumstances conspire to send the youth on a troubled road. Michael doesn't confide the exact nature of the tragedy that caused him to stop speaking, a fact that contributes to the mystery of his character, a young man who walks a solitary path, making the few choices available to him. And when fate delivers Amelia into his life, Michael senses his one chance at intimacy with another, a vague but promising future.

      Shifting between the traumatic events of the past and the challenges of the present, Hamilton reveals the effects of trauma and poverty on an innocent child, a child who is not only a survivor but a young man of exceptional courage. There are no happy endings in this tale, but an example of the human spirit in the face of adversity and the healing power of love, even in the most extreme circumstances. Shocking, poignant and provocative, this unusual story is a blend of reality and hope in an indifferent world
    • 5/5
      Book Description"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."Marked by tragedy, traumatized at the age of eight, Michael, now eighteen, is no ordinary young man. Besides not uttering a single word in ten years, he discovers the one thing he can somehow do better than anyone else. Whether it's a locked door without a key, a padlock with no combination, or even an eight-hundred pound safe ... he can open them all.It's an unforgivable talent. A talent that will make young Michael a hot commodity with the wrong people and, whether he likes it or not, push him ever close to a life of crime. Until he finally sees his chance to escape, and with one desperate gamble risks everything to come back home to the only person he ever loved, and to unlock the secret that has kept him silent for so long.My ReviewThis standalone crime fiction was a fascinating story which switched between different time periods. I listened to the audio and it held my interest all the way through to the end. The narrator, MacLeod Andrews, did an excellent job reading the book aloud. I never read Steve Hamilton before but I found this book to be well-written. I look forward to reading more of his books in the near future. I especially enjoyed the relationship between Michael and Amelia and how they communicated without Michael speaking. I would highly recommend this book to those who love crime fiction with a hint of romance.
    • 5/5
      While I enjoy Mr. Hamilton's series, this novel impressed me even more. Great main character, fascinating story, and I was convinced he was telling me how to pick locks (he wasn't, as he explains in a note.)
    • 3/5
      The author managed to keep a mute bloke interesting during a novel. Is that true? It partially is. To others, it will be doubly so. But I will say it only once, a mute traumatized outlaw isn't fun. There's a lack of any way shape or form of humor in this book. Some might say there's dark humor, but I don't agree because there's never a set up for a joke. It's one full treatment, a mild thriller caked in dreary attempts at cohesion.The childhood of Mike is like a footnote. The brief glimpse in his trauma clumsily shoves his artistic roots in our way. There are some apparently easy analogy to draw from. The fact that Mike is still in his safe, and the chink in the door allows him to concentrate and be deaf to any sound other than the clunk in the grooves of his real life safes.Where the hell did Lucy go? She's dead? Or not? Is she?One other weird glitch in the author's exploration of his main two persons is the prudish lack of even suggestions of sexual acts. I have no problem with that, in fact is a breath of fresh air. However, the story suffers in a certain lack of details, notably with the father figures of Lito and Ghost. There's a misbegotten sense of fatalism with the career choice of the hero. He got owned by one of the mob. Then when the mute Mike and his gang hit 4 million, he is free... where to draw the line here? When is it safe to buy one's freedom in this universe the writer has spun for us?I forget how many times has Mike neglected the orders of Ghost. Some readers could take that Mike cannot know how to respond to a father figure. He is not stupid. He is good with numbers and art and he's the best boxman. The author wants us to side with Mike. He starves literally in the service of his craft. The world of Mike is clearly pseudo realistic at times but other times it's too fake. Like how so many people lie about how Mike's muteness is cool. Anyway I guess they lie. In truth they could be feeling nothing or sorry for him.Maybe it was cruel and fateful to make a criminal of Mike. He inexplicably can navigate through the length and breath of the country, but loses sight of his best friend. The obstacles and limitation in the path of the main protagonist should make sense. Otherwise the lecture of the story does not become as immersive as it could have. Though I'm still wondering about the Lucy character, I still agree with the treatment of Nadine. Almost all of the people in this book have a strong entry and definite exit. Lito, Banks, Nadine, Zeke. All of them. The hero remains alone.
    • 4/5
      While the main character is locked up inside of himself and unable to speak due to a traumatic event in his early years, he eventually learns how to crack open doors, safes, and anything else designed to stay secure. It's an interesting mix of psychology and mystery along with a complicated love story that kept me interested in learning more about how everyone got to the point at which they had arrived in life and wondering where they'd go.
    • 3/5
      Audible. Interesting premise. Kid with traumatic childhood. He is an artist (comics and picking locks). Back and forth story to put the pieces together. Not great. But a fun read.
    • 3/5
      I didn't find that this was one of my favorite reads, however, it wasn't the worst that I've ever read either. I felt like the story was a little long and drawn out and believe that a lot of it could have been omitted and still not take anything away from the story. Had that been the case, I may have enjoyed it a little more.

      I usually don't mind the story jumping back and forth through time, but for some reason, I found it slightly difficult to follow with The Lock Artist. For as much story that was there, I still felt like I didn't know enough. I did enjoy the story coming from Michael's perspective, but didn't care for the drastic jumps in time. Sometimes it was difficult to tell what part of Michael's life he was talking about and for it to make sense with everything else that has happened.

      There were not many likable characters, if any in this story. I find it hard to even want to follow the characters if you have difficulty enjoying reading about them, which ended up being the case with most of this book's characters. I don't feel like we weren't educated enough on Michael to feel like you could have a relationship with his character. I felt like there were many things left to the imagination. I do feel like Michael was a unique character, but I found myself easily getting aggravated with him!

      I just feel like the story never really truly connected with Michael, the main character and I just could not feel like I was invested with the story or characters.
    • 4/5
      Not on our lists but I thought of it when I read Rat Life. Not meant to be a YA book but ALA recognition in that area. A very good author if you have not found him.
    • 2/5
      What starts out as an adult story about a criminal safecracker turns into an immature adolescent journey of a damaged youth. I almost gagged at two or three points.
    • 4/5
      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.
    • 3/5
      This was a really good book and not the kind of thing I usually listen to. Mostly because I haven't known how to find it, I think. This is a straight up, modern fiction.

      I found this one because I like the narrator. He has read a series I liked and I was hoping that what he likes to read is stuff that I like to listen to. I wasn't disappointed.

      I became fond of the characters. I like Mike and would invite him to dinner. I'm still wondering what's going on with his uncle, Lido. By the time I found out what caused him to lose his voice, I was too wrapped up in the story to "look away" from the bad stuff. But there was another part where I had to pause and catch my breath before I could finish.

      I will be looking for more by Steve Hamilton.
    • 4/5
      This was an interesting read. It was really well written. The premise of the plot was a great idea. The execution of that premise missed the mark by a fair amount. I listened to the audio version and the reader was also amazing.
    • 5/5
      Great story, very well narrated! Surely one of Hamilton's best! Thanks for a great read!
    • 4/5
      The Lock Artist by Steve Hamilton is one of those stories that pulls you along gently and then delivers a total kick to the gut, leaving you gasping for breath and wondering how you never saw it coming. Our protagonist, Michael, has a most unusual talent: he can pick any lock, open any safe, unlock anything locked. It is a talent which, at 18, draws Michael inevitably into the criminal world.

      However, lock picking is not the only unusual thing about Michael. He hasn’t spoken a word in 10 years, traumatized by some horrific event that Hamilton dangles just out of the reader’s reach throughout the story. We follow Michael from his uncle’s garage, through a meeting with the one girl who just might save his life, through a botched robbery that leaves him imprisoned, until we finally arrive at that gut-kicking moment, when Hamilton reveals what caused Michael to go silent and influenced his peculiar talent.

      Tightly plotted and beautifully written, The Lock Artist deservedly won the Edgar Award for 2010 and truly is one of the best of the year. Highly recommended.
    • 5/5
      Author Steve Hamilton has created a unique character in “The Lock Artist.” Michael is only 17, but is a gifted artist and can open just about any lock or safe he confronts. In addition, due to a tragic event in his past, he hasn’t spoken a single word in 10 years.The story is told in the first person and jumps between time periods and events. Michael’s backstory unfolds slowly throughout the book until one finally learns about his tragic past, the reason he doesn’t speak, and why he is fascinated with locks. Because he doesn’t speak, he is an outsider in high school. Due to a lack of proper upbringing, he is also naive. He is easily manipulated by boys in the in-crowd who use Michael's skills to break into a house. Michael is the only one who is caught but refuses to tell the names of the others involved, not just because he can’t speak, because he could have written their names, but because he chooses not to rat on them. As a result he is assigned by his probation officer to work for the victim of his crime who ends up plunging the boy into even deeper trouble. However, Michael will do anything to protect the girl he loves. As a result, Michael is immersed in dangerous situations. This book was a page-turner. Hamilton did a great job of portraying a character who was unable to speak. I found the character strange, but also intriguing —an unusual protagonist. Even when Michael was committing crimes, I was rooting for him. So far, I have read 3 Steve Hamilton novels, each with different characters. The other two were good reads which they took place in recent years, yet they were reminiscent of the era of hard-boiled detective novels. “The Lock Artist” seemed more contemporary to me. The plot and main characters were so unusual and gripping, that I was riveted to the pages.
    • 4/5
      My first Steve Hamilton, and it won’t be my last.

      While reading this novel, I started thinking about literary devices, namely telling a story backwards: telling me who the culprit was but not who was killed and why, jumping back and forth, and then slowly explaining the details.

      What draw me in in the first place was not the protagonist, but the novel’s structure. Hamilton divided the narrative into chunks apparently without taking notice of events, but with an eye to narrative tension and dramatic effect. Off the top of my head I can't think of many other crime novels organized in this way. Nevertheless various narrative threads in this novel are pitch perfect, as well as being able to deepen the connection between structure, protagonist and subject matter (hopping between three timelines: present day, where Michael is reaching the end of his jail time, the series of events that led him to learn how to unlock a safe and his brief history as a professional safe cracker).

      You can read the rest of this review on my blog.
    • 3/5
      At the very beginning of this story we learn that Michael, its first-person narrator, had something terrible happen to him as an eight-year old and he subsequently became known in his native Michigan as ‘Miracle Boy’. Although he has physically healed following this event he has not uttered a word since the day of the event. In the same opening sequence we find out Michael has been in prison for more than nine years; since he was 18 years old. What unfolds following this, in a complicated non-linear fashion, is Michael’s journey from one point to the other.

      Michael is re-telling his story from his vantage point in prison but he can’t, at first, go right back to the ‘awful event’. Instead he has three fairly distinct narratives that unfold a little bit at a time in intervening, short segments. The first of these strands covers the period immediately following ‘the event’ when he is taken in by his uncle Leo, begins the slow recovery process and undergoes the seemingly endless round of counselling and testing that would inevitably follow such a thing. Then there is a strand dealing with his move from being a junior to a senior in high school and his previously hidden talent, as someone who can pick locks, becomes more widely known. This is also when he meets Amelia, his true love, and begins an unorthodox, speechless ‘conversation’ with her that lasts, on and off, for the rest of the book. The final strand covers the period when he prematurely finishes school and becomes the box man (safe cracker and lock picker) for a loosely connected network of criminals.

      Although complicated, I managed to follow this structure easily enough once I got into its rhythm and it did allow the story to build up suspense. I do wonder though if it was part of the reason the book felt unnecessarily long, as there were some things that were repeated in each distinct narrative thread that really only needed to be told once. For example, I reached my limit of interest in the mechanics of lock picking and safe opening well before the end of the book.

      The only character depicted with any depth at all in this book is Michael so as a reader you have to find him pretty compelling to be fully engaged with the novel. For me this happened most successfully when he met Amelia and demonstrated the lengths he would go to for her protection. As he described the creative communication method they developed because Michael couldn’t speak I got a real sense of him, his thoughts and feelings. For the rest of the novel though I found him a very passive character, describing things that were done to him or events beyond his control and not really acknowledging his own role in events. While at times this was realistic at other times it felt a bit like a cop out and lessened my engagement with him as a character.

      I found The Lock Artist entertaining, even if I am not as overwhelmed by it as some of its reviewers. I liked the structure and the ‘coming of age’ element of Michael’s story but was less captivated by those parts of the story that dealt with his unique talent and the trouble it caused him. The forced coincidences of these events and Michael’s passive involvement lessened my overall enjoyment of the book just a little. MacLeod Andrews did a great job narrating the book, managing to make his voice ‘age’ subtly for the different narrative threads. Still this is probably not an audiobook I would recommend to listening novices as these kinds of non-linear plots can take a little getting used to in audio format.
    • 4/5
      I. Loved. This. Book. It won the Edgar Award for best novel in 2011 and that was well deserved.The title character is a young man who does not speak. Not a word. Not to anyone. But the one thing he does with ease is open any lock. Safe, padlock, deadbolt? He can open them all. And when word of his talent gets to the wrong people, he becomes a hot commodity. Tense, eerie and compelling. Very good book!
    • 5/5
      It's sort of like a detective novel in reverse: you know who did it, but you keep reading to figure out what it was he did. In this case, there are two mysteries: what Michael did to land in jail and what traumatized him when he was a boy?5 stars:-Michael is the type of character who draws you in and makes you want to keep reading. Even though he's mute, his narrative voice is compelling with just the right amount of sarcasm to keep you engaged. The supporting characters and Amelia, Michael's love interest, are interesting and well-developed, too.-Intriguing subject matter. A prodigy safecracker/artist who's mute and has a mysterious past...who could ask for more?-The writing is top-notch. I really enjoyed the author's writing style (strong narrator, tight phrasing, great dialogue, quickly moving plot). I also appreciated the fact that he explained the technical aspects of safecracking clearly. He didn't resort to diagrams but I was still able to visualize what he was talking about. However, while these passages were well-written, there were a few too many of them/they got a bit redundant.-Hamilton executes the multiple timeline thing well. It works with the story instead of coming across as an annoying literary device of an author who is trying too hard.This book reminded me of the parts I liked about Beat the Reaper without all the extraneous violence. Overall, I'm really glad I happened to stumble across this book. I finished it in a weekend and was sad to do so.
    • 2/5
      If this had been an audio book, I would have looked to see if I had accidently set the CD player to “shuffle.” Bouncing back and forth from the present to the past, characters are alive and then dead, and then alive again. But maybe they weren’t really dead, after all. After a traumatic incident that leaves Michael mute at the age of eight, he becomes “The Miracle Boy.” We finally do find out what happened to him, what destroyed his life and would shape his future, but by that time, it almost becomes secondary in importance. The author’s style of writing, in the first person of Michael, is quite staccato in nature, which may fit the juvenile Mike but is just annoying in his 10-year-older self. Perhaps if the characters had been more likable, or if the novel had had a definite conclusion, it would have been a more enjoyable read. It had potential to be gripping, but somehow never achieved that status.
    • 3/5
      I think this book would be very appealing to teens. A pretty good story with some interesting characters, but not what I was expecting from reading the reviews.
    • 4/5
      I think this is one of those things where an author who does a successful mystery series decides to tackle a stand-alone that is more, well, I don't want to say literary because I don't think series mysteries have to be un-literary by definition, but that's what I'm talking about.The basic plot is there's this teenage kid who has an amazing aptitude for picking locks and cracking safes, who finds himself quite the commodity in unsavory circles, and he has a Mysterious Past which is slowly revealed over the course of the book. The plot didn't quite hang together for me. It seemed like there were some important loose ends, and the motivation was all over the place -- sometimes things happened for reasons and sometimes at random, which sounds like real life, only they weren't consistent within the internal world of the story, they often felt too forced and there for the purpose of moving the plot and that's intrusive if you notice it too much while you're in the middle of reading it.But what I really liked was the voice, the main character was someone you enjoyed spending time with, and wanted to cheer for. Grade: B, but a very enjoyable BRecommended: This would be a good read for a time when you want something that will hook you while you're actually reading, if you're prepared not to mull too hard over it later.
    • 5/5
      Fantastic book. About a boy who experiences extreme trauma as a child and as a result is mute. Finds he has a facility with picking locks and results in a path of crime. Great book.
    • 3/5
      "The Lock Artist" is a stand-alone novel by Steve Hamilton. I like SH; I have read at least four of his Michigan PI novels. LA has been nominated for a number of awards, and I thought it was good, but I don't share the enthusiasm of the book nominators. Briefly, it's about a young boy, who loses his parents in a tragic accident, although the details are not totally clear. The accident leaves him mute. He is raised by an uncle. Along the way, he learns to open locks and eventually goes from the challenge of opening gym locks to becoming a safe-cracker. And he meets some unsavory characters along the way, and one particularly savory one, Amelia. What happens to him becomes known to the reader in the very first few pages - a "big" decision by the author that didn't work for me. Halfway through, I felt the story was really lagging - the novelty of the kid's situation had worn off for me, and I was put off by all the time jumps in the story. Now most of these flashbacks in other novels leap about 30 years; in this book, the leap for the most part was six months or so on each side of Y2K. Remember that? It became unnecessarily confusing because time and place and people didn't change much in these jumps. And I didn't care that much for the characters, there were none I really cared about, nor became interested in. I found the protagonist a bit dull. There were some good action scenes but they were not good enough to warrant the attention this book has received. And SH, just as he has often done in his PI series, again concludes with a True Love conquers all wrap up.
    • 2/5
      I can see why this won an Alex Award - it's got a lot of teen appeal and I'd try it on teens who like crime fiction or mysteries like John Green's Paper Towns. Macleod Andrews does a fine job of narrating, but it just wasn't my cup of tea.
    • 4/5
      Winner of the Edgar Award for Best Novel, this is an excellent suck-you-in-and-take-you-for-an-unbelievable-ride novel. Mike, our 17-year-old hero is not really believable, but he tells a good story (1st person POV) and you root for him to succeed at both getting the money and the girl. I won't give away which, if either, actually happens. Highly recommended.
    • 5/5
      The narrator of THE LOCK ARTIST is Michael, a boy without a voice. The "hook" in the opening lines is immediate. You may remember me. Think back. The summer of 1990. I know that’s a while ago, but the wire services picked up the story and I was in every newspaper in the country. Even if you didn’t read the story, you probably heard about me. From one of your neighbors, somebody you worked with, or if you’re younger, from somebody at school. They called me “the Miracle Boy.” A few other names, too, names thought up by copy editors or newscasters trying to outdo one another. I saw “Boy Wonder” in one of the old clippings. “Terror Tyke,” that was another one, even though I was eight years old at the time. But it was the Miracle Boy that stuck.We immediately want to know how Michael earnt those titles. And he spends most of THE LOCK ARTIST filling us in. In the years since then, what happened? I grew up. I came to believe in love at first sight. I tried my hand at a few things, and if I was any good at it, that meant it had to be either totally useless or else totally against the law. That goes a long way toward explaining why I’m wearing this stylish orange jumpsuit right now, and why I’ve been wearing it every single day for the past nine years. ... in all the things I’ve done in the past years, there’s one particular thing I haven’t done. I haven’t spoken one single word out loud.In this very one-sided conversation Michael tells us the story of his life. So I cannot speak. I cannot make a sound. Here, though, on the page . . . it can be like we’re sitting together at a bar somewhere, just you and me, having a long talk. Yeah, I like that. You and me sitting at a bar, just talking. Or rather me talking and you listening.I read THE LOCK ARTIST for my face-to-face book group, and Bernadette, another member of the group, reviewed it here.I did find the structure of the novel challenging. The chapter titles are presented as 27 chapters over a 19 year period. Because Michael is not ready to tell us what happened to him when he was eight years old, the narration moves from a later time frame to an earlier one and then back to a later one, and the impression is that we are constantly darting backwards and forwards. In fact the time frame is much broader than the 21 years. In the early part I found myself going back to check the chapter headings trying to get the chronology correct in my mind. The fact that the reader is being constantly challenged to make these adjustments is probably part of the reason it becomes a satisfying read. Presenting events in chronological order would not have had the same impact.
    • 4/5
      I absolutely loved this novel! A young man's life of cracking safes, falling love, and how he ended up doing both...it definitely deserved to be an Alex Award Winner (Adult book that appeals to teens). I'll be recommending this to many teens and adults.