The Lock Artist is the story of a boy who grows up to be a safecracker, or boxman, as they prefer to be called. That's a gross oversimplification of this book which jumps back and forth through Michael's life, as he tells you his story in his own words. I love first person crime writing because it puts you inside the mind of the narrator. There are all kinds of books that can tell you the what happened of crime, the very best tell you the how and the why.
Hamilton won an Edgar for this book and it is richly deserved. We learn what Michael endured as a child and how he came to learn the skills that would make him very valuable to the wrong kind of people. It's a story told very rawly and with a surprising amount of humor. It's a terrific read, easily among the top five crime novels that I've ever read and I encourage you to pick up a copy. It looks like it will be coming to the big screen and I can't wait. In the right hands it will make a terrific movie.
I've also read A Cold Day in Paradise, which is the Edgar winning debut of Hamiton's Alex McKnight series and highly recommend that as well. I look forward to reading more in that series.
As always fee free to comment or drop me a line at jeffsemonis at yahoo.com.
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