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The Lock Artist

Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
1 of 1 copy available

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.

"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.

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    • Publisher's Weekly

      October 5, 2009
      At the start of this offbeat thriller from Edgar-winner Hamilton (A Stolen Season
      and six other titles in the Alex McKnight PI series), the book’s intriguing narrator, Mike (aka the Golden Boy, the Young Ghost, the Lock Artist, etc.), confesses that a traumatic experience at age eight left him unable to speak and that he has been in prison for nine years. His strange odyssey, which hops around in time, takes Mike and his twin talents, art and lock breaking, from his Michigan home to both coasts while in thrall to a mysterious man in Detroit whom he doesn’t dare cross. Propelled by an aching desire to recover his voice, Mike has brushes with the law, flirts with romance and makes alliances with criminals, from rank amateurs to consummate professionals. Along the way, Hamilton drops tantalizing clues about Mike’s troubled past and his uncertain future. Readers will hope to hear more from Mike. 75,000 first printing; author tour.

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Steve Hamilton's intriguing mystery unfolds tantalizingly. Flashback chapters alternate with the present as dark secrets are slowly revealed and the main character's fate is determined. Narrator Macleod Andrews delivers this first-person story in a conversational, sometimes whispery, tone that immediately captures the listener. He convincingly becomes the complex protagonist: a gifted teenaged artist, locksmith, and unwilling criminal, who has been mute for 10 years due to a grisly childhood trauma. The clever blend of thriller and coming-of-age story is riveting. Andrews's performance makes it especially enjoyable. M.O.B. (c) AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine

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  • English

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