A Commentary on the Beginnings of a Criminal
The Lock Artist by Steve Hamilton follows Michael, a boy with a traumatized past that left him mute. His lock picking abilities fall into the wrong hands: he ends up working for a man named Ghost as well as alongside a slew of other criminals. He falls in love with Amelia. She is the daughter of Mr. Marsh who got Michael involved in the crime scene. The novel ends with Michael nearing the end of his ten plus year sentence in jail waiting for Amelia, waiting to speak.
The novel as a whole has the obvious action sequences and crime associated with criminal fiction but at its core it is a character driven book. The mystery behind Michael’s muteness and how he, and Hamilton, deal with the silence of his character is one of the best features of the novel. The love affair between Amelia and Michael seems genuine. Not overly dramatic or a rose-colored teen romance. She seems like a real human, not just a love interest to continue the plot. The reader is placed directly into Michael’s point of view, each nuance in the story is a surprise to each party involved. The reader is able to gauge the ending from the moment the novel starts in which Michael writes that he is “explaining why I’m wearing this stylish orange jumpsuit right now” (Hamilton 2). He thinks and is written in such a way that he appears both snarky and absolutely blunt, he does not hide from his own thoughts only thoughts about that horrible day. The reader then watches as Michael’s need for notoriety, other than being the ‘Miracle Boy,’ comes in the form of displaying his lock picking abilities to all of the wrong people. His drive and need to be known for more or to prove himself become his undoing. They lead him into a criminal life that spirals away from him.
The novel is a commentary on multiple aspects of life such as: the treatment of those that are mute, the treatment of the traumatized and how they are exploited for a story and also how criminals are never born criminals, it is all up to circumstance. How has prison truly helped Michael deal with any of those aspects? How has his nine years behind bars benefited his ability to fall into the right hands? All in all the novel is highlighting the possible corruption of the legal system and how certain strings are pulled at certain times to free some individuals while detaining others. Michael describes it as, “a bunch of people sitting around and talking to each other, deciding what they want to do with you” (Hamilton 99). The commentary is coming from an offender’s point of view but as previous novels suggest, the criminals viewpoints seem justifiable. The character obviously does not have the luxury to change perspectives as a reader might, they are only one viewpoint. No one ever thinks they are the bad guy.
Works Cited
Hamilton, Steve. The Lock Artist. 1st ed. New York: Minotaur, 2009. Print.
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