Reading: The Lock Artist by Steve Hamilton
I’ve begun reading The Lock Artist by Steve Hamilton. Here’s the description from Amazon:
Mike Smith is a “boxman.” He can open any safe, padlock, or locked door without a combination or a key–a talent that lands him in prison at the age of eighteen. He spends his time writing down the story of his life because that’s the only way he can share it. He hasn’t spoken in ten years. Not a single word since the tragic day he became known as the “Miracle Boy.”
The narrator’s inability to speak produces small revelations about our everyday lives. For example, during the high school years, he talks about the trouble of going on a date:
I had a car now. Uncle Lito’s old two-toned Grand Marquis. We could have gone and seen a movie or something. It was just…I don’t know, the thought of sitting there in a restaurant before the movie. Or driving her home afterward. I’d listen to her, of course. I’d listen to whatever she’d have to say. Then what? She couldn’t talk forever. Nobody can, not even an American high school girl. When the silence finally came, what would I do?
