Steve Hamilton: The Lock Artist (UK 2011)

From the Publisher:
They called him 'the miracle boy', for living through that terrible day. But Michael paid a price for his survival. From that moment on he couldn't say a word - not just about what happened to him, but about anything.

Then Michael discovers a talent: he can open locks. It's a skill that gets him in trouble with the police and finally brings him to the attention of the mob. And the mob have a hold over the girl Michael loves. Soon Michael has graduated from padlocks to his first million-dollar diamond heist. But all the time he's planning to turn the tables on his gangster employers, find Amelia and unlock his own terrible secret.

Steve Hamilton: The Lock Artist. Orion Books, ISBN: 9780752883311 (June, 2011), 408 p., £7.99.

Steve Hamilton: The Lock Artist (USA 2011)

From the Publisher:
"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.

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.

The Lock Artist is the winner of the 2011 Edgar Award for Best Novel.

Steve Hamilton: The Lock Artist. A Novel. St. Martin's Minotaur, ISBN: 9780312696955 (March, 2011), 314 p., $15.99.

Steve Hamilton: The Lock Artist (UK 2010)

From the Publisher:
Prize-winning crime author Steve Hamilton's hugely commercial mainstream breakout tells the extraordinary story of a safe-cracker trying to unlock the key to his past.

Michael hit the headlines once before, a seven-year-old kid the papers called The Miracle Boy on account of how he survived the terrible incident that took his parents. But although his escape was miraculous, it left him unable to speak. Taunted as a freak, school becomes a fresh nightmare, until Michael discovers he has a special talent that makes people sit up and take notice: he can open locks.

But a teenage prank, breaking into the house of a rival school's quarterback, lands him in hot water, and despite his best intentions, Michael soon finds himself on a downward slope that ends with expert instruction on how to open safes. And unless he agrees to put his newfound skills to use, the mob are going to kill the father of the girl he now loves.

So begins an extraordinary life of crime -- at once terrifying and exhilarating -- while all the while, Michael plots how to turn the tables on his employer, win back Amelia, and find the key to unlocking his traumatic childhood memories.

Steve Hamilton: The Lock Artist. Orion Books, ISBN: 9780752891958 (July, 2010), 304 p., £12.99.

Steve Hamilton: The Lock Artist (USA 2010)

From the Publisher:
"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.

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.

The Lock Artist is the winner of the 2011 Edgar Award for Best Novel.

Steve Hamilton: The Lock Artist. A Novel. St. Martin's Minotaur, ISBN: 9780312380427 (January, 2010), 304 p., $24.99.