The Lock Artist (by Steve Hamilton)

The cat has a bit of a backlog due to the beginning of the new school year. It’s been over a week since she finished Steve Hamilton’s The Lock Artist, and she has read a few other books after this one, so you’ll have to forgive her the brevity of this review. Although The Lock Artist won the 2010 Edgar Award for Best Novel (Hamilton’s second Edgar Award, after winning Best First Novel in 1998), this crime book has a distinct YA-vibe, which renders it different from most crime novels out there.

Michael – the lock artist – writes down a sort of memoir from jail (this is not a spoiler, you learn this on page 1) and looks back on the events that led him to where he is now. Traumatized by a horrific event in his childhood, 18-year-old Michael hasn’t spoken a word since. But what he lacks in verbal communication skills, he backs up with his lock artistry and of course… the written word we are reading.

In a first narrative line, we learn how Michael became a boxman, earning him the necessary street cred to play with the big boys.  And, although the crime part is satisfying enough (if you don’t know how to pick a lock after reading this book, then you’ll never know!), it is definitely the most standard and straightforward part of the book. It is the second plotline, that of the budding romance between the protagonist Michael and Amelia (the daughter of one of Michael’s victims), that makes this book better than the average crime novel. In this plot line, we get to know Michael as another kind of artist as he courts Amelia through his drawings.

The Lock Artist is definitely a cleverly plotted coming-of-age story, a crime story with a YA-twist, something which was also recognized by the ALA, which gave the book an Alex Award, an award for books written for adults, but that have special appeal to young adults too.

A Gathering Light (by Jennifer Donnelly)

A Gathering Light – aka A Northern Light in the USA – is a deeply intelligent historical novel, heartwarmingly disguised as a coming-of-age story.  It deserves all the accolades it has received, from Carnegie Medal to Printz Honor book and then some. Multi-layered is an adjective often (mis-)used when describing a book, but in the case of Jennifer Donnelly A Gathering Light, there are more layers than a Caramel Buttercream & Maple Syrup Layer Cake.

Our tragic universe (by Scarlett Thomas)

There were 2 reasons why the cat picked up this book: the packaging and the Patrick Ness blurb.  Of course a book should first and foremost be “an interesting read” (insert your own definition of ‘interesting’) , no matter how it is packaged, but in the digital age of eReaders, Kindles, iPads and what have you, the actual physical item can be an equally important marketing trick. In this regard, a gold & black mazelike cover and black-rimmed paper is definitely eye-catching. Blurbs are another important sales strategy, and because Patrick Ness wrote the best YA-trilogy the cat has read the past couple of years, this was reason enough to pick up this book.

The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Vol. 1: The Pox Party (by M.T. Anderson)

In Bookland, there’s nothing as satisfactory as picking up a book with no prior knowledge or expectations regarding its plot or style, and being completely dazzled by the entire experience once you’re through it. Such was the case with M.T. Anderson’s The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Vol. 1. M.T. Anderson gained some notoriety after publishing (the sadly not readily available on Amazon)  Feed, a YA cyberpunk novel and a National Book Award Finalist, but I’m sure there weren’t too many people who saw this one coming!

Flood and Fang (by Marcus Sedgwick)

The cat picked out this book because of 3 reasons:

1)      Marcus Sedgwick has been nominated a shedload of times for all sorts of awards

2)      The cat’s had a few people talk about some of his books for Young Adults and was a bit intrigued, despite the fact that these people are also Twihards

3)      The cat just cannot resist a book about a Raven called Edgar

The cat was pleasantly surprised. Though hardly Young Adult (it’s definitely children’s material, much like Roald Dahl’s Matilda is, for example), this book can also be savored by anyone with a heart for the mysterious, the hilarious and the Otherhandly. It’s such a bundle of creepy fun, with all the right references to keep the adults amongst you interested as well (it’s a bit Poe, it’s a bit gothic, it’s a bit Addams family, …). Read this to your children before they go to bed, they will absolutely also love the quirky black and white drawings!  I can’t promise they’ll fall asleep straightaway, though, because they’ll will absolute be hooked on Edgar’s tales of adventure in Castle Otherhand!