Last time we talked about Oni, a brutal and intricate crime thriller by an underground master of the mystery genre, Marc Olden.
Today I'd like to recommend another exciting and thoughtful crime thriller, this time the story centers and around a heist, and it takes place in a world entirely not ours.
The Lies of Locke Lamora, By: Scott Lynch, is a very special fantasy novel Near and dear to my heart. As a young boy all I read was fantasy novels, all i watched was fantasy films, all I played was fantasy video games. How, when, and why I switched from a fascination with the genre of fantasy over to True Crime, Mystery and Thriller I am not entirely sure. But there was a number of years that this was all I read, for a time I had all but forgotten about my sweet Martin the mouse warrior of Red wall and Harry Potter and the gang, I had grown weary of Frodo and Bilbo and their plight with the ring, I wanted a look into the dark, I wanted to jump into Mordor and go for a swim.
Eventually after much recommendation from my brother and a dear friend, knowing next to nothing about the book other than, "It isn't technically what you've been reading, but it's really very good," I picked up The Lies of Locke Lamora.
This is at its heart as I said earlier a heist novel. Think ocean's eleven with magic, and lords and ladies in a surreal kind of pseudo-Venice. Where all manner of devilish fish and beast swim the canals and gangsters live in hulls of mighty ship fortress' in the wharf. Our main character' Locke is not much good with a sword, it is with wit and a well executed plan that he cuts. He has mannerisms and a sort of energy that reminds me of Robert Downy Junior's acting of Sherlock Holmes. But do not let these former comparisons fool you. The book is fun and witty as any great crime comedy, it has colors images and fights that filled me with the same thrills and excitement I may have had watching Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean films as a child. And then in a snap, in a heart beat Scott Lynch is able to turn the tide of the story like a gamblers roll of the dice the ups become abyssal, dark and dreary lows. I feared for the characters, I feared for their safety, for their minds and for their souls.
Scott Lynch tells a tail unlike any other in a world with a mythology and history entirely its own.