"The Lock Artist", by Steve Hamilton

This interesting and intriguing story won the Edgar Award for best Novel in 2011. Michael, the protagonist, who has been incarcerated for nine years ever since the age of 18, recounts his unique life experience from his prison cell.

In the very beginning we learn Michael suffered a tragic event in his childhood the loss of both his parents in a horrific car accident. Ever since that day, his bachelor uncle who runs a liquor store took on the responsibility to raise him. From a very early age, he was fascinated with locks and how they were engineered. With this knowledge he eventually developed a rare skill and was on his way to being a safe cracking whiz. This talent soon attracted the attention of the wrong people who were more than willing to take advantage of him.

During Michael’s criminal endeavours we follow an intriguing relationship with Amelia and her family. After a break-in at their house, ensuing consequences eventually developed into a fling between two adolescents.

The story is well paced it switches back and forth between Michael’s life of crime as a young adult and his adolescence, every once and awhile we are even taken back to his early childhood. The language is extremely simple with short sentences very age appropriate for the period covered. Although the structure seems complicated at first with all the flashbacks I quickly got into the rhythm as the suspense built. This novel is full of surprises and quite entertaining however my interest did wane when things became too technical and somewhat repetitive. The main character is original, charismatic and deeply layered the rest run the gamut of personalities some are even quite memorable.
Many will find this novel somewhat original and a refreshing change as I did.

"Spies of the Balkans", by Alan Furst

This historical espionage novel takes us to Salonika in 1940 just as Mussolini decided to invade Greece. It tells the story of Constantine Zannis, a Greek police officer known as Costa who joined the anti-Nazi underground movement during the winter of 1940-41 and became the tail end of an operation to ship Jews out of central Europe into Turkey where they would hopefully be safe from the Nazi regime.

Written in tightly packed sentences , the story focuses on how Costa whose desire to do the right thing takes him into unorthodox corners and how he uses clever methods to get out of one harrowing situation after another. It opens with Costa organizing and running a refugee network, one that starts in Berlin and funnels German Jews through the port of Salonika to safer havens. When the British Secret Intelligence Service gets wind of this, they want to use his network to smuggle a downed British airman, who also happens to be an important scientist, out of occupied France. The action then moves from Salonika to Paris and then to Belgrade.

The author has created a very credible wartime atmosphere and has treated us to a wealth of details into the hardship and despair suffered by the Jewish population and how the Nazi regime decimated them. There is much going on in this complex and intriguing story about a group who tried to save as many lives as possible. The suspense is palatable when we read how Costa and his organisers planned one particular escape route. We live the horrors the Jewish couple went through crossing many European borders with the hope of reaching a safer country. The characters are compelling and deeply caring individuals. Through all this hardship there is even a touch of romance giving us some sultry and amusing moments.

This novel is a fine mix of war time espionage, historical fiction, local colour and sexual mischief.

"Seal Team Six", by Howard E. Wasdin and Stephen Templin

Memoirs of an Elite Navy Seal Sniper

This book gives us a sense of the dedication, the work ethic and the extraordinary skills required to become a Seal Team member, it also highlights the constant struggle to remain an intricate part of an Elite group.

It starts with Mr. Wasdin story on how he grew up to become the top sniper in the military's most elite and respected group. His father was a disciplinarian who was especially hard on him and demanded perfection. This tough sometime cruel upbringing laid the ground work for the extreme tests the rest of his life had in store for him.

In his military training he describes the grueling selection process, Hell Week, boot camp and later on Sniper School where he was thought that the more you train, the less chance you will bleed in war. All through the pages he often describes his childhood memories and the lessons he has learned. In retrospect he has become a well discipline perfectionist who embraces his vocation extremely seriously.

As a Team Six member he took part in Operation Desert Strom and on another mission the team took on a rebellious and out of control village, their objective was to capture or kill Somalia warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid. It is during this mission we learn how important intense training can affect results. When taken by surprise they still preformed a heroic rescue of downed pilots even though some including Mr. Wasdin received life threatening wounds. He was later awarded the Silver Star for his actions.

Skilled surgeons saved his leg and with extensive rehabilitation he returned to active duty but it soon became clear to him his performance was compromised so he eventually took medical retirement and went back to school to become a Chiropractic Doctor. 

This is an excit­ing book that kept my attention to the last page. Mr. Wasdin tells his memoirs with a deeply poignant perspective and an honest point of view from his painful troubled childhood, his demanding career in the navy right up to his present day life as a Doctor. I read this book after watching TV programs relating to Seal Team training and exploits, the background helped me visualise and understand the black and white text in a more intense manner.


I was pumped reading the words of Mr. Wasdin and I can only imagine what it is like for these Elite Groups: endless training and living life on the edge….