"The Lies of Locke Lamora" by Scott Lynch

If you’re a regular visitor to Internet book forums, I doubt you will have been able to avoid the hype surrounding this book. A few of you may have run straight to the bookstore to buy a copy- some of you may not have been bothered too much, and a couple of you may have put off reading it precisely because it was the subject of such immense hype. Hype, by definition refers to exaggerated publicity or claims in order to increase sales. In this case I’m not sure it’s quite the right word to attach to “The Lies of Locke Lamora” as it is indeed a fantastically written and greatly enjoyable book. In a very small nutshell, the book follows the thieving masquerade of one Locke Lamora and his gang, the Gentlemen Bastards. Of course, the story goes much further than that simple premise, but saying more than “Lamora gets into a deadly predicament” would ruin a sizeable portion of the tale. The only criticism I have heard levelled at this book is its difficulty to follow, due to small chapters or interludes where either important side notes or the characters’ pasts are revealed. Utter Poppycock. The interludes are not only clearly labelled, they are easy to recognise as asides. These allow Lynch to include information that is essential to the novel in a (contrary to the above complaint) non-intrusive manner. Written in chronological order—or even as thoughts/emerging memories—the book would suffer immensely. Another of the things Lynch manages to pull-off to great effect is foreshadowing. Many of the events or descriptions in the asides pull together the story, leaving clues or references that the reader will pick up on later when they are referenced again. One of the best of these occurs towards the end, but is so memorable that you cannot help but feel your hair standing on end (“I just have to wait, wait until…”). Locke’s character isn’t immediately likeable. In fact I’m not sure whether I really liked him at all—but inevitably he gets (at the very least) the sympathy vote as the world unravels around him, and he’s exposed for what he is—an insecure man, still wracked with guilt about events he set in motion as an infant. Score: 9/10 Rationale: An original twist on the fantasy genre, with a renaissance atmosphere added. “The Lies of Locke Lamora” is only the first of a sequence of books, the next of which will soon be available for purchase: “Red seas under Red Skies”