Something Missing: A Novel PDF
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Amazon Exclusive: Alan Bradley Reviews Something Missing
Alan Bradley is the author of The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, the first mystery in the Flavia de Luce series, and one of Amazon's Best of the Month picks. The next book in the series, The Weed That Strings the Hangman’s Bag, will be published in 2010. Read his exclusive Amazon guest review of Something Missing:
I once knew a man who thought in precisely the same way that Martin Railsback does. Even the drabbest of tasks, such as going for groceries, or putting out the trash, had to be planned with the utmost strategy and cunning. I found out later that my friend was a retired safecracker.
Martin Railsback, Jr., if you haven’t already heard, is the protagonist of Matthew Dick’s first novel, Something Missing: the story of an obsessive-compulsive housebreaker whose every waking moment is jam-packed with finicky clockwork ritual--the kind of intense micro-planning that might have made even Napoleon back off.
Martin’s only problem is that, after years of undetected crime, he’s recently begun to think of himself as a sort of guardian angel who watches over his victims, or “clients,” as he prefers to call them. Conscience rears its ugly head.
Up until now, Martin has always played life as if it were a game of chess: by thinking a dozen moves ahead of everyone else, he will always come out ahead of the game.
And so he does, until the day he accidentally knocks Sophie Pearl’s electric toothbrush into the toilet bowl while stealing a single one (don’t ask!) of her diamond earrings.
Thus begins a series of events that play out like a cross between Raymond Chandler and a Keystone Cops two-reeler.
Like Jeff Lindsay, whose Dexter series has so brilliantly explored the underside of the underside, Matthew Dicks has created an unforgettable character that will have you torn between wanting to throttle him--or adopt him.--Alan Bradley
(Photo © Jeff Bassett)
From Publishers WeeklyAn expert thief unexpectedly finds himself aiding his victims in Dicks's charming if rambling debut. During his hours off, barista Martin Railsback burgles the houses of folks he calls his clients, taking only what they won't notice is missing: for instance, three boxes of long grain rice... two rolls of toilet paper (in Martin's estimation, the Gallos had excellent taste in toilet paper), three cups of olive oil and, on occasion, something really valuable. The system works beautifully until the day Martin drops a client's toothbrush into the toilet and feels compelled to replace it. This act of simple decency sets him on an entirely different course, and pretty soon he's breaking into houses to improve the lives of their occupants. Martin's own life starts looking up, too, with the possibility of romance and a new avocation, but the specter of real peril looms. Dicks struggles with digression and repetition—Martin's obsessive allegiance to the rules of his pastime becomes exasperating—but he's created a winning hero in Martin, a crook with a heart of gold. (July)
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