This week in Beginnings, I take a look at Scott Lynch’s Lies of Locke Lamora. As with previous blog entries, I examined the introduction of the novel to look for techniques Lynch uses to endear us, the reader, to his protagonist, Locke Lamora.
Spoilers ahead!
Usually I have to sort out where the introduction of these novels end, but Lynch helps me out on this one, setting the whole thing in his prologue. The prologue takes us through Locke’s childhood, 37 pages fleshing out much of his character before the story even begins. We see him plucked from the street and shuffled from one gang of thieves to another, and Lynch provides ample sustenance for readers to eat up his protagonist. He paints Locke as a charismatic force that anyone could relate to; a rebel that everyone would want to be.
The prologue plays out very much like a movie, coming to the reader in a flash of scenes dancing between viewpoints, teasing us with samplings of what Locke has done to piss off his first mentor, Thiefmaker. “’His problem’ said the Thiefmaker, ‘is that if I can’t sell him to you, I’m going to have to slit his throat and throw him into the bay.’” (3) With each scene, Lynch offers a little more information about Locke’s time with the Thiefmaker, and a little more of what Locke has done. As readers we want to know the answer, and we keep turning the page until we do. Father Chains even voices our thoughts on the matter. “’The boy’s done something you can’t even mention in front of the others?’… ‘Shit. This sounds like something I might actually be interested in hearing.’” (7) Already, Locke’s personality takes shape; even amongst these thieves of ill repute, he becomes a point of interest.
Often I find authors employ characters’ passion for something to eke out empathy for those characters. Locke excels at what he does, and he loves doing it. Thiefmaker makes his living buying displaced children and turning them into thieves. And Lynch makes a point to briefly illustrate the Thiefmaker’s experience and rise to prominence in order to add poignancy when he tells Father Chains, “…nobody—and I mean nobody—has ever been hungry for it like this boy. If he had a bloody gash across his throat and a physiker was trying to sew it up, Lamora would steal the needle and thread and die laughing.’” (16) Here Lynch endears us to Locke. Yes Locke does nefarious things, but he loves doing them, and learning to do them.
At the same time we already know Locke is a troublemaker. “He broke the Secret Peace the first night I had him, the cheeky little bastard.’” (14) At every turn, Locke both impresses and defies the Thiefmaker, a man with a tried and tested system of thieves. “’You lifted these from the fucking city watch? From the yellowjackets?’ Locke nodded, more enthusiastically…” (14) Oh yes, our hero isa rebel who revels in his success, and he audaciously escalates his activities while he perfects his craft. What is his craft? It’s called The Lies of Locke Lamora for a reason.
Thiefmaker sets up Locke as a teaser – the one who distracts the person or crowd while the actual theft happens. “He was sullen and friendless inside the hill, but teasing brought him to life.” (19) And tease he does. But soon Locke’s teases, his lies, become bigger and bigger, presenting problems to Thiefmaker. As Thiefmaker puts it, he prefers a degree of circumspection in his workers. “’The other teasers are going out day after day to watch you, not to do their bloody jobs…get my crew of happy little jack-offs back to their own teasing, and quit being such a celebrity with your own.” (21) Just like Locke’s fellow thief children, we readers grow more and more fascinated by Locke’s antics. The final straw with Thiefmaker happens after Locke sets fire to a tavern during a tease, causing panic and a plague scare. Thiefmaker puts it very succinctly: “The problem with you, Locke fucking Lamora, is that you are not circumspect.” (23). When he discovers Locke has two hits put out on his other children, Thiefmaker gives up and dumps off his problem to Father Chains.
Locke suddenly finds himself in capable hands. Whereas Thiefmaker worked a system that Locke didn’t fit into, and as a result couldn’t handle him, Father Chains proves equal to the task. Posing as a man of religion, Father Chains spread his fame by publicly blinding and chaining himself to his house of worship. Of course these turn out to be theatrics, and he really runs a ring of thieves. The lies Father Chains perpetuates seem to align themselves with Locke’s personality. “’Don’t call me ‘master’. Makes my balls shrivel and my teeth crack. Just call me Father Chains… ‘There are only three people you can never fool—pawnbrokers, whores, and your mother. Since your mother’s dead, I’ve taken her place.’” (35-36) I always look for family when reading an introduction, and here Father Chains proclaims himself Locke’s mother. With Locke’s family, mentor, and personality set, Lynch jumps the timeframe forward, and the story begins.