Something Missing

May 25, 2009
An 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.

June 1, 2009
Dicks combines the neurotic atmosphere of a Woody Allen film with the light touch of Lawrence Block's Bernie Rhodenbarr novels (The Burglar Who Thought He Was Bogart, 1995, etc.) in a unique debut.

The fantastically bizarre leading man, obsessive-compulsive Martin Railsback, specializes in stealing things that no one notices have gone missing. Early on, Martin's vengeful, meticulous replacement of his abusive stepfather's prized baseball card led him to his rule-driven life of crime."If the missing item will be noticed, don't acquire it," is his first imperative, while his second requires a rigid awareness of his victims' sense of perception:"When items go missing in a house, the suspicion of theft occurs only if the possibility of a thief exists." Martin supplements his part-time job as a barista by stealing toilet paper, groceries and other necessities from wealthy suburban"clients," as well as auctioning off their detritus on eBay. Dicks expertly crafts the setup, showing us Martin's deep-seated need for stability and routine, then turning his world on its head when the compulsive thief accidentally knocks a client's toothbrush into the toilet. This necessitates a nerve-racking, breathless mission to replace it—while its owner is home, no less. Turning a philosophical corner, Martin embarks on an altruistic mission, trying to make his clients' lives a little better without their knowledge and risking his own tenuous subsistence in the bargain.

A very funny adventure about the mechanics of burglary and the fragility of an orderly life.

(COPYRIGHT (2009) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

Starred review from June 1, 2009
Mark Haddons The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (2003) is about a young, autistic amateur sleuth. Monk is a popular television series about a detective with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). This debut novel introduces us to a character who appears to have elements of autism and OCD, but heres the twist: hes a professional criminal. Martin Railsback is a housebreaker with a short list of clients from whom hes been acquiring things for years. He makes regular visits to their homes, cataloging their possessions, tracking their purchases, learning their lives. Most of his thefts are smallfood from the pantry, toiletries, books of stamps. Only occasionally, and only after a great deal of precise preparation, will he help himself to an object of actual monetary value. And heres another interesting thing about Martin: when one of his clients gets into a sticky situation, Martin will risk his own safety to help him or her out of the jam, even if being a hero means he may have to come into actual, physical contact with a client. This is a splendid novel, written with loving attention to character and detail; Martin is so vividly realized that he threatens to step off the page and into the readers own living room. A loopier Bernie Rhodenbarr? A less lethal Dexter? Martin falls somewhere in between, but with a little word of mouth and some shrewd promotion, he could be the next big thing.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)