Publication date: September 24th,2024

I enjoyed this book so much

I did not like how he treated his family but I did enjoy the layout and the story of the book. I love the characters and thoroughly enjoy everything about this book!


Thank You Netgalley and Penguin Group and Penguin Young readers Group

The publisher provided ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Pick the Lock by A.S. King is a gripping and inventive novel that skillfully blends elements of mystery and psychological drama. King's evocative writing and complex characters create a compelling narrative that keeps readers engrossed and eager to uncover the story's secrets.

I've read my fair share of A.S. King back in the day, a couple favorites being Please Ignore Vera Dietz and Everyone Sees the Ants. Dig was the last thing I read of hers before this one, and it didn't resonate with me like her previous work. Since rediscovering my love for more outlandish YA authors (i.e., Mindy McGinnis), I thought I'd try King again with her newest release. Pick the Lock.

Yeah, I didn't like this much.

King's style of writing very much screams weird and "not like other writers," and it's very obnoxious about it. One moment the characters will be talking normally, then at some point it's like both characters are having a completely different conversation at the same time? It was so bizarre and hard to describe, but it felt like two bots trying to have a coherent conversation but are suffering from malfunction.

Between scenes written in prose are these daydreams (But sometimes not? I dunno, I stopped caring so much what was realism or surrealism by the end) told in script writing where Jane and her imaginary band sing about how terrible her dad is. This is the most literal way to get your main character to express her feelings, and I ended up skimming through the majority of them because lyrics without musical accompaniment is just so awkward to read. I was reading these lyrics while my mom had the radio on, and my brain automatically set those word to the tune of "All Stars," "Take on Me," and the like because I had no idea how the music was supposed to sound, otherwise. There were also other sections like Jane describing the numerous tapes of Vernon being an abusive POS throughout the years and from a pet rat who hates the family and has killed people??? I did like the tapes, because it gave a stark image of what a monster Vernon was, but I still don't understand why the rat was so important to have its own POV.

The plot not only stretches itself out, but it also just doesn't make sense at times. So, there's this human-sized hamster tunnel running all throughout the house called the System, which is used by Vernon to trap, control, and dehumanize Mina, the mom. Then we learn that the System runs outside the home and is used by to move women around by men. Mina then explains how she's using it to rescue other abused women from their husbands. We get a whole history lesson about its conception back in WWII times and how Mina, want to reclaim it as a safe passage for women. But how can Mina go rescue other women who experienced domestic violence but doesn't recognize it as her own experience until Jane flat out tells her?? This contradiction is acknowledged but not explained, whatsoever. I think King is going for the thing about domestic abuse where its victims cannot acknowledge it as the horror it was until they're well out of it, but that's not made apparent until the end of the book. Like, I understand what King was going for. Vernon was a sick little man who want to tear the big feminist girl into his personal punching bag, and he did that through using the System. But Mina was still strongly feminist when she was outside of Vernon's direct influence; wouldn't she had submitted to Vernon's lies/manipulations and stop believing in those things by the story starts? I dunno, I appreciate King exploring the themes of domestic violence, but I just had such a hard time understanding the choices made here.

The biggest question I'm left with by the end is [why Vernon and Finch weren't arrested, or, at least, brought to the proper authorities. There's literally decades of footage showing Vernon physically, verbally, and emotionally abusing his family that Jane gathered up via the very cameras he had installed in the house, and Finch is heavily implied to have murdered several members of her family. And yet neither serious offender are punished in any meaningful way. They are just kicked out of the house and it's all a happy ending from there. Like, what??? I get that the police in real life are typically useless when it comes to domestic violence cases, but I think even they couldn't deny all the proof Jane's got in those tapes. It's just so frustrating to read nearly 400 pages worth of this monster torturing his family only to get an equivalent of a slap on the wrist as punishment for all the stuff he did.

I could go on about some other things, but I'd rather not. I don't want this book to take up more brain space than it already has. I'll just leave it here by giving my recommendation not to read it. I'm sure the people who've loved King's works the past five years would like this, but I'm obviously not one of those people.

A popular author, for sure. This was an odd take on telling a story with domestic and family abuse in it. It felt like a middle grade fantasy read until the swear words and very dark emotional abuse came onto the scene. Ended on a bit of a "happily ever after" with a weird magical thread and absence of any consequences in the real world, such as police and child protective custody involvement.

This was a WEIRD book. As you get further in it becomes more. . . normal to read but the start is very confusing. There's a lot of little interludes of the main character writing her opera as a coping mechanism/reclamation of sorts. This book follows Jane and her family who live in a world that's kind of like ours, except there's a secret system of tubes that some women are in. It starts with us knowing that her dad sometimes locks her mom in those tubes around the house, and the other time she's not in the tubes she is touring the world making money for him as a musician. Also ever since the pandemic her dad has kept her homeschooled and not let her return to school. halfway through this she does go back to school, meeting back up with a lot of her friends. This is where the book picked up for me. It tells an interesting story overall.

If there's one thing that will always be present in any A. S. King books, it's the flavor of insanity and Pick the Lock is a concrete proof of that.

I didn't read the synopsis before reading an eARC of Pick the Lock and I highly recommend for you to do the same because this way offers the best experience with any King books.

What I liked
First is the exploration of family dynamics. Jane lives in a controlled household with a complicated parental relationship. Jane functions as a main character but there's more to it than that - there's a discussion about what it's like being a daughter, being a mother, and how both of this changes with respect to the environment that nurtures us.

The hint of surrealism also fitted with the voice of the main character and as I mentioned earlier, this is a must-have element in the author's works so I may not be surprised but I was still amazed with the level of details and how it was executed.

I also enjoyed the break in narration format, the way the tone and mode of presentation varies in some parts is also enjoyable for me!

And yes, there are also questions that remained question by the end and I take that as something that the author leaves for the readers' interpretation.

Overall, amazing amazing amazing! 4.5stars

This book isn't out until September so consider this a sneak peak!

A.S. King is maybe my favorite author. This new installment, Pick the Lock, is a sophisticated successor to Glory O'Brien's History of the Future and Still Life with Tornado. I don't want to spoil but I do mean that this is a book about an abusive father and pitting women against each other and the impact on the family. And human-sized pneumatic tubes.

This book has some great twists and there are a few parts where the dad could have definitely been worse, which I think is just realistic. Also, the main character is gay and that is just who she is. And there is a queer English teacher shining a light in there.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with this book for free in exchange for my review! All opinions are my own.

I was really intrigued by the plot of this book and the stunning cover. However, when I read the book, the plot was just way too weird for me, unfortunately. I am bummed because I was excited for this one too!

Many Thanks again to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with this book in exchange for my honest review.

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This author always has unique vision to share in prose, and I was delighted to see another book from them. Pick the Lock takes on emotional issues and a journey of grief and transformation and does this work in a way that is interesting and original. Ripe for questions of family dynamics and identity. I would gladly add this book to my classroom library library..

I could not get into this book. I don't know if it was that the formatting kept jumping from narrative to something like a play. I had high hopes with the interesting dynamic between Mina and the family and the weird plastic tube thing she lived in but at about 20% in I had no clue what was going on and little motivation to finish.

Very good. Never heard of this author before it was my first read by them. Easy read and a well written book overall. Suggest to those looking for fast read.

I loved the story, the world building and meeting the different characters. I felt completely immersed in the story and couldn't stop reading it.