Pick the Lock - Softcover

King, A.S.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0593353986 ISBN 13: 9780593353981

Publisher: Dutton Books for Young Readers, 2025

Synopsis

From the award-winning author of Dig comes a weird and insightful novel about a girl intent on picking the lock of her toxic family's secrets.

“A roller coaster of a book, Pick the Lock is one thrill after another.”—NPR

“Updated and recast for a new generation, this is a much-needed, thought-provoking tale of survival and triumph.”—BCCB, starred review

Jane Vandermaker-Cook would like her mother back. As Jane’s mother tours the world to support the family, Jane lives and goes to school in a Victorian mansion with her younger brother and their mendacious father, who confines Jane’s mother to a system of pneumatic tubes whenever she’s at home. And then there’s weirdly ever-present Aunt Finch, Milorad the gardener, and his rat, Brutus. For Jane, this all seems normal until she gains access to the files for a lifetime of security camera videos—her lifetime.

Pick the Lock is a punk opera, a primal scream, and a portrait of a family buried in lies.

About this title

About the Author

A.S. King is the award-winning author of many acclaimed books for young readers. Her novel Dig won the 2020 Michael L. Printz Award, and Ask The Passengers won the 2013 Los Angeles Times Book Prize. The New York Times called her "one of the best YA writers working today." In 2022, she was awarded the American Library Association's Margaret A. Edwards Award for her significant contribution to YA literature. King lives with her family in Pennsylvania, where she returned after living on a farm and teaching adult literacy in Ireland for more than a decade.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Prologue:
Lesson One

I do not lie to God.
God, in this sense, can be whatever you want it to be—­but the one thing God cannot be is a liar or a believer of lies or a perpetuator of lies or an eater of lies or a baker of lies or a bartender of lies. God / the universe can shake up a cocktail and serve it to you, but if you need lies to survive, you must tell your own stories / add your own garnish.
God will watch you from behind the bar.
God will nod and smile as you eat the cherry.
God knows you are imperfect.You do not.
God forgives you.
You do not.
This is why you lie to God.
And so, Lesson One is easy.
I am imperfect. I forgive myself. I do not lie to God.
I first learned this lesson when I was four years old. I have not strayed. I am humble in the light of the universe—­I have earned my place.
My father lies to God. All the time.
Today he said, “God knows, we tried all we could before she went into the System.”
She is my mother.
We is him.
Tried means he didn’t like her the way she was.
The System is how Mother travels now, contained in a tidy capsule.
God knows.
My father should not be the keeper of God’s words. He is a liar and a thief.
God knows.My father cannot think God’s thoughts. He is a traitor and a brute.
God knows.
God shouldn’t even be allowed in his mouth—­my father is a killer.
He made my mother into a fast-­moving message. Fed her into a tube.The message reads, “I am an example of what happens when a coward lies to God.”
My father.
God knows.
Our teacher. Our captor. Our hero.
His Lesson One is: The World and Its Seven Continents: Overview.
My Lesson One is: DO NOT LIE TO GOD.

Edition details

• Publisher: Dutton Books for Young Readers
• Publication date: 2025
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0593353986
• ISBN 13: 9780593353981
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 400