Book Review: Something Missing

Knight Ridder/Tribune

In "Something Missing" by Matthew Dicks (Broadway Books, $14, 292 pages), Martin Railsback is a 30-something parttime Starbucks barista, full-time house burglar, and somewhat of a loser with a certain amount of obsessive compulsive disorder who hasn't had a girlfriend since high school. When Martin was in college and could barely afford to live, he decided to ask his mother for a little bit of help. His mother and stepfather weren't home, so Martin helped himself to some dinner and drain cleaner from their house, but as he was leaving he heard their car pull in the driveway. Martin's stepfather chastised him for "stealing" their drain cleaner, telling Martin he would never amount to anything and would never pull anything over on him again.

That tirade stuck in Martin's head, and Martin's new career as a burglar began when he snuck back in to his mom's house and traded out his stepfather's prized autographed baseball card with a phony one Martin made. On his way out, he picked up a few grocery items he knew his mom wouldn't miss.

Thus began Martin's second career as a burglar.

Martin has a long list of "clients" whom he visits weekly to pick up items he decides they will never notice are missing.

Martin chooses his clients by making sure they are middle-class, hardworking couples with no children or dogs. He gets copies of the key to their house, takes photographs of each room to inventory their things he might want to take, makes obsessively detailed lists of items he does take and has a very strict routine he follows to ensure his clients never find out he exists.

Until one day, Martin gets trapped in a home when some clients come home unexpectedly and he gets caught up in a small family drama. He decides he needs to intervene to save his clients' marriage, and from then on, he has a different outlook toward his customers.

He begins to think of himself as their guardian angel, and finds more ways to help out his clients, while helping himself to their grocery items and bigger ticket items he then sells on eBay.

The first half of this book drags on and on about Martin's routine, by showing us how he gets into homes and exactly why he does what he does. It finally picks up in the second half, giving Martin more of a personality, and finally giving us a reason to care about him.

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Copyright 2009 by Knight Ridder/Tribune