A Man With An Agenda

Finally the Locke's discover the key to Keyhouse's history. The most tantalizing aspect of the series has been how all of it - the house, the keys, Dodge, came to be. Some hints had been given about known keys, and memories of particular production of The Tempest, but in 'Clockworks' Hill gives out most of the answers and still leaves room for the climax.

There are plenty of answers I'd like to have - such as what self-respecting American colonial/Georgian/Federal structure would look anything at all like Keyhouse - but none that matter to the story Hill and Rodriguez have been crafting. That is a point I should have put in my review for 'Keys to the Kingdom'. Without Rodriguez' art, it's not 'Locke & Key'. Tyler and Kinsey discover that the grandfather clock on the stair landing allows them to be passive observers of the past. They witness the creation of the first keys and could have access to everything that's happened at Keyhouse...up to 1999. That was a nice touch that allows the Lockes to explore the past without their finding anything out about the current situation of the family too soon.

The origins of the "whispering iron" and what lies beyond the black door were interesting, but the answers I really wanted related to Rendell Locke and his friends, and who, or what, Dodge really was. Erin Voss was particularly haunting. In a short span of time the whole dynamic of the group - with some helpful mirroring of Tyler and Kinsey's relationships - is set up, making the inevitable tragedy mean something. On top of that, the pacing of it, how it was interwoven with Dodge's undermining of the Locke family, made the reading compulsive.

Amazing work, again.

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