Book Review: Locke and Key Vol. 5 by Joe Hill et al.

Locke and Key Volume 5: Clockworks written by Joe Hill and art by Gabriel Rodriguez

The Locke family drama/horror continues. Tyler and Kinsey find a new key that allows them to travel back in time. They can't change any past events because they are insubstantial there, but they can observe and learn more about the keys, their ancestors, and what's in the caves under the house. This set up makes a nice way for both the readers and the characters in the story to learn the back story, going back to colonial times when Key House was first used and the secret of the caves first discovered. The tragic circumstances of the colonial-era Lockes repeats through history, especially with Tyler's dad and his friends in the 1990s. The father's story fills in a lot of blank spaces and is extremely interesting and well-told. The modern story doesn't move much further ahead but the background story is so compelling that I didn't mind at all. Having answers to questions is very satisfying.

As usual, the art is top-notch. The style doesn't change with the changing times, which is good. There are some yucky bits (this is a horror story, after all) without being too extreme. The only thing I'm sad about is that there is only one volume left in the story. It looks like things are coming to an exciting conclusion. Volume 6 is coming soon!