Both the first and second books in the Locke & Key series were chosen for the 2010 YALSA list of Best Graphic Novels for Teens. In Volume I, Welcome to Lovecraft, Rendell Locke, a school counselor, is violently murdered by a seemingly deranged student named Sam Lesser. Locke’s wife and three children, Tyler, Kinsey, and Bode, move to the family home, Keyhouse, in Lovecraft, Massachusetts, to live with Rendell Locke’s brother Duncan. As all five members of the family struggle to cope with the tragedy, the youngest, Bode, begins to explore Keyhouse and soon finds out that this is no ordinary house. Bode finds a key that unlocks a certain door in Keyhouse. Once he crosses the threshold of the door, he becomes a ghost and can travel over the grounds unseen while his true body lies dead at the doorway. It also becomes evident that Sam Lesser was not only deranged; he was also under the control of a mysterious entity who first began to communicate with him through pictures of Keyhouse in Rendell Locke’s office. It was this entity that led Sam to murder Mr. Locke and that helps him escape from prison to hunt down the Locke family again, all in an attempt to locate the Anywhere Key. There are a number of skeleton keys associated with Keyhouse, like the Anywhere Key and the Ghost Door Key, and each has a special power. This entity, whoever she (or he?) may be, needs the Anywhere Key to escape. Bode Locke discovers the entity on one of his ghost trips through the Ghost Door. The entity, appearing in the form of a teenage girl, appears to be trapped in a well on the Keyhouse grounds. The situation comes to a head when Sam Lesser makes his way across country to Keyhouse and takes the Locke family hostage once again, demanding the Anywhere Key. Bode finds the key and gives it to the entity in the well, who promises to stop Sam Lesser in return. The family is saved and the entity escapes the well. Now in his true form as a teenage boy once known as Lucas Caravaggio, the entity goes to live with Coach Whedon from the Locke children’s high school and begins to attend the school as Zack Wells, a new friend for the Locke teens.
At the end of Volume I, Bode lock fishes a new key from the pool, and, thus, Volume II Head Games begins. Readers find that Lucas Caravaggio, also known as Dodge, along with Coach Whedon, used to be friends with young Rendell Locke. When Dodge begins attending school as Zack Wells, a teacher, Joe Ridgeway, recognizes him as a former student who disappeared twenty years earlier. When Ridgeway’s suspicion becomes too much for Dodge, he murders him, a tragedy difficult for the Locke children who are not yet past the loss of their father in an equally violent way. Ironically, the Tyler and Kinsey look to their new friend Zack for support during this difficult time. In the meantime, Bode discovers the Head Key’s power: it fits into the back on one’s neck and opens up the skull. Once opened, one can put in information or take out memories, both of which are inviting options for the Locke children for a variety of reasons. Duncan Locke draws the attention of the dangerous Dodge when he, too, recognizes Dodge’s familiar face, but it is Duncan’s boyfriend who pays the price. Ultimately, Dodge uses the Head Key to remove Duncan’s memory of Lucas Caravaggio and protect his identity.
The Locke & Key series is great for older teens or adults who love gothic horror and supernatural tales. The stories are suspenseful, and the reader quickly becomes invested in the lives of the Locke family members. The series also deals, at least minimally, with some serious issues, such as alcoholism and discrimination against homosexuals. While I would not recommend or support censorship of these graphic novels from the school library, I would offer a caveat: there is a good bit or graphic violence in both volumes, and the Volume I also contains an oral sex scene between Sam Lesser and a male truck driver. While the scene is not graphically depicted, the act is clear. The books, in my opinion, have no real connection to the school curriculum and would best serve the purpose of encouraging reading for pleasure. They could perhaps be used in a unit on gothic literature, such as a study of Edgar Allan Poe works or Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, to compare the gothic novels of the Romantic Era to the horror fiction of today.
References
Hill, J. (2008). Locke and key: Welcome to Lovecraft. San Diego: IDW Publishing.
Hill, J. (2009). Locke and key: Head games. San Diego: IDW Publishing.
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