BOOK DESCRIPTION
A brand new addictive, twisty thriller from the New York Times bestselling author of 14 WAYS TO DIE— for fans of Karen McManus, Holly Jackson and Lisa Jewell.
LOCK EVERY DOOR
Tom’s family have moved into their dream home. But pretty soon he starts to notice that something is very wrong— there are strange messages written on the wall and locks on the bedroom doors. On the OUTSIDE.
The previous owners have moved just across the road and they seem like the perfect family. Their daughter Amy is beautiful and enigmatic but Tom is sure she’s got something to hide. And he isn’t going to stop until he finds the truth behind those locked doors…
Will their dream home become a nightmare?
BOOK REVIEW
What would you do if your new house suddenly became unsettling with the echoes of secrets it held?
After Tom’s father abandoned him and his mother, their life has not been easy with the abusive men that his mother ended up with. So when they finally found a man, Jay, who took genuine care of them, Tom was slowly coping with the fresh start on their new house with his blended family, including his stepsister Nia. But when he noticed that something was not right with the holes outside their rooms, Tom became suspicious. However, none of them believed him and so Tom worked it out on his own.
This book is a young adult mystery novel that would keep a reader up at night with the twisted things that kept on happening from the appearance of the silent and shy Amy on the first day of school and suddenly became hyper the next ones. Tom had been suspicious of her until he found out that her family was the previous owner of their new house and he knew he needed to dig deeper on the mystery that was lurking around. The suspense factor was consistent from the first page up to the last one.
Personally, I had some theories of who the villain was but none of them was right and that was what made this novel gripping for me that I could not put it down. The narration was compelling on the perspective of an OCD young adult Tom. But was it his OCD that made him notice that something in their new house and on the previous owners was not right? Or was it because evidences were everywhere and his family just chose to neglect them?
When you watch, you see things other people don’t, like a girl leaving behind clues she’s too scared to admit to and telling lies for reasons you can’t quite understand.
Vincent Ralph, Lock the Doors
I really adore Tom’s character because despite developing feelings toward Amy, he was not blinded by it and still pursued uncovering the mystery behind her and her family.
Going over the characters, I loved the friendship of Zak and Tom and how far they could go to help each other. The platonic love between them was so genuine and it was a reminder that once in a while, we should be telling our friends how much we loved them.
In addition, Tom’s mom and his stepfather, Jay, was commendable with the love and effort they exerted on the blended family that they had. I thought Jay was just like the previous boyfriends of Tom’s mom until I realized that he was way better than the other men characters in the novel.
Moreover, Nia’s character was exceptional. She did not hate Tom but did not love him as a stepbrother either. But when it came to her biological brother, Aaron, hell would break loose because Nia would do whatever it would take and I loved her for that. Eventually, she helped Tom unfold the mystery of Pearce family.
Speaking of the Pearce family, they would stir the readers so much that one would be wondering who was the victim of whom? because the author, Vincent Ralph, would not make the guessing easy.
Highly recommending this book to those who are a sucker of mystery novels. You might not want to read this at night if you do not want to stay late as this will keep you so awake.
Huge thanks to NetGalley and the publisher, SourceBooks Fire, for sending me an eARC.
Release Date: March 1, 2022
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