Locke & Key, Volume 1: Welcome to Lovecraft: 04/10/16

Locke & Key, Volume 1: Welcome to Lovecraft by Joe Hill is the first of a six volume graphic novel horror series. These are the omnibus versions of a the comic that I'm reading. It's inspired by H.P. Lovecraft but set in the present.

After a brutal murder, the surviving family members leave California for their ancestral home in Lovecraft, Massachusetts. The family home is a Gothic mansion. In horror parlance it's somewhere between a Seven Gables and the Bates House.

With a nod to Ringu there's a dangerous spirit in an abandoned well. It will do anything to get out. The house itself has safeguards built in that the new generation doesn't understand. For example, there's a certain door a certain way.

When there's a serial killer in horror and the main characters have been directly affected by his actions, there's no way that his killing spree will fade into the background. That's true here. It's cliche but there it is. It's also thankfully resolved (more or less) by the end of this volume.

I have the remaining volumes on my TBR and will get to them as time permits.

Three stars

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