Damian Myron’s Lock the Doors
Description
It’s quiet deep in the woods. And that’s not always a good thing.
Bobby Dinwill lives down a long dirt road, in the outskirts of a small, backwoods town. It’s serene, secluded, and quiet, just how all the locals like it.
Until one afternoon when Bobby comes home for his medication that he’s late in taking and left in the house – the house that should be quiet like the rest of the woods. But his should-be-quiet house has a van in the driveway, lights on inside, and is definitely not quiet.
Whoever they are, they’re already in the house.
Disclosure
I personally bought this book. There was no agreement with the author, publisher, or any third party that I would publish a review. The following review is unsolicited, unbiased, and all opinions are my own.
Review – Spoiler Free
This was the last book I needed to read to complete Myron’s hat trick of short stories: Dig Down (read my review here), I’m Not My Father (read my review here), and Lock the Doors. All his works, published at the time of this writing, land in genres that I don’t tend to pick off the shelf, but their well woven story lines and fast pace, more than make up for it.
As with Myron’s other books, Lock the Doors wastes no time in throwing you into the story and sweeping you along for the ride. With a small cast of characters, set all in mostly one location, Lock the Doors could have very easily gotten monotonous, but Myron uses a lot of character movement and point of view shifts to keep the story on its toes right up to the end.
Through much of Lock the Doors, the reader can see the story events much more clearly than any of the characters, and watches the already chaotic situation as it become more and more dangerous. Because of this, the story twist near the end isn’t so much for the reader, as it is for the characters. While the reader has already figured much of it out by that point, there is the ever-present, and escalating question of: how will Bobby get out of this now?
My only qualms are based on personal preference. Lock the Doors is a thriller, a genre I usually don’t read because of the suspense. Some of it’s more intense scenes are written beat by beat, and you can visualize them play out almost like a movie – this fits the feel of the book and is done well, but if those types of scenes aren’t your preference to begin with, it doesn’t help.
Overall, I liked Lock the Doors. It is a great example of a book that, while it’s not my cup of tea, is very well written and despite its intense ending, I still enjoyed it. I would recommend Lock the Doors to people who are looking for a good, fast read, and enjoy thrillers, especially ones told from a different angle.
Quote
He still had no idea what to do next.
Run to a neighbor.
Mr. Harris isn’t there.
So run to the next one. It might be a mile or two, but keep running until you find someone you can tell.
Lock the Doors, Damian Myron
Ratings
- Quality of Writing – 4
- Plot – 4
- World Building – 4
- Characters – 3
- Ease of Reading – 4
- Overall Enjoyment – 3
- Final Rating – 3.5 (Actual: 3.6) – Liked It/ Really Liked It
Want to learn more about the numbers I use for rating, and the qualities I’m thinking about when writing a book review? Check out my post How I Rate and Review.