Locke & Key

Locke & Key - Audio Recording
Based on the graphic novels by Joe Hill & Gabriel Rodriguez
Released October, 2015

I may have mentioned before that I am a recent (and arguable somewhat fanatical) convert to audiobooks. Audiobooks make my daily commute tolerable. They make me far more enthusiastic about walking my dogs. I am far more likely to do things like wash dishes and fold washing nowadays than I ever was in the dark times before I discovered audiobooks.
Having said that, audiobooks work better for some books than others. Anything with lots of dialogue feels a little weird if there's only one narrator. Books with plenty of action tend to work better than slower, more literary works. First-person narrative generally works better than third-person. Books with a large amount of journal- or report-style content work particularly well (World War Z and Sleeping Giants are both absolutely fantastic on audio). And if anyone had asked me a week ago, I would have assumed that you can't make an audiobook from a graphic novel. As it turns out, this isn't true - the audio recording of Locke & Key is better than you could possibly imagine.

Something of a modern classic, the Locke & Key graphic novels were written by Joe Hill and illustrated by Gabriel Rodriguez. They follow the Locke family (teenagers Tyler and Kinsey, with little brother Bode and their mother) who move back to the old family home in Lovecraft, Massachusetts, following the violent murder of their father. Somewhat appropriately named "Lockhouse", the huge old house is packed full of mysterious doors, locks and keys with all sorts of magical powers. There's horror, humour and graphic violence aplenty, which is all fabulous for a graphic novel but presumably a little tricky to translate into an audio format.

Clearly, you need to read the printed version too, otherwise you miss out on some fairly stunning artwork like this...

The Audible version of Locke & Key is less like an audiobook and more like a full-scale audio production, complete with full cast, sound effects and music. It's like listening to an old-school radio play, except that there's a whole lot of screaming and you're moderately terrified throughout. It works so well, partly because the actors are so good at what they do - the cast includes the fabulous Tatiana Maslany (Orphan Black), Kate Mulgrew (Orange is the New Black) and Haley Joel Osment (The Sixth Sense) but every performance on this recording is absolutely spot-on : despite all the screaming and panic and general weirdness, there's not a single moment that feels awkward or doesn't ring true.
The music is atmospheric and lends this general atmosphere of creepiness to the entire recording, while helping to amp up the tension at appropriate moments.
The sound effects, voiceover and dialogue all work together so that the listener understands exactly what's happening throughout, even in the absence of an pictures (usually a fairly integral part of any comic experience).  

Seriously, look at how cool this is.

At 13 and a half hours, Locke and Key does require something of a time commitment, but it's such a captivating, immersive experience that it doesn't feel long enough. The story is unique, complex and hugely imaginative and this production brings it to life in a completely new way. It's an extremely high-quality dramatic production of some very high-quality source material and quite honestly, it's the coolest thing I've listened to all year.