The Lock In – Phoebe Luckhurst

Synopsis:

Meet housemates Ellen, Alexa and Jack. They’re broke. They’re lonely. They’re hungover. And things are about to go from bad to worse . . .

After Ellen wakes to discover the kitchen is flooded, she, Alexa and Jack scramble into the attic to turn off the water.

Cue Ben, Alexa’s date, stumbling in, the door slamming, the handle breaking – and all four finding themselves trapped.

While waiting to be rescued they begin to ask themselves where their lives went wrong . . .

As Ellen’s hangover deepens she worries last night’s drunken antics might have got her fired.

Can hapless Jack, the wonky vegetable company’s newest employee, stop discussing crooked carrots long enough to help?

Meanwhile, Alexa wonders whether her date Ben might just be a keeper – if only Ellen would stop giving him strange looks . . .

Will these housemates ever get out of this attic? Is adulthood really just one disaster after another? And will Jack please stop live-tweeting this whole fiasco?

Review:

This was a quick read that was easy to follow. It was written in multiple POV but I did find I ended up skim reading Jack’s the most! It was also mixed media; emails, texts, tweets etc which also helped to break up the story.

I found the premise interesting and the MSN storyline nostalgic but I found it very predictable and I didn’t have any really amusing moments for me.

I also thought that it was a bit unrealistic in places which annoyed me a little.

I felt it could have been executed a little better, or have a bit more to it maybe? It was dragged out and not necessarily gripping.

Overall I felt that if wasn’t necessarily a bad read but it also wasn’t great…