Matt Fisher was a normal boy--until he found the Door. The Door that led to the House. The House whose Doors opened into places all over the world--and into worlds that had been, and would be, and even never were. But Matt wasn't the only one who'd found his way in. Now he had something the man named Twig wanted, something that could sow the seeds to everything's destruction. This first book in the spine-tingling Latchkeys series sets the stage for more adventures with Matt Fisher and the rest of the Latchkeys Kids!

It was getting late.

He should have been home half an hour ago, but with no one waiting for him Matt had developed the bad habit of losing track of time. Mrs T. called him a "time optimist." It was a nice way of saying he spend most of his days in a world of his own. Only he wasn’t on his own now. He was being followed. He didn’t know how he knew, but he did. Maybe it was the prickle of the fi ne little hairs on the nape of his neck, maybe it was the smooth-sided stone of unease that sank into the pit of his stomach, or maybe it was just the fact that the shadows around him didn’t add up when he counted them. It didn’t matter. Someone was following him. He could hear a peculiar shuffle-drag-shuffle sound of limping of footsteps behind him, but when he glanced back over his shoulder there was no one there.

But that wasn’t right. There was someone there. Matt started to move a little faster, looking back over his shoulder every ten and twenty steps until he was running. He caught glimpses of his refl ections in the shop windows as he raced past, and there was never anyone behind him in the glass, but he knew they were there. All he had to do was look down at the shadows at his feet. There was one too many and it stretched further than all the others because it came from a different time, where the sun was lower in the sky, only Matt
didn’t know that.

He darted between parked cars, running out into the road as a car slammed on its brakes. He didn’t dare look around as the driver hammered on the horn. There was a narrow alley between two of the shops. It led to more shops, older shops off the main street, with windows full of curious little things, and another alleyway that in turn led to the street that bargain hunters had forgotten, and on the corner the huge old department store with its boarded-up windows that, in the wrong kind of light, looked like an ogre’s face all screwed up and glaring out at the city around it. It had been empty as long as Matt could remember.

There were high wooden fences up around it, plastered with signs saying "Scheduled for Demolition," and behind the fences two towering yellow cranes with wrecking balls hanging limply from their arms.

Matt didn’t stop running until he hit the blue wooden fence. He could see into the demolition yard through one of the cracks. Part of the external wall had already come down, leaving a gaping hole in the side of the old building. Inside he could see old shop mannequins lined up, their bodies posed so they looked like terrified shoppers trapped inside as the walls came down. One of the wrecking crew had no doubt thought it would be funny.

"Isn’t it?" a voice whispered in Matt’s ear, so close his bones tried to crawl out through his skin in fright.

He spun around, looking left and right in absolute panic.

There wasn’t another soul in the street.

There was, however, a door made of living wood, but it was not one of the house’s doors. It had been, once, before it had become a bad seed and blown away on the wind to fall where it might. Now that door opened and the creature that had been following Matt Fisher stepped through into the empty street. His voice had traveled before him-not as fast as his shadow, for light travels faster than sound-but now he was here, impossibly tall and skeletally thin, dressed head to toe in the funereal garb of an undertaker. He tipped his top hat, and Matt saw the shadows fl it across his gaunt features. His skin was the color of ash, and his voice when it came again possessed the crackle of fire. "Ebenezer Twig at your service, boy. And you shouldn’t be here."

Review Companies MR Review
Rating:
Reviewer: Amanda Haffery
Review:

When teenaged Matt’s mother dies and his father disappears out of town for work constantly, he finds himself feeling lost and alone. He’s sure things can’t get any worse. Everything changes when he enters Tanglewood, a house filled with doors-doors that lead to all sorts of mysterious places. Tanglewood isn’t the only weird thing in Matt’s life…Mr. Twig is after Matt because Matt has something Mr. Twig wants.

I’m going to be honest; my blurb doesn’t do this story justice. There was just so very much going on in the story, I became worried I’d give too much away. So look up other blurbs if you want to, but Unlatched was phenomenal. I haven’t read such a spectacular young adult geared fantasy that gave me thrills and chills since Lemony Snicket. I was glued to the pages and I think I even stopped breathing from time to time. There were a few tiny spots where too much info was given too soon, in my opinion, but it didn’t detract from the story overall. Matt is your typical teen from a broken home. Left on his own, no parental care, just sort of floating along on his own. Suddenly these doors appear in this house and he feels himself being drawn into all these crazy adventures. Mr. Twig was creepy as all get out. Thrills, chills, action and adventure can all be found within these pages. If Unlatched is a prelude to how the rest of the stories will be, I can’t wait to read the rest of this series!

 

Disclosure: Manic Readers receives books from authors, publishers, and publicists which are given to reviewers in exchange for their honest opinion. Each review represents the opinion of the reviewer which may or may not have been influenced by receiving the book at no cost.

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