November 26, 2021
Clockworks by Joe Hill
The basics
Title: Clockworks
Author: Joe Hill
Series: Locke & Key #5
- Welcome to Lovecraft (September 2008) - Head Games (September 2009) - Crown of Shadows (August 2010) - Keys to the Kingdom (July 2011) - Clockworks (June 2012) - Omega & Alpha (February 2014)
Add it: Goodreads
Goodreads Summary:
Tyler and Kinsey Locke have no idea that their now-deceased nemesis, Lucas "Dodge" Caravaggio, has taken over the body of their younger brother, Bode. With unrestricted access to Keyhouse, Dodge's ruthless quest to find the Omega Key and open the Black Door is almost complete. But Tyler and Kinsey have a dangerous key of their own — one that can unlock all the secrets of Keyhouse by opening a gateway to the past. The time has come for the Lockes to face theri own legacy and the darkness behind the Black Door. Because if they don't learn from their family history, they may be doomed to repeat it, and time is running out! Colonel Adam Crais's minutemen are literally trapped between a rock and a hard place; in the first days of the Revolutionary War, they find themselves hiding beneath 120 feet of New England stone, with a full regiment of redcoats waiting for them in the daylight... and a door into hell in the cavern below. The black door is open, and it's up to a 16-year-old smith named Ben Locke to find a way to close it. The biggest mysteries of the Locke & Key series are resolved as Clockworks opens, not with a bang, but with the thunderous crash of English cannons.
Read a full summary of Clockworks by Joe Hill below. If you can’t remember what happened in Keys to the Kingdom and you need a refresher, then you’re in the right place.
What happened in Clockworks?
- Immediately we flash back to 1775 where the Locke parents are being hanged by the British for hiding rebels. Ben and his sister are tasked with going down to the Drowning Cave, where the rebels are hiding out. Their brother died down there when the group of men opened the mysterious door (which wasn’t a door at first, but it became one) and a demon got out and possessed one of them.
- Another man looks into the door and becomes possessed. He attacks and kills people. Ben decides that he must use the metal remains of the demons to create the Omega key to lock the door up forever.
- Kinsey and Tyler discovered the time travel key and saw all of this.
- Bode (possessed by the Dodge!Demon) pushes his friend Jay in front of a bus. He dies. The Locke family attends the funeral and Jay’s mother is very angry in her grief.
- Tyler’s head gets invaded by Kinsey’s feelings, as Bode broke the jar they were being kept in. He tries to set the Locke house on fire. Kinsey stops him and takes her emotions back.
- Tyler reveals he was keeping the Omega key in his head, and Bode gets his hands on it.
- Kinsey and Tyler start researching the time travel business and the origins of the keys.
- They flashback to 1988, when Rendell, Luke, and their friends were putting on a huge performance using the keys.
- Kim gets upset because Mark’s agent uncle didn’t show up, and she desperately wants to be discovered and become an actress. Kim is really rude to Mark and Ellie.
- Rendell decides he will open the door and get more demon metal so he can create more keys. The group votes in favour of doing so. Rendell is doing this mostly for Kim so she’ll be happy.
- The group heads down to the Drowning Cave. To be fair, they go prepared with other keys. Duncan tries to follow them but Luke tells him to turn around. Being a kid, of course he doesn’t.
- Just as the door is opening and the others are shielding their eyes, Luke spots Duncan and shouts at him for being there. This causes a bit of a commotion and Luke looks into the door and gets grabbed by a demon.
- Luke pretends he hasn’t been possessed, but he is caught that night when he tries to threaten Rendell to give him the Omega key. His goal is to open the door and unleash his demon friends.
- The group take away Luke’s memories and keep them in the wellhouse, with the echo of Rendell’s mum keeping guard.
- Two weeks later, Luke has been acting horrible at school. He can’t remember anything though. He follows Ellie to the wellhouse and realises that she and her friends took his memories.
- Dodge knocks Ellie out and starts putting his memories back in.
- Mark shows up and Dodge stabs him. Mark tells Dodge that Erin knows where the Omega key is.
- Dodge kills Kim.
- Dodge clears out Erin’s head to find out where the Omega key is, but she doesn’t know. She starts seeing white.
- Ellie makes it down to the cave through a secret entrance and she distracts Dodge long enough to get the shadow crown and to crush Dodge under a load of rocks. Unfortunately Erin’s memories are also buried under there.
- Rendell gets everyone out of the cave, apart from Kim.
- Rendell tried to destroy the rest of the demon metal but one small piece couldn’t be destroyed. He talks about turning it into a fishing lure or something. Coincidentally, he gave his son Tyler a fishing lure…
That was our recap of what happened in Clockworks by Joe Hill. Check out our recap list for more plot summaries, and if you can’t find what you need you can request a recap here!
