The Lock In

LoveReading Says

The Lock-In is the debut novel from Phoebe Luckhurst (also a journalist, Features Editor for the Evening Standard) which has been listed for the Comedy Women in Print Prize. I’ve seen its playful pastel cover everywhere this year from its brilliant publicity campaign from Michael Joseph (Penguin) publishers, who have been positioning it next to the comforting and relatable love stories of Mhairi Macfarlane and Dolly Alderton.

I first heard about it when it was sold during lock-down, when being trapped in a room with your flatmates and a hook-up felt perhaps more thrillingly likely.

It’s there in the title, really! The first chapters of the novel feel a bit like a one-act play – seeing how the different characters respond to the grounded situation of being locked in an attic while water rises in the basement. It prompts a fun thought experiment for the reader about what you would actually do in this situation, like when the characters debate what to write on an SOS sign – they want it to seem real, but still seem funny enough that people would bother to interrupt their day to rescue them: ‘Jack agreed that, on the basis of this sign, he’d definitely try to rescue the people stuck in the attic.’ 

The highlights are when they start going more Lord of the Flies up there: when we realise that they all have different motives for wanting to escape, or indeed, stay in the attic for longer, and lying to each other. 

I was worried that the ‘twist’ of someone being an old flame might be somewhat lost on the fact that it’s on the cover (!) but rest assured there are further twists on this thread. Those who remember MSN romances will enjoy the stomach dropping retellings of changing your status updates to ‘poignant lyrics’, and a first crush saying over that blank cursor ‘ok admission time / i have feelings for you’.

Reviewed by Billy Lindon
Lily Lindon (Billy) is a writer, editor, and bookseller living in London.
More reviews by Billy Lindon

About The Lock In

They'd like to be going out. Instead they're stuck in. Best friends Ellen and Alexa have always been close. Until one fateful morning when they get locked in their attic with hapless housemate Jack and Alexa's date from the night before, Ben. With no way out, hangovers and the hours crawling by, it seems best friends can get too close for comfort. Especially when Ellen realises she already knows Ben - perhaps rather better than Alexa does.

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