Night Latch
Anela Deen
4/5
Night Latch is an urban fantasy following the life of Sam Alvarez, a small town locksmith with the secret ability to open any lock. His abilities put him on death's radar- like not death but Death who's actually a young (kind of) woman who goes by Alice. You've read those cringy paranormals where death is super attractive snarky dude, get ready for a twist on that along with a cool magical plotline that you haven't seen before.
I liked how Night Latch wasn't as unrealistic as those, it didn't have the same degree of forced humor that I feel like these paranormal-type books think are so funny. I liked the magic because I think it's a cool skill that could definitely go under the radar, but be super helpful. I think Sam's transition into the supernatural was also a lot better than many of the ones I've seen, he questions things and all but he's not the cliche type to reject the "impossible" even though it's right in front of his face. He's a pretty likable hero, relatable with a nice small-town-guy-vibe.
I didn't like some of the pacing choices, the whole magic box plot divergence felt kind of random to me. It's like this additional character, Nick, was thrown in and suddenly relevant like he'd been mentioned previously. It felt a little strange, but I also appreciated the magic of the box because it was so funny. I liked Moreau as a character, more of him would be super appreciated cause he also was weirdly phased out. The side characters deserve a little more focus or development or I can't really recognize them as intrinsic. Looking forward to the sequel to see where it all goes.
I received an ARC of this book via Anela Deen in an exchange for an honest review! My honest opinion is that more people should be into Anela Deen's writing, this is the second book I've read by her and I think that she has a diverse skill-set and genre-expertise. Can't wait to see how this duology ends.
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