Mills, Rob. Charlie’s Key.

Mills, Rob.     Charlie’s Key.  Orca, 2011.  254p.   $9.95.  ISBN 978-1-55469-872-1       secondary

Realistic Fiction                      E-BN  

Charlie’s father dies and Charlie is left with a legacy of secrets, a dysfunctional family and a key to a safety deposit box that his recently paroled, very dangerous uncle wants.  In Charlie, Rob Mills has created a nearly perfect, enigmatic character.  Charlie is naïve yet worldly.  He is compassionate and vulnerable, yet resilient and resourceful.  At first, Charlie is completely unaware of his family history -- specifically, that his uncle and father, the Sykes brothers, are orphans who turned bad, so bad that Uncle Nick was imprisoned for murder, a fact that Charlie’s dad has kept from him.  When Charlie’s dad dies in a moose accident, (the moose hits their car), he hands Charlie a key, and where does Charlie hide it during his recuperation?  In a Bible! 

The irony is that where Charlie is going, there is nothing but self-reliance and luck.  During his stay at the Hollow, an institution for dysfunctional children who have been sentenced for a crime, he must survive, which he does with the help of Frankie, a fellow “inmate” who looks out for him.  While at the Hollow, Charlie meets Clare, a drug addict who is in a neighboring facility for girls who need rehabilitation.  Clare is the friend who shares newspaper clippings about the Sykes brothers with Charlie.  Conflicts abound, and the emotions are powerful.  We can feel Charlie’s powerful despair because it is so profound.  Just when we think Charlie might have a chance to escape his past, Uncle Nick shows up, and whenever Charlie manages to elude him, Uncle Nick reappears.  He is streetwise, crafty, devious and just plain mean.  It’s uncanny. 

The best chase scene occurs when Charlie attends his father’s memorial service and manages to escape Nick.  Nick follows him, uses Clare’s addiction to gain information, and finds Charlie over and over again.  The most harrowing experience is when Charlie eludes Uncle Nick by escaping into the foggy night, fleeing through bogs and mist only to fall off a cliff and dropping painfully to a landing that saves him from the rocks and ocean waves below.  In exchange for help, he promises to give the key to Nick.  The falling action is equally intriguing, and when the reader reaches the end, he or she will find it to be shocking and emotional.  Readers will want a sequel, needless to say, in order to discover the next chapter in Charlie’s life.  Mills combines contemporary topics like child abuse with a writing style that is full of local color and dialect to give us an excellent book that is well worth the journey.

Martha Squaresky