100 Cupboards (review)

Henry York isn't taking his parents' kidnapping too badly at all; there's a lot to distract him at the home of his aunt Dotty and uncle Frank, particularly after Henry discovers that beneath the plaster on his bedroom wall is an array of small doors that lead into alternative worlds. Some, like the sunny yellow post office, appear to be benign, but others house malignant forces that try to draw Henry and his equally curious cousin Henrietta into them. Moreover, the system proves to be connected to a large cupboard in a downstairs bedroom. As the cupboards steadily reveal their secrets to the investigating adolescents, Henry also learns a few family secrets as well: neither his parents nor Uncle Frank are who the boy had been led to believe. Though the pacing lags at times, there's an appealing blend of genuine creepiness and kindly domesticity here, and Henry becomes a stronger and more resourceful kid as he tests his mettle against the creatures in the cupboards. Much of Wilson's effort is obviously directed at setting the stage for a sequel: Henry has freed a formidable witch, and now the "faeren" have decreed that "he be hampered, hindered, detained, damaged, or destroyed." With Henry's life on the line and so many cupboard doors yet to open, readers can reasonably hope for more adventure in a subsequent title.