Hill sells some of Locke & Key in the first few pages, when it becomes clear something awful is going to happen and he isn’t going to shy away from it. Then the awful thing does happen and Hill and Rodriguez handle to very well. Once the event has occurred though, Hill has to set up the rest of the book and there’s where he runs into problems.
He correctly assumes he can introduce characters in dialogue and later bring them in to be recognized in action. Only they aren’t the right characters for the scene. It’s forced and he wastes a couple pages on it.
Then there’s the hurried pacing. At one point, we get three pages to cover three or four minutes of present action. Later, Hill skips through at least a week without mention.
And I’m not sure Rodriguez fits the material. He does try hard though.
While the handling of mom will always remain a problem in the series, the kids will eventually be the focus, and that works for me. She’s not one of the protagonists, and while I know I’ve read ahead of you, I’ll give a spoiler to say that while Mom never becomes a major player, the book really isn’t about her. Sorry. You can beat me with a stick later.