The Locked Room works as a novella, and it's the strongest, most bizarre third of Auster's New York Trilogy even if it's not always his most enjoyable (especially in the beginning). But once coincidences start to spring up and little actions begin to loop back on themselves, Auster's work here becomes a masterpiece of Macguffins and Red Herrings, an emotionally resonant and psychologically intricate (with a big hit of Freud in a certain scene) document of noir-adjacent postmodernism. Whereas the previous two novellas (City of Glass and Ghosts) were arguably just highly enjoyable postmodern catnip, The Locked Room is a transcendent magnum opus that screams ambition while never forgetting the intimate and personal.