A 2015 Top Ten Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults Selection
Roughly fifty years ago, a Problem exploded in England. Ghosts and ghouls and all sorts of frightening beasties suddenly appeared and suddenly became very active. It soon became apparent that children were capable of seeing these hauntings, and several psychic investigation agencies sprang up. A recent transplant from the countryside, Lucy Carlyle takes on a job with Lockwood and Company, a newer agency that prides itself on being completely run by active agents (read young people) and without adult overseers. But when one of their cases goes awry and the agency is slapped with a significant fine (not to mention increased oversight from DEPRAC, the government agency that regulates psychic investigators), they're forced to take on what proves to be their most terrifying job yet.
This book is a lot of fun. A LOT of fun. It reminds me of Jackaby, and "Sherlock" and even just a little bit of Harry Potter. And it's a great mystery. The case Lucy and Lockwood was pursuing that got them into so much trouble involves a young socialite and an unsolved murder, and their desire to solve it colors everything they do, even while they face the fearsome Screaming Staircase. Stroud has done some solid world-building, fleshing out this alternate history of our world with realistic touches, like making salt and iron a common weapon against the ghosts. It also manages to be pretty scary, especially in the scene with the Red Room that I can only describe as Shining-esque. I also really dug that they had their own vocabulary, and appreciated the glossary at the end. In all, I'm really looking forward to reading The Whispering Skull (seriously, what is up with that ghost skull in a jar? And why is George so fascinated with it?) and any of the others Stroud writes in the future.
(Read as part of YALSA's Hub Reading Challenge.)
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