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Friday 6 September 2013

Lockwood & Co: The Screaming Staircase by Jonathon Stroud

Review by The Mole

The "Problem" started 50 years before when ghosts started popping up everywhere intent on killing people. Only some children can sense the ghosts  before they strike and Lucy is working with her adult supervisor, hunting ghosts and eliminating the "Problem" when things go horribly wrong and only her and her supervisor survive. She runs away to London and in desperation she joins Lockwood & Co - an agency that does only private work and has no adult supervision. But does Lockwood have ambitions beyond their abilities? Is he going to get them all killed? They then get a client called Fairfax who seems to want to get them all killed.

"You'll want to leave the lights on... Stroud is a genius" proclaims the front cover. At 430 pages long, yes you will want to leave the light on because you won't want to stop reading! The story is set in a time so unlike our own that I don't believe it will cause nightmares or really frighten readers of any age... but younger readers will want to be like Lucy, George or Lockwood although I wonder if they would admit to wanting to be like cerebral, planning but slightly slobbish George?

Laced with humour throughout yet tempered to keep the plot captivating this book is honestly truly addictive and readers will love it.. irrespective of of their age. From a reading perspective I am sure this would appeal to any reader who had the stamina to open a Harry Potter book - and I would say it's more fun! Hoping to see the sequel sometime!

Publisher - Doubleday Children's
Genre - Children's paranormal adventure 

Buy Lockwood & Co: The Screaming Staircase from Amazon

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