Lockwood & Co.

Author: Jonathan Stroud

Series: Lockwood & Co.

Genre: YA Fiction

Format: Digital Purchase via Kindle

Publish Date: 2013-2017

Read: June 2023

Favorite Quote: Doubts, like ghosts, gain strength in darkness

Synopsis: The UK is plagued with ghosts. Over the last fifty years, ghosts and spirits have been running amok in England. New industries rose up to combat The Problem, none more important than the agencies. These agencies employ children and teenagers - the only ones who can see or hear the ghosts - to help rid areas of Visitors.

The first book of the series, The Screaming Staircase, introduces you to Lucy Carlyle, our intrepid, independent heroine and narrator. After striking out on her own, Lucy joins Lockwood & Co, led by Anthony Lockwood. Alongside Lockwood is George, who researches the cases. Lucy fits in quickly with the boys, and after stumbling into a high-profile case, Lockwood & Co not only battle ghosts but also battle government oversight and politics.

The subsequent books follow the adventures of Lockwood, Lucy, and George. In The Whispering Skull, we learn more about a skull in a jar that only Lucy can hear speaking. In The Hollow Boy, an outbreak of spirits in Chelsea leads Lockwood & Co to investigate the paranormal activity, and in doing so, they discover a larger, more sinister plot among some of the larger agencies. The last two books, The Creeping Shadow and The Empty Grave, are the culmination of Lockwood & Co’s rise in popularity as an agency and the threats they encounter while unraveling the fifty-year-old mystery of why The Problem began.

Why does this book beguile? I had not heard of Lockwood & Co until the series aired on Netflix. I really, really enjoyed the first season, and it ended on a cliffhanger. Much to my devastation, the series was not renewed by Netflix (yet another blunder in their decision-making on fantasy series), but I was excited to read the books! These are great for middle grades and up. The stories are fun, the characters are cheeky and relatable (especially if you’re a pre-teen to teen), and everything is very PG. Fun for the whole family!

Rating: 5/5

Link*: Lockwood & Co Series - Amazon (Kindle) or Amazon (Paperback) | Lockwood & Co The Screaming Staircase - Bookshop.org

If you liked this, read*: Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson