Jonathan Stroud is the author of five Lockwood & Co. books: The Screaming Staircase, The Whispering Skull, The Hollow Boy, The Creeping Shadow and The Empty Grave He also penned the internationally bestselling Bartimaeus books: The Amulet of Samarkan, The Golem's Eye, Ptolemy's Gate, and The Ring of Solomon; as well as the novels Heroes of the Valley, The Leap, The Last Siege, and Buried Fire. He lives in England with his wife and three children. You can find Stroud at www.jonathanstroud.com. You can find more of my reviews of Stroud's works here.
One day, after leaving Lockwood & Co. to become a freelance operative, Lucy receives a surprise visit from Lockwood, who tells her he needs a good Listener for a tough assignment—to locate and remove the Source for a legendary cannibal ghost. Throughout this very dangerous task, tensions remain high between Lucy and her former colleagues. What will it take to reunite the team? Horrible hauntings, creepy suspense, exhilarating chases, shocking secrets, and mischievous humor are just some of the delights that await in this fourth adventure in the critically acclaimed Lockwood & Co. series.
Stroud, in the midst of developing a world full of ghosts and people with conflicting loyalties, has always stayed true to the heart and meaning of publishing middle grade fiction. Middle grade fiction like Lockwood & Co. exists to provide younger audiences avenues to explore who they have the power to be when they grow up. I've always viewed middle grade as the point where anything is possible—it's characters aren't entirely tied to the realities of the world, and it's usually full with such an immense hope. Such is true of Lockwood & Co., and Stroud dedicates himself to including perfect middle grade arcs in his novels, fantasy and all. For The Screaming Staircase, this arc was Lucy's journey of regaining confidence in herself. In The Whispering Skull, Lucy was discovering what she was capable of. In The Hollow Boy, Lucy struggled with trying to figure out who she was and where she belonged. Quite in line with all the rest, The Creeping Shadow grappled with the question of belonging alongside the newfound knowledge of what the world around you demands from you. All of these themes transcend fantasy and reality, allowing middle grade readers to continue to connect with Lucy, Lockwood, George, and Holly despite living in a less haunted world than they do. I am so excited to see what kind of arc Stroud develops for our favorite characters in the last Lockwood & Co. book, The Empty Grave.
With Lucy's abrupt decision at the end of The Hollow Boy to leave Lockwood & Co. in an attempt to keep Lockwood safe from himself, it has become clear to her that that decision did exactly the opposite of what she intended. For four months, George imparts to her, Lockwood has become even more reckless than usual. So starts our new understanding of the dynamics between Lucy, Lockwood, George and Holly in The Creeping Shadow. While of course we can all somewhat understand Lucy's decision to leave, it left readers heartbroken long into the first few pages of The Creeping Shadow. The reason for this big heartbreak is because the lovely dynamics and relationships between the characters had been lost when Lucy left, and all four of them are in the midst of picking up the pieces, creating heartache all around. Luckily (or maybe unluckily!), the reason reading these splintered relationships hurts so much is because Stroud is a master storyteller, an expert on writing tension and quiet grief and broken friendship into every small moment the characters experience. Having proved himself a master at writing friendship, Stroud was just as easily able to write broken friendships and the moments between people needed to bring a friendship back to life. The Creeping Shadow very much deals with that angst and confusion, which is also something many middle grade readers will find themselves relating to in the second-to-last novel of the Lockwood & Co. series.
Despite the overall tensions and breaks in the entire friendship between Lucy, Lockwood, George, and even Holly, it is clear to readers that one thing never truly went away: Lucy's and Lockwood's long buried feelings for one another. The Creeping Shadow has the most small moments between Lucy and Lockwood yet, an almost torture for readers who have been hoping these characters would come to their senses and talk about their feelings since The Hollow Boy. Just as he is a master in writing friendships, Stroud does well at writing the tension between Lucy and Lockwood, and the agony of a crush in the midst of a world that keeps pulling them apart. Stroud also balances the potential for a romance with the rest of the story—never once does Lucy's crush on Lockwood overwhelm all of their moments together, which in turn makes it very clear that Lucy likes Lockwood for more reasons than just romantic ones. A nuanced and wonderful relationship already exists for Lockwood and Lucy, and I can't wait to see how that is built upon in the last novel.
And finally, the question everyone wants answers to: the Problem. I have been questioning since the first day I picked up The Screaming Staircase if Lockwood & Co. would ever discover the cause and reason for the existence of the Problem. And it turns out that near the end of The Creeping Shadow they finally have their "in" to understanding what exactly has been going around in the world around them. With blasé mentions of The Orpheus Society in previous novels and then the discovery of the weapons in the Rowell institute, it is starting to feel pretty clear that the Problem might not just be a supernatural occurrence. My favorite thing about middle grade series is that the entire series follows an arc of understanding and falling in love with the characters to, eventually, at the very end, the same characters discovering while all their previous battles and strife were necessary. Lockwood, Lucy, and George are on the very edge of discovering their own reasons for existing, and I can't wait to see how Stroud develops that and ends it with our favorite ghost-hunting characters.
With only one more Lockwood & Co. book to go, the outlook for Lucy, Lockwood, George, and Holly is pretty bleak. Will they be able to solve the final mystery and come out alive? We'll find out in the finale, The Empty Grave. Stay tuned for my review!
*This review can also be found on my Goodreads page*
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