Name: Lockwood and Co
ISBN: 9780552573146

Jonathan Stroud

"Lockwood & Co. might be the smallest (some might say shambollic) Psychic Detection Agency in London. But its three agents - Lockwood, Lucy and George - are exceptional Talents. And they get results. When an outbreak of ghostly phenomena grows to terrifying levels in Chelsea, Scotland Yard is left baffled. Even more baffling is that Lockwood & Co appear to have been excluded from the huge team of Agents investigating the Chelsea Outbreak. Surely this is the perfect chance for them to show once and for all that they're actually the best in town? Well, that's if they can put aside their personal differences for long enough to march into action with their rapiers, salt and iron . . . Ghouls and spectres, thrills and tension in this brand-new instalment in Jonathan Strouds bestselling series. 'Stroud is a genius' - Rick Riordan, author of the Percy Jacksonseries."

The Hollow Boy

Lockwood and Co

Lily

George surveyed the room. "Yeah, don't think much of the displays," he said. "Some of these mannequins are hideous...oh- it's you, Quill. I thought you were an exhibit."

"Interesting," Lockwood breathed. "And what's this sinister red stain?" 

"That's some jam from breakfast this morning." George pushed his glasses up his nose.

As a massive outbreak of supernatural Visitors baffles Scotland Yard and causes protests throughout London, Lockwood & Co. continue to demonstrate their effectiveness in exterminating spirits. Anthony Lockwood is dashing, George insightful, and Lucy dynamic, while the skull in the jar utters sardonic advice from the sidelines. There is a new spirit of openness in the team now that Lockwood has shared some of his childhood secrets, and Lucy is feeling more and more as if her true home is at Portland Row. It comes as a great shock, then, when Lockwood and George introduce her to an annoyingly perky and hyper-efficient new assistant, Holly Munro. Meanwhile, there are reports of many new hauntings, including a house where bloody footprints are appearing, and a department store full of strange sounds and shadowy figures. But ghosts seem to be the least of Lockwood & Co.'s concerns when assassins attack during a carnival in the center of the city. Can the team get past their personal issues to save the day on all fronts, or will bad feelings attract yet more trouble? Danger abounds, tensions escalate, and new loyalties form in this third delightfully terrifying adventure in the critically acclaimed Lockwood & Co. series. Praise for The Screaming Staircase "This story will keep you reading late into the night, but you'll want to leave the lights on. Stroud is a genius at inventing an utterly believable world which is very much like ours, but so creepily different. Put The Screaming Staircase on your 'need to read' list!" -Rick Riordan "A pleasure from tip to tail, this is the book you hand the advanced readers that claim they'd rather read Paradise Lost than Harry Potter. Smart as a whip, funny, witty, and honestly frightening at times, Stroud lets loose and gives readers exactly what they want. Ghosts, kids on their own without adult supervision, and loads of delicious cookies." -Elizabeth Bird, School Library Journal "Stroud shows his customary flair for blending deadpan humor with thrilling action, and the fiery interplay among the three agents of Lockwood & Co. invigorates the story (along with no shortage of creepy moments)." -Publishers Weekly Praise for The Whispering Skull *"An occult portal and its spectral guardian nearly cut short the careers of three rising young ghost hunters in this madcap sequel to The Screaming Staircase (2013). For all their internecine squabbling, the three protagonists make a redoubtable team-and their supporting cast, led by the sneering titular skull in a jar, adds color and complications aplenty. Rousing adventures for young tomb robbers and delves into realms better left to the dead." -Kirkus Reviews (starred review) *"Stroud writes with a fine ear for dialog, a wry sense of humor, and a knack for describing haunted places. Creating tension that ebbs and flows, he slowly builds the dramatic narrative to a resounding crescendo, and he makes the quieter scenes that follow just as compelling." -Booklist (starred review)

Lockwood and Co #3

Christine

Lockwood & Co. Book Three: The Hollow Boy

I had fun with this - it is as competent and creative as previous instalments of the series. However, I found the friction between Lucy and Holly a little unnecessary - it did not rely entirely on both of them being girls (thank god for which) but definitely could have done with less undertones of that.

Sade A

❤
Hmmmm🤔, going to have to sit on this for a while..

❤❤

I have some running titles for what this book should have been called:
📍Lockwood & Co: The Chelsea Ghost Outbreak
📍Lockwood & Co: Lucy Carlyle wants your secret by force
📍Lockwood & Co: Conspiracy Theory 
📍Lockwood & Co: Lockwood
📍Lockwood & Co: LMAO you think this book is going to be about the title?
📍Lockwood & Co: Group Dynamics
📍Lockwood & Co: Jealous
📍Lockwood & Co: The entilement of coworkers to your life history. 

Not a bad book really, but i don't think it's a great book, it's more meh so i'm going with 2.5stars. 
You're mainly treated to the inner thoughts of a jealous teenager and believe me its not pretty. 

My main problem with the Lockwood series is the books as a whole rarely has anything to do with the title and it's so freaking annoying. Why tell me a book is about a talking skull where the skull only features in like 20% of the story? Or a screaming staircase that only comes into play at the end of the book for like a super short time? I need these books to be working towards a goal from the start, not just having the random ghost works of the crew thrown at readers and then having like 4 chapters at the end of book talking about what we've been waiting for since like forever.

Kirsten Simkiss

I don't know how I managed to read this whole book in one day, but man, I did it. I went from reading book two yesterday after about four days to this one and I just devoured it - much like the ghosts roaming Chelsea might have devoured our protagonists if given the option. While it definitely isn't a five star read for me for some very obvious reasons, I'm happy giving this 4 stars.

To be honest, my biggest complaint about the book stems from Lucy and Holly's relationship in this book. The cattiness is very typical for male authors to write into books. Lucy, more established, becomes instantly jealous of the pretty new girl muscling in on her territory, Holly. Rather unsurprisingly, this gets old. Very fast. Lucy spends the whole book being passive aggressive toward Holly and Holly spends the whole book being passive aggressive toward Lucy. Lucy feels like she's being replaced, Holly feels like Lucy's a grumpy slob. Neither of them seem to be entirely incorrect about this. However, the extent that this is constantly brought up is insane. Seriously, you don't go two pages without it being mentioned from the moment Holly enters the story. I was pleased that Holly was not proven to be some sort of evil spy or something and thereby vindicating Lucy's abhorrent behavior. While I was hoping for them to find some common ground and be BBFs by the end of the book, that was not to be. 

Overall, I thought the plot of the book was quite good. I felt like it was a little stretched out for the sake of drama (see the paragraph above - seriously, it's constant), but the concept was solid once again. Lucy's power growth is really interesting to me and her choice at the end of the book (no spoilers) leaves me wondering how her ability will change in the days to come.

They seem to be subtly pushing Lucy and Lockwood's relationship to be closer. Lucy never seems to acknowledge it, but it's clear her jealousy over Holly is 90% because she's romantically interested in Lockwood. Still, it's nice that it's a slow burn kind of thing. Sometimes the romance in young adult fiction really just sucker punches you in the face, leaving you with no choice but to accept that this twelve year old is madly in love all of a sudden. This series, on the other hand, is slowly easing it in, making it clear that time has passed between the books and that they've spent time bonding. It's never so long that their relationships have changed dramatically, but it's clear that they've bonded more between the first book and the third book as I look back.

Ultimately, I think this is probably the weakest of the three books so far, but it's still a good read. I would recommend it, though I would recommend reading the first two books before you take a shot at this one.

Anna

Oh no, Lucy and her feelings ;_;
Third book deviates from the formula established in books 1&2 and it's great. Finally first poltergeist scene and whoa! that was scary.

My series rating so far: 3rd book > 1st > 2nd

corinna

Another great mystery with frustrating relationships but it didn't quite pick up until the second half of the book and that's where all the juicy stuff happens!

Alice

nina 

mari

grace 

As a massive outbreak of supernatural Visitors baffles Scotland Yard and causes protests throughout London, Lockwood & Co. continue to demonstrate their effectiveness in exterminating spirits. Anthony Lockwood is dashing, George insightful, and Lucy dynamic, while the skull in the jar utters sardonic advice from the sidelines. There is a new spirit of openness in the team now that Lockwood has shared some of his childhood secrets, and Lucy is feeling more and more as if her true home is at Portland Row. It comes as a great shock, then, when Lockwood and George introduce her to an annoyingly perky and hyper-efficient new assistant, Holly Munro. Meanwhile, there are reports of many new hauntings, including a house where bloody footprints are appearing, and a department store full of strange sounds and shadowy figures. But ghosts seem to be the least of Lockwood & Co.'s concerns when assassins attack during a carnival in the center of the city. Can the team get past their personal issues to save the day on all fronts, or will bad feelings attract yet more trouble? Danger abounds, tensions escalate, and new loyalties form in this third delightfully terrifying adventure in the critically acclaimed Lockwood & Co. series.

Lockwood and Co The Hollow Boy