Are you wondering about what to read next in this cozy weather? Well, How about something that is perfect, powerful, and thrilling? And the best part about that it is that it’s a series, and every book will leave you begging for more! We are talking about none other than the Lockwood and Co. series.
Lockwood & Co. is a young adult supernatural thriller series written by Jonathan Stroud. The series takes place in old London. And so the vibes of this series are vintage and nostalgic.
The series revolves around three characters and their adventures of fighting ghosts in London. Lockwood, Lucy, and George work as young operatives of a psychic detection agency as they fight ghosts.
Lockwood is the leader of the said detective agency and he is the most ironic, witty, humorous, smart, and Kaz-like character you may read. (At least for me!)
There is a grave problem in London, England. Ghosts have taken over the country and are haunting the English people. These ghosts even kill people who are too close. Only children can see these ghosts and only trained and expert young people can stop these ghosts. Lockwood & Co. is one of those agencies that stop these ghosts.
Before discussing each book further, let us quickly write the names of the five books that make The Lockwood & Co. series.
- The Screaming Staircase
- The Whispering Skull
- The Hollow Boy
- The Creeping Shadow
- The Empty Grave
Already frightened by the names of the books? Funnily, you will love every book. And believe me, they are scary but they are not as scary as you might expect them! So let’s dive into each book.
The Screaming Staircase:
Spoiler-Free Plot:
To remain active in the living world, a Visitor or ghost must have a connection to its former life—something that is still in the real world. This something is called Source. To neutralize the ghost, this Source must be discovered and destroyed.
The story begins when Lucy and Anthony Lockwood are at the site of a recent death. They are here to investigate the haunting at that particular site which makes the death seem like murder.
Lucy can hear the ghosts and this leads them to discover the source of the haunting. But they are now in serious trouble! They forgot to bring their iron chains.
Iron chains, silver, salt bombs, or a powerful magnesium explosive called Greek Fire are used for the safety of humans against scary ghosts. Not wanting to come another day, Lucy and Lockwood decide to stay and hope that their supply of salt, swords and iron filings is enough to keep them safe.
This ghost in this case is—a girl—who disappeared into a wall, and they know the Source must be behind the wall. While Lockwood begins tearing through the wall with a crowbar, Lucy keeps her sword out, forcing the ghost to stay back. The ghost is desperate and terrifying!
Lockwood breaks through the wall and discovers the skeleton of the long-dead girl, complete with a lovely gold chain still around her neck. The ghost attacks and Lockwood orders Lucy to get the Source while he keeps the ghost back.
He and Lucy are flung to the floor by the ghost’s fury, and their circle of iron filings is disturbed. This allows an open door to the Visitor. Lucy does the only thing she can—she throws a canister of Greek Fire at the ghost.
This pushes the ghost back but sets the room on fire. Lucy then throws a silver net over the corpse, and the ghost girl disappears, but she and Lockwood cannot escape because the flames have blocked the door.
Lockwood breaks a window in this second-story room. They will have to jump. At the last moment, Lucy returns to the skeleton, reaches under the silver net, and pulls the gold chain from its neck.
With flames all about them and the roof collapsing, she and Lockwood fall out the window.
Finally, Lockwood and Lucy saved the day by discovering the source and storing the ghost. All this at a little cost-burning the roof to the ground!
“Of the first few hauntings I investigated with Lockwood & Co. I intend to say little, in part to protect the identity of the victims, in part because of the gruesome nature of the incidents, but mainly because, in a variety of ingenious ways, we succeeded in messing them all up.”
See? Isn’t it funny? You will certainly enjoy this series as the characters are kids after all!
The Whispering Skull
Spoiler-Free Plot:
The story starts right after the ending of the Screaming Staircase. In the six months since Lockwood, Lucy, and George survived a night in the most haunted house in England, Lockwood & Co. hasn’t made considerable progress.
Quill Kipps and his team of Fittes agents keep blocking Anthony Lockwood’s investigations. Finally, in a fit of anger, Lockwood challenges his rival to a contest: the next time the two agencies compete on a job, the losing side will have to admit defeat in the Times Newspaper.
Things brighten when a new client, Mr. Saunders hires Lockwood & Co. to be present at the burial of Edmund Bickerstaff, a Victorian doctor who tried to communicate with the dead. Saunders needs the coffin sealed with silver to prevent any supernatural trouble.
The problem arises when Bickerstaff’s coffin is raided and a strange glass object buried with the corpse vanishes. Inspector Barnes believes the relic to be highly dangerous, and he wants it found.
So Inspector Barnes asks Lockwood & Co. and Fittes agents to find this relic.
The Hollow Boy
Spoiler-Free Plot:
As an enormous episode of mysterious Visitors baffles Scotland Yard and causes protests throughout London, Lockwood & Co. continues to establish its effectiveness in eradicating spirits. Anthony Lockwood is dashing, George insightful, and Lucy dynamic.
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.
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 issues to save the day on all fronts, or will bad feelings attract yet more trouble?
The Creeping Shadow
Spoiler-Free Plot:
After leaving Lockwood & Co. at the end of The Hollow Boy, Lucy is a freelance operative, hiring herself out to agencies that value her ever-improving capabilities.
One day she is pleasantly surprised by a visit from Lockwood, who tells her he needs a good Listener for a tough assignment.
Penelope Fittes, the leader of the giant Fittes Agency wants them–and only them–to locate and remove the Source of the legendary Brixton Cannibal.
They succeed in their very dangerous task, but tensions remain high between Lucy and the other agents.
What will it take to reunite the team? Black marketeers, an informant ghost, a Spirit Cape that transports the wearer, and mysteries involving Steve Rothwell and Penelope Fittes just may do the fallacy.
But, in a shocking cliffhanger ending, the team learns that someone has been exploiting them all along.
The Empty Grave
Spoiler-Free Plot:
Five months after the events in The Creeping Shadow, we join Lockwood & Co.: they have broken into the booby-trapped Fittes Mausoleum, where the body of the legendary psychic heroine Marissa Fittes lies. Or does it?
The young agents must survive attacks from enemies both spectral and human before they can take on their greatest enemy in a climactic and chaotic battle. And to prevail they will have to rely on help from some surprising–and shadowy–allies.
This book is a rousing adventure full of danger, laughs, twists, and frights. And the revelations at the end will compel the readers to start the series all over again.
“In the meantime,” he said, “there are ghosts to foil and lives to save. But right now it’s a lovely evening, and I’m going for a stroll. That was the other thing I wanted, to see if you’d come with me.” He adjusted his collar. “It’s the first outing for my new coat. What do you think of it?”
My Take On This Series:
This series is a must-read for every age group of readers. I highly recommend everyone read this series. The chances of anyone disliking this series are 0 to none. The characters, environment and world-building, the plots and twists and the mysteries, the spooky atmosphere, all these things will make you read this series in one go.
All the books are told from the point of view of Lucy. They are all lovable characters and even begging a reader to read the series is well-deserved because this series deserves all the extraordinary awards.
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