Lockwood & Co.: The Screaming Staircase

Disney-Hyperion

Lockwood & Co.:  The Screaming Staircase
Jonathan Stroud
2013

The Summary
"A sinister Problem has occurred in London:  all nature of ghosts, haunts, spirits, and Specters are appearing throughout the city and they aren't exactly friendly.  Only young people have the psychic abilities required to see--and eradicate--these supernatural foes.  Many different psychic investigation agencies have cropped up to handle the dangerous work, and they are in fierce competition for business.

"In The Screaming Staircase, the plucky and talented Lucy Carlyle teams up with Anthony Lockwood, the charismatic leader of Lockwood & Co., a small agency that runs independent of any adult supervision.  After an assignment leads to both a grisly discovery and a disastrous end, Lucy, Anthony, and their sarcastic colleague, George, are forced to take part in the perilous investigation of Combe Carey Hall, one of the most haunted houses in England. Will Lockwood & Co. survive the Hall's legendary Screaming Staircase and Red Room to see another day?"

The Good
Like Jonathan Stroud's Bartimaeus series, Lockwood & Co. is an intriguing and inventive series with fleshed out characters, a wonderful narrator, interesting plot twists, and curious mixtures of myth, magic, and paranormal critters.  Although it took me a few moments to fully sink into The Screaming Staircase, I was hooked by the time I reached the second chapter--and I thoroughly enjoyed following the cases of Lucy, Anthony, and George.

Lucy makes a wonderful narrator.  She's snarky and sarcastic, equal parts entertaining and fascinating.  Like her colleagues, Anthony and George, Lucy can see and sense ghosts; however, she has a singularly special talent that sets her apart:  she can hear and communicate with ghosts, as well.  Her powerful talents and her unusual sensitivity make her unique, even among her peers, but it also makes her an intriguing narrator.

Moreover, I was constantly struck by the inventiveness of the novel and the series as a whole.  I thought ghost-touch was an interesting concept (and, confidentially, rather frightening), and I was fascinated by the whole mythos surrounding ghosts.  It's interesting to see the ways in which society adapts to accommodate ghosts and all the dangers they present, to see the dynamics of society shift as children become embroiled in the conflict and become key figures in protecting the living.

The Bad
I'll be honest, I didn't always know what was going on with history in this book.  I mean, I understand that history essentially diverges and ghosts become a more pronounced influence on society.  But I don't know exactly when it happens or where or why.  It's very confusing, and Lucy doesn't really illuminate much in regards to the history of the ghost outbreak--the Problem that has ravaged London and the rest of the planet for decades.

The Ugly
Okay, confession time:  I do not like ghosts.

The concept of ghosts freaks me out for some reason, so much so that I simply can't watch The Poltergeist or Paranormal Activity or anything of the sort without incurring nightmares or spending the rest of my evening jumping like a frightened cat.  And while The Screaming Staircase is fairly mild, I still found it eerie, unsettling, and, confidentially, a little bit frightening.

Maybe, it's because I don't like ghosts; maybe, it's because I'm susceptible to frightful things; maybe, it's because Stroud is such an excellent writer that he has a way of conveying a proper sense of horror and describing terrifying things.  Either way, I frequently found myself reading during the daylight hour or flipping all the lights on in my bedroom to combat the eerie feelings of impending doom.