The Hollow Boy
2015
- juvenile fiction / horror & ghost stories
- ghost stories
- paranormal fiction
- juvenile fiction / fantasy & magic
- juvenile fiction / mysteries & detective stories
- fiction
- detective and mystery stories
- supernatural
- ghosts
- juvenile fiction
The story
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.
What it’s like
Crisp, wry prose with a brisk, dialogue-led voice, the kind that keeps a Victorian-tinged London feeling both gaslit and modern through fog, rain-slick streets and crowded tube-era trains. The sensory world is rich but never heavy: the chill of a haunted house, the pale glow of ghostly light, the hiss of a silver-tipped rapier, a skull in a jar muttering sardonic asides from the corner of a dim, cluttered townhouse office. Its mood is brisk and bright with a shiver underneath, a cosy-spooky register where banter softens the dread. Pacing is quick, with short chapters that move from one eerie scene to the next, and the emotional arc follows three young investigators learning to trust each other, a newcomer who unsettles the group, and friction that gradually turns into loyalty. Intensity sits at moderate: ghostly attacks, a few tense fights and a sudden violent assault, with fear and peril more than gore; the violence is brief and not graphic. It suits a rainy weekend read, a comfort-spooky pick for teens and adults who like ghost stories with humour, and readers who enjoy juvenile mysteries that are scary without being cruel.
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