Ghosts and ghouls beware! London’s smallest, shabbiest and most talented psychic detection agency is back.

Life is never exactly peaceful for Lockwood & Co. Lucy and George are trying to solve the mystery of the talking skull trapped in their ghost jar, while Lockwood is desperate for an exciting new case.

Things seem to be looking up when the team is called to Kensal Green Cemetery to investigate the grave of a sinister Victorian doctor. Strange apparitions have been seen there, and the site must be made safe. As usual, Lockwood is confident; as usual, everything goes wrong – a terrible phantom is unleashed, and a dangerous object is stolen from the coffin.

Lockwood & Co must recover the relic before its power is unleashed, but it’s a race against time. Their obnoxious rivals from the Fittes agency are also on the hunt. And if that’s not bad enough, the skull in the ghost-jar is stirring again…

The author of the blockbuster BARTIMAEUS sequence delivers another humorous and chilling instalment in the critically acclaimed LOCKWOOD & CO. series.

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“Plan F, we follow Plan F, right now.”
“Is that the one where we run away?”
“Not at all. It’s the one where we beat a dignified emergency retreat.”

The Whispering Skull, JONATHAN STROUD

It’s so lovely to be back with Lucy, Lockwood and George in Stroud’s amazing sequel, “The Whispering Skull”! I honestly jumped straight from book one to book two since I couldn’t wait to adventure more with this trio.

Lockwood & Co. have quite the adventure ahead of them when they are called to investigate strange paranormal activity happening near a coffin at a burial site in Kensal Green Cemetery. But when they discover that a dangerous artefact found in the coffin has been stolen, it’s up to them to discover who stole the object and confiscate it before it causes any harm.

As with the first one, the world building and plot development were on point. It was fun following our trio uncover the secrets behind the coffin dweller and the stolen artefact, in addition to their growing curiosity regarding the secrets behind “the Problem”. I just continue to feel completely immersed into this alternate ghost frenzy world.

The chemistry between Lucy, Lockwood and George has grown immensely since book one, especially with George. Lockwood & Co. is becoming more of a cohesive team … even with their mishaps and unique ability to find themselves in danger all the time. The chaos and comedy is still there, sprinkled throughout the stressful and near death experiences, making the whole story just that much more fun.

Flo, a new character to the story, has to be one of the best characters. She’s skittish and chaotic, but still does care. She’s not part of any ghost hunting organization, which definitely peaked my interest. It goes to show that there’s a lot of other situations and outcomes that happen to teens with the “Sense”.

And then … the Skull. I LOVE THE SKULL! He’s a very chaotic-neutral/chaotic-evil character, who’s banter with Lucy (especially when he’s insulting everyone around him and they can’t hear him) was probably the highlight of this novel for me. His addition also brings into question Lucy’s abilities, as they seem to be growing in each novel. His addition to the novel with Flo was just magnificent.

Similar to my thoughts on book one, I found it hard not to do the comparison game to the “Lockwood & Co.” Netflix show. Some parts I preferred in the book, while some parts I preferred in the novel. It’s nice that moving forward, I won’t have seen anything that pertains to the novels in the show, as season one is based off of book one and book two only (I’m still super sad that the show got cancelled though … my naive self is hoping that someone will pick it up and finish it all).

This was such a great ride! “The Whispering Skull” is my favourite thus far in the series, beating that “the sequel isn’t as good as the prequel” syndrome. Jumping in to book three, “The Hollow Boy”!

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