The Screaming Staircase (Lockwood & Co, #1) - Jonathan Stroud

In London, there is the Problem. What is the Problem? It's ghosts and they aren't friendly; in fact, they're quite dangerous and need gotten rid of. The only ones that can get rid of these spirits are young people, as they are the only ones who are really in tune with the spirit world.

 

There are many paranormal investigation agencies in London and Lucy Carlyle ends up at a fairly new one called Lockwood & Co. It is a small agency, run without adults. Lucy thinks it's great and luckily, she is chosen as their new agent. Soon after becoming an agent, Lucy and owner of the company, Lockwood, are assigned to a case. It turns out to be more than they can handle as they weren't properly prepared.

 

Even with the bad publicity, their small agency gets the attention of a very wealthy man, who owns the most haunted house in London. He wants them to rid the house of his spirit problem, which no one else has been able to do. It turns out to be a much more dangerous case than they thought it would be.

 

How I discovered this book was through author Joseph Delaney and I am a huge fan of his The Last Apprentice series. He said that this was a good book and I decided to borrow it from my library. I'll be honest and say that I felt the beginning was slow. However, after the beginning, it really picks up and gets very good.

 

I love paranormal stuff, stories about ghosts, whether they are fiction or non-fiction. I think it's quite a neat story line to have investigation agencies that get rid of ghosts. The cases are interesting, some very simply and others can be very dangerous.

 

I enjoyed the character of Lucy. She's strong and brave. She showed, even more so towards the end, that girls should never be underestimated or viewed as the "weak link".

 

Lockwood is interesting and pretty smart, too. He seemed to be good at figuring things out.

 

George was the type that wanted things done the proper way, which meant research before going on a case. And I think perhaps he picked on Lucy too much, but she was able to handle herself and picked on him right back. He is a good character though and cares about his fellow agents.

 

I really enjoyed when they went on their investigations and reading about the equipment they used. There was also mystery in the book and a twist I didn't see coming, which made me enjoy the book even more.

 

I'm happy to see this is the first in a series and I can't wait to read more adventures of the agents at Lockwood & Co.