Children's booksChildren's books This article is more than 9 years oldThe Whispering Skull by Jonathan Stroud - review
This article is more than 9 years old'I really felt for the Lockwood team and you live on tenterhooks through some of their sticky, creepily dangerous situations'The Lockwood and Co team of ghost investigators are not doing well. They have already lost one case to their rival and aggravating Fittes team of investigators. Just to rub it in the team lead by Quill Kipps has challenged Lockwood and CO to a race to complete the next puzzling case or be shamed as losers in the newspapers.
Edmund Bickerstaff was a loopy scientist determined to see into the afterlife and the Ghost in the Jar at the Lockwood house seems to have so much to say. Does the Ghost Jar have close connections with him? What are the secrets surrounding the exhumation of Bickerstaff and what is the significance of the sinister bone glass mirror?
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I was constantly on my toes trying to work out the possibility of where the threads of the mystery were leading. The book keeps you guessing about the characters and their spooky secrets just as much as the first installment. My favourite character introduced in this story is a friend of Lockwood's, Flo Bones. She is extremely unhygienic and one of a kind. Conversations between her and the Lockwood team add a touch of humour as well as moving the plot along. The pacing could be thought of as a little slow at times and there is a good deal of detailed description as Stroud paints each character in depth but do stick with it as the last quarter of the book is fast paced and worth the slow build up.
I really felt for the Lockwood team and you live on tenterhooks through some of their sticky, creepily dangerous situations. We get to know them a lot better in this second book. The characters become more real, their relationship gels as they walk through one dilemma after another. Jonathan Stroud has created a parallel world with such attention to every detail that you are gripped from first to last and live the events with the team. I enjoyed the light hearted conversations and familiarity between the Lockwood three just as much as in the first book.
One change from the first series was the newly designed book jacket cover artwork. As Anthony Lockwood's character is a mystery which is only being revealed slowly I much preferred the earlier cover where his appearance is equally hidden. I had to put a sticker over his face on the new cover. The drawing is not the Lockwood of my mind's eye. A minor point but I was surprisingly annoyed by seeing his features and the fact that Lucy no longer features on the new cover, she is the narrator after all! Some things are best left to the imagination.
The amount of suspense was terrific and I can't wait for book three in the series. I would recommend it to children 10+ who enjoy ghostly scares, thrills and throw your head back laughter. A great suspenseful read, go check it out!
Buy this book at the Guardian Bookshop.
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