Lockwood & Co.: The Hollow Boy (Lockwood & Co., 3)
Lockwood & Co.: The Hollow Boy (Lockwood & Co., 3) book cover

Lockwood & Co.: The Hollow Boy (Lockwood & Co., 3)

Hardcover – Illustrated, September 15, 2015

by
Price
$19.77
Format
Hardcover
Pages
400
Publisher
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publication Date
ISBN-13
978-1484709689
Dimensions
5.88 x 1.25 x 8.63 inches
Weight
1.2 pounds

Description

From School Library Journal Gr 5–8—As in the previous volumes, The Screaming Staircase (2013) and The Whispering Skull (2014, both Disney-Hyperion), the latest escapades of Lockwood and Co., a ghost-hunting agency staffed by the crack team of Anthony Lockwood, George Cubbins, and Lucy Carlyle, start with a hair-raising scene of murder, mayhem, and ghostly apparitions. Narrator Lucy finds herself on shaky ground as her ability to speak to ghosts grows ever more powerful and more dangerous, while changes to the agency in the form of a tidy, Type A assistant named Holly Munroe seem to spell doom for Lucy's future with the company. Meanwhile, The Problem grows exponentially worse and a fading, famous department store holds more horrors than Lucy has ever seen. A series of disturbing discoveries, building on revelations in the earlier books, make it clear that there is a more malevolent human force than The Problem at work in London, and Lucy, George, and Lockwood are drawing ever closer to its source. As always, the descriptions of the hauntings are genuinely frightening, especially that of a spindly, humanoid creature that crawls on all fours and whispers Lucy's name. VERDICT. Fans of the series will anxiously await Lockwood and Co.'s spine-tingling adventures in the next installment.—Elisabeth Gattullo Marrocolla, Darien Library, CT PRAISE FOR THE SCREAMING STAIRCASE "Three young ghost trappers take on deadly wraiths and solve an old murder case in the bargain to kick off Stroud's new post-Bartimaeus series. The work is fraught with peril, not only because a ghost's merest touch is generally fatal, but also, as it turns out, none of the three is particularly good at careful planning and preparation. A heartily satisfying string of entertaining near-catastrophes, replete with narrow squeaks and spectral howls."-- Kirkus Reviews PRAISE FOR THE SCREAMING STAIRCASE "...Stroud writes for a younger audience in book one of the Lockwood & Co. series and delivers some chilling scenes along the way."-- Booklist PRAISE FOR THE SCREAMING STAIRCASE "A pleasure from tip to tail, this is the book you hand the advanced readers that claim they'd rather read Paradise Lost than Harry Potter . Smart as a whip, funny, witty, and honestly frightening at times, Stroud lets loose and gives readers exactly what they want. Ghosts, kids on their own without adult supervision, and loads of delicious cookies." -- Elizabeth Bird, School Library Journal PRAISE FOR THE SCREAMING STAIRCASE "Stroud shows his customary flair for blending deadpan humor with thrilling action, and the fiery interplay among the three agents of Lockwood & Co. invigorates the story (along with no shortage of creepy moments)." -- Publishers Weekly PRAISE FOR THE WHISPERING SKULL *"An occult portal and its spectral guardian nearly cut short the careers of three rising young ghost hunters in this madcap sequel to The Screaming Staircase (2013). For all their internecine squabbling, the three protagonists make a redoubtable team-and their supporting cast, led by the sneering titular skull in a jar, adds color and complications aplenty. Rousing adventures for young tomb robbers and delves into realms better left to the dead." -- Kirkus Reviews (starred review) PRAISE FOR THE WHISPERING SKULL *"In this sequel to The Screaming Staircase (2013), Stroud delivers another riveting narrative in which the three young psychic investigators deal with malevolent supernatural forces in an alternate London. Stroud writes with a fine ear for dialog, a wry sense of humor, and a knack for describing haunted places. Creating tension that ebbs and flows, he slowly builds the dramatic narrative to a resounding crescendo, and he makes the quieter scenes that follow just as compelling. The second entry in the Lockwood & Company series, this imaginative adventure features one of the most hair-raising chase scenes in children's friction. At the book's end, when the enigmatic Anthony Lockwood reveals a chilling secret, readers can only hope that more sequels are in the offing."-- Booklist (starred review) Jonathan Stroud (www.jonathanstroud.com) is the author of four previous books in the Lockwood & Co. series as well as the New York Times bestselling Bartimaeus books, and the stand-alone titles Heroes of the Valley, The Leap, The Last Siege , and Buried Fire . He lives in England with his wife and three children. Read more

Features & Highlights

  • *NOW A NETFLIX SERIES* In this spine-tingling next book of the Lockwood & Co series, the ghost-hunting gang take on terrifying new challenges.
  • 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.
  • Praise for
  • The Screaming Staircase
  • "This story will keep you reading late into the night, but you'll want to leave the lights on. Stroud is a genius at inventing an utterly believable world which is very much like ours, but so creepily different. Put
  • The Screaming Staircase
  • on your 'need to read' list!" -- Rick Riordan "A pleasure from tip to tail, this is the book you hand the advanced readers that claim they'd rather read
  • Paradise Lost
  • than
  • Harry Potter
  • . Smart as a whip, funny, witty, and honestly frightening at times, Stroud lets loose and gives readers exactly what they want. Ghosts, kids on their own without adult supervision, and loads of delicious cookies." -- Elizabeth Bird,
  • School Library Journal
  • "Stroud shows his customary flair for blending deadpan humor with thrilling action, and the fiery interplay among the three agents of Lockwood & Co. invigorates the story (along with no shortage of creepy moments)." --
  • Publishers Weekly
  • Praise for
  • The Whispering Skull
  • "An occult portal and its spectral guardian nearly cut short the careers of three rising young ghost hunters in this madcap sequel to
  • The Screaming Staircase
  • (2013). For all their internecine squabbling, the three protagonists make a redoubtable team-and their supporting cast, led by the sneering titular skull in a jar, adds color and complications aplenty. Rousing adventures for young tomb robbers and delves into realms better left to the dead."
  • -- Kirkus Reviews
  • (starred review) "Stroud writes with a fine ear for dialog, a wry sense of humor, and a knack for describing haunted places. Creating tension that ebbs and flows, he slowly builds the dramatic narrative to a resounding crescendo, and he makes the quieter scenes that follow just as compelling." --
  • Booklist
  • (starred review)

Customer Reviews

Rating Breakdown

★★★★★
60%
(1.6K)
★★★★
25%
(681)
★★★
15%
(408)
★★
7%
(191)
★
-7%
(-191)

Most Helpful Reviews

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Another great installment in a thrilling series

Jonathan Stroud is the only YA/middle-grade author I read on a consistent basis, and for good reason. I loved Stroud's Bartimaeus series, which I found to be uniquely deep and entertaining compared to most of its YA peers. Stroud has consistently delivered interesting, realistic characters and engaging stories.

The Hollow Boy, of course, is no exception to this. We pick up with Lockwood&Co as they were previously, hunting ghosts, going on adventures, etc. The everyday routine is thrown for a loop when a new character, Holly Munro, steps onto the scene.

At first, I felt that this was a very uninspired twist that happens often in YA series. A new girl! Gasp! Tension! Jealously! And there were parts in this book, especially in the first half, where I felt like the Holly-storyline was only a cliche and added little to the story. Luckily, Holly exists less as a new point on a love triangle and more as a way for Lucy's character to develop. For that, I am grateful. At the end of the novel, I did feel that we had gotten some significant character development for Lucy, and there was a real sense of progression in the overall storyline as a result. One of the strongest pros of this series has been the protagonist, who is certainly flawed, but sympathetic and still likable. This novel only solidified my fondness for her even more.

The ghost mystery of this novel was also interesting although it wasn't really the main focus. The actual confrontations with the ghosts were (as always) intense and thrilling (pick up the book for these alone).

The only gripe I had with the novel (other than Holly's initial cliche-ness) was that there wasn't enough skull! It reminds me of Bartimaeus, in a way, which is definitely a good thing.

Waiting anxiously now for the next one.
17 people found this helpful
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Another Amazing Entry in My Favorite New Series!

Ever since Harry Potter ended, I’ve been searching for a middle-grade series to capture my enthusiasm and interest, but nothing has really grabbed me until I stumbled upon Lockwood & Co. I adore this series!! Stroud has created a rich and eerily atmospheric alternate version of London—full of ghosts and the child agents whose jobs are to track them down and put them to rest for good. It’s a world full of intrigue and politics between rival agencies, of dangerous missions and sinister specters that do much more than go bump in the night. But what really makes this series stand out for me are the characters. Lucy is a wonderful protagonist—feisty, sarcastic, brave. Yet at times she is endearingly sympathetic, with enough doubts and vulnerabilities to remind you that in spite of her tough-as-nails exterior, she is all too human. Lockwood is mysterious and more than a little self-absorbed, and George is fumbling and often distracted but always well-meaning. They are characters that feel very real and dimensional to me, and I enjoy them all. I’m also impressed by Mr. Stroud’s ability to keep the series so fresh and exciting. Often with series you find that some of the books can start to falter and lose pace. Not so with Lockwood & Co. Every single book in this series has felt new and exciting to me and brings along such unexpected developments in the plot and the characters (even some of the antagonists!) that I can’t help staying up late at night to turn the next page. I read somewhere online that Stroud has at least four but maybe five books planned for this series, but hadn’t quite made up his mind yet. I, for one, am desperately hoping he goes on to write that fifth book. The world and characters he has created are more than rich enough for a five-book series, and since series of this caliber don’t come along very often, I want as much time with Lucy, Lockwood, and George as I can get!!
9 people found this helpful
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I love this series

I love this series. It's relaxing and entertaining in the way that the Baker Street/Sherlock stories were.

I thought book #1, The Screaming Stairs, was good. Book #2, The Whispering Skull, was even better. And now THE HOLLOW BOY, this book, is perhaps the best of all.

What makes this series delightful and gratifying is the layering. Yes, it's a book for middle schoolers (on up) BUT it has layering and in each book questions are partially resolved, leaving room for more discoveries in the subsequent tales; while other new questions appear to tantalize us.

In addition the tableau of characters is increases (and decreases with some deaths) which gives you-the-reader the perspective that you are going somewhere. This is something many adult books don't pull off. Stroud does it beautifully.

~

Rabid praise aside I really want to give this book 4.5 Stars because the ending wasn't quite satisfying. But that could be me. I was racing to get to the end so may have fled past some telling point too quickly to fully appreciate it.

But in general, I think the tension of this book matches that of the first book. And the familiarity of the characters was just like a comfy sweater.

Can't wait for the next volume.
6 people found this helpful
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Stroud is Consistently Spectacular

I am a voracious reader, and a picky one. I seldom finish a book if I dislike it, and am usually hesitant to buy a book without reading it first. So it says something that I preordered this months in advance and never had any doubt that it'd be one of the best books of the year. And it is.

Lockwood and Co. is hard at work. A massive outbreak in Chelsea has had repercussions such that every agency in London has more work than it can deal with. Lucy, George, and Lockwood find themselves having to work separately as often as alone, quelling Type 1s and 2s. As they work, Lucy's psychic power continues to grow as she stretches it in an attempt to understand and even communicate with the ghosts intent on killing her.

The book is tense, edge-of-your-seat thrilling, can't-put-it-down excellent, with engaging and realistic characters. Each new haunting is unique and original; each has its own mystery, conclusions, surrounding, and terrors. Stroud's writing, as always, is the best of the best.

Parental Guide: this book is scary, but it has no content inappropriate for children.
3 people found this helpful
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Lockwood and Co. never ceases to amaze!

I am not in the target audience for this middle grade book, being almost 30, however Lockwood and Co. never ceases to amaze me. I'm from the Harry Potter generation yet this book is a very close second to my favorite series.

This installment adds a new character to Lockwood's agency, Holly Munro, and she is quite likable. (Regardless of what Lucy thinks the majority of the book!) The skull is snarkier and funnier than ever, to the point where I thought maybe it was Bartimaeus in a jar. Also the scare factor is real: I had to close my curtains and turn on the lights to read in the middle of the night, and was still creeped out.
2 people found this helpful
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The Heat is On

Author Stroud turns the screw on Lockwood & Co. both externally and internally in this third installment.

Outside, London is going to Hell, almost literally - there's been a huge haunting outbreak throughout Chelsea, with every major agency in the city stretched to the breaking-point and beyond trying to contain it! How is this happening? And why now? The death toll is mounting and there are no ready answers. Our gang is doing what they can, picking up the outer-city slack, until events inevitably draw them deeper into the mystery...

Internally, all is not well in the house on Portland Row - L&Co. have taken on an office assistant, the hyper-competent and perfectly turned-out Holly Munro, and the previous delicate balance has been thrown way-way off, although only Lucy seems to notice this. And the skull. But the skull must be kept secret from Holly, so more tension there. Speaking of secrets, Lockwood does reveal a big one at the start of the book, but maybe too little-too late, as this only seems to make the dynamic betwixt him and Lucy even more off-kilter.

A quick aside here - I can't be the only one who finds our Miss Munro completely unbelievable! Not as a character, as that she's fine, but as just "turning up" on the doorstep in need of a job? She's obviously a plant, right? A spy among the pigeons, sent by DEPRAC or one of the major agencies. I mean, something is afoot as...

... a major, and horrific, assassination attempt (think weaponized ghosts) shatters the delicate balance both inside and out. My American conspiracy-senses tingle tells me that the #2 Rotwell Agency is making a major power grab, tied up with the shadowy Orpheus Society and with the massive Chelsea outbreak (and just whom did our Miss Munro work for prior to showing up at Portland Row? Yep). We'll see... these dire threads remain tantalizingly loose by book's end, along with a game-changing announcement that makes rushing to the next volume a must.

If there's any narrow-eyed critique, it's two things:
The wrap-up of the Chelsea ghost-nado is a bit abrupt and pat after the extensive build. Yes, it makes sense and follows the rules of the world as set but just feels a touch anti-climatic and, due to the ongoing conspiracy-tease, not fully explained.

The climatic fight between between Lucy and Holly (don't get excited, it's an argument, a spat, but significant), doesn't play true. Not the emotions, they're fine and make sense on both sides, but the dialogue, the "way" of it - so far, the only time is feels like a 30-something man writing teens in this series.

Shivers and shake-ups a'plenty as this series continue to develop and build excitement. Sooo much more to be uncovered... Like the title, "The Hollow Boy", sooo ambiguous... Does it refer to a chilling and elusive spirit Lucy encounters near book's end? Or could the Hollow Boy be Lockwood himself? So detached, so not-present, so already half living in another world...

On to the next book!
1 people found this helpful
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Spooky Suspense!

Jonathan Stroud continues to amaze and entrance his readers in this compelling new series!
We get deeper into the characters and deeper into the personal feelings and relationships that can at once be rewarding and also troubling.
An alternate London where ghosts walk and inflict death on the unprepared is a chilling thought-Do any of us have the courage and fortitude to tackle that as an occupation?
Be happy its only a story.
But read it because You like to be scared and you appreciate that things that go bump in the night are more real than we know!
1 people found this helpful
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What a fantastic series and page-turner!

What a fantastic series and page-turner!

I'm one of those adults who loves some of the new books for younger folks, for this is a great new world (I was also a children's librarian years ago). Stroud is a fantastic, imaginative author; and this series just keeps getting deeper and better, creepier and more horrifying. While it is written for 8-12 age range, I would be very hesitant about the lower range in reading/listening to it. This is a thriller series with great characters and developing threads. We are left with more of a cliff-hanger of sorts, which is just fine as that means there will be book #4. Waiting for it will be hard.

One of the best series I've read - enjoy.
1 people found this helpful
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Just putting this only because I have to

Great read. Very entertaining. Kids enjoyed it & I enjoyed reading it to them.
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Nice

Awesome book for the story and decoration.

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