Publisher:Disney Hyperion
Date of publication:
In the six months since Anthony, Lucy, and George survived a night in the most haunted house in England, Lockwood & Co. hasn't made much progress. Quill Kipps and his team of Fittes agents keep swooping in on Lockwood's investigations. Finally, in a fit of anger, Anthony challenges his rival to a contest: the next time the two agencies compete on a job, the losing side will have to admit defeat in the Times newspaper.
Things look up when a new client, Mr. Saunders, hires Lockwood & Co. to be present at the excavation of Edmund Bickerstaff, a Victorian doctor who reportedly tried to communicate with the dead. Saunders needs the coffin sealed with silver to prevent any supernatural trouble. All goes well-until George's curiosity attracts a horrible phantom.
Back home at Portland Row, Lockwood accuses George of making too many careless mistakes. Lucy is distracted by urgent whispers coming from the skull in the ghost jar. Then the team is summoned to DEPRAC headquarters. Kipps is there too, much to Lockwood's annoyance. Bickerstaff's coffin was raided and a strange glass object buried with the corpse has vanished. Inspector Barnes believes the relic to be highly dangerous, and he wants it found.
The Whispering Skull is the follow up to the Screaming Staircase. IT picks up about 6 months after the first book. This time around, the team are paired up with another agency to find a dangerous haunted object. The two teams are rivals and of course chaos and danger lurks around every corner.
I have to admit that I didn't love this one as much as the first book. For me the pacing wasn't as consistent. It was really dragged in parts. I had no problem stopping the audiobook for long stretches of time. It did pick up in the last third of the book though. The strength of the story is it's spooky setting. The author does a great job of setting the tone and making the reader feel like they are ghost hunting along with the team. I also enjoyed getting to know George a bit more. He plays a larger role in the mystery than he did in the first book. Lucy is beginning to really hone her skill for speaking to the dead.
We do learn a bit more about the Fittes agency and some secrets are revealed. The book also ends on a cliffhanger with a reveal about the mysterious locked room in Lockwood's house. Despite its slow pace, I still did enjoy it. I definitely recommend this series to lovers of middle grade paranormal.
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