The Whispering Skull

by Jonathan Stroud • Book 2 of the Lockwood & Co. Series

Charismatic leader Anthony Lockwood, graceless researcher George Cubbins, and talented... read more

Charismatic leader Anthony Lockwood, graceless researcher George Cubbins, and talented teammate and narrator Lucy Carlyle return as the rogue team of psychic detection agents in this second addition to the “Lockwood & Co.” series. This time the trio are racing to recover a dangerous psychic relic called a “boneglass,” known to cause madness and even death in anyone who gazes into it. A number of unsavory characters in London — including a cruel black-market dealer, a violent scavenger, or relic man, and a mysterious collector — will do almost anything to attain the glass and Lucy and Lockwood soon find themselves in life-threatening situations. Additionally, Lockwood & Co.’s nemesis, the upscale Fittes Company Team, with whom Scotland Yard requires they work to solve the case, is dogging their steps. Oh, and the skull in the jar that George stole from Fittes Company is holding droll and duplicitous conversations with Lucy, which threaten to undermine the case as well as her relationships with George and Lockwood. New characters, including the unkempt and uncensored Flo Bones, enrich and expand Stroud’s alternate London, while a satisfyingly macabre scene with ghost rats and a breathtaking, death-defying escape from an undercover case gone wrong raise tensions and quicken the pace. Character growth in Lucy, George, and Lockwood individually and as a team adds to the depth as well as the enjoyment of the series. While the case of the “boneglass” is solved, other mysteries abound and the story ends in a cliffhanger of a more personal sort. (Ages 11–15)

© Cooperative Children's Book Center, Univ. of Wisconsin - Madison, 2015

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