Friday Fave is a weekly discussion about different bookish topics. You can choose just one favourite or a few – the choice is up to you!
This week’s topic is: A Spooky Book.
Lockwood & Co: The Screaming Staircase Jonathan Stroud
When the dead come back to haunt the living, Lockwood & Co. step in . . .
For more than fifty years, the country has been affected by a horrifying epidemic of ghosts. A number of Psychic Investigations Agencies have sprung up to destroy the dangerous apparitions.
Lucy Carlyle, a talented young agent, arrives in London hoping for a notable career. Instead she finds herself joining the smallest, most ramshackle agency in the city, run by the charismatic Anthony Lockwood. When one of their cases goes horribly wrong, Lockwood & Co. have one last chance of redemption. Unfortunately this involves spending the night in one of the most haunted houses in England, and trying to escape alive.
Set in a city stalked by spectres, The Screaming Staircase is the first in a chilling new series full of suspense, humour and truly terrifying ghosts. Your nights will never be the same again .
I’ll admit it, I’m a wimp. I can’t watch horror films, and even watching trailers in the cinema freak me out. However, I have a love of ghosts – they utterly fascinate me. I love Buzzfeed Unsolved and I have Most Haunted set up to record so I can watch it in the safety of daylight. So when I saw the blurb to The Screaming Staircase, I knew that this would be a book I just had to read.
This book scared me. Seriously, I thought I was safe reading a book that’s more towards the lower end of the Young Adult spectrum. I was wrong. When I needed to go to the toilet at night, I would have to pluck up the courage, my brain imagining some of the spooks in the book just on the other side of my bedroom door. Okay, so I’m exaggerating a bit there, but this book did freak me out a little.
It was scary but in a good way. I didn’t want to close the book, I just needed to keep reading. I loved the stories of the ghosts and the relationship between Lucy, Lockwood and George, which provided lighter moments between the scares. I would find myself reading this book past midnight and had to force myself to stop reading!
This book is the first in a series of five, all of which are as brilliant as The Screaming Staircase. Now, I’m on the hunt for more ghostly books!
What spooky books do you recommend?
