Lockwood & Co. The Creeping Shadow [Hardcover]

After leaving Lockwood & Co. at the end ofThe Hollow Boy,Lucy is a freelance operative, hiring herself out to agencies that value her ever-improving skills. One day she is pleasantly surprised by a visit from Lockwood, who tells her he needs a good Listener for a tough assignment. Penelope Fittes, the leader of the giant Fittes Agency wants them--and only them--to locate and remove the Source for the legendary Brixton Cannibal. They succeed in their very dangerous task, but tensions remain high between Lucy and the other agents. Even the skull in the jar talks to her like a jilted lover. What will it take to reunite the team? Black marketeers, an informant ghost, a Spirit Cape that transports the wearer, and mysteries involving Steve Rotwell and Penelope Fittes just may do the trick. But, in a shocking cliffhanger ending, the team learns that someone has been manipulating them all along. . . .

Jonathan Stroud (www.jonathanstroud.com) is the author of three previous books in the Lockwood & Co. series as well as theNew York Timesbest-selling Bartimaeus books, and the stand-alone titlesHeroes of the Valley,The Leap,The Last Siege,andBuried Fire. He lives in England with his wife and three children.

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. PutThe Screaming Staircaseon your 'need to read' list!

* An occult portal and its spectral guardian nearly cut short the careers of three rising young ghost hunters in this madcap sequel toThe Screaming Staircase(2013). For all their internecine squabbling, the three protagonists make a redoubtable team-and their supporting cast, lel#: