Lucy knows beyond a doubt that the man who gave the girl that necklace is also the one who killed her. With the same sophisticated imagination that made his Bartimaeus series such a success, Stroud’s writing is assured and nimble. The agencies are run by those who have passed the ghost-sensitive age, and the agents are the youth with the talents necessary to solve the hauntings, which puts them in danger in the process. Overall, The Screaming Staircase was a fab new start to what is looking like another great series by Jonathan Stroud. Several things sound funny (and dangerous) about the offer, and George and Lucy want to discuss it, but Lockwood overrides their concerns and accepts the job.

Hooded shadows run with them along the walls, keeping pace with them, the screaming tearing into their skulls. He lay facedown on the rug in the center of the room, with his eyes wide open and his arms outstretched as if in supplication.Well you know when the next book in a series is about to come out and you can't remember all the main details of the previous books? Now I knew why the chamber was without furniture of any kind, why it had been deserted for so many years. Lucy slides her hand along the stone wall as they descend and begins to sense things—the stamping of boots, the scrape of swords, the voices of many men.

The Screaming Staircase,book one in the five-volume series, begins with Junior Field Operative Lucy Carlyle (the protagonist) and Agency Director A. More Hamburger icon An icon used to represent a menu that can be toggled by interacting with this icon.

He looked like a kid caught making an angel in the snow, except his glasses had been blown off and one of his hands was bleeding. The agency is led by Anthony Lockwood and has one other member prior to Lucy's joining, George Cubbins.

Lockwood sees an opportunity for good publicity if they can discover the killer, even after all these years.While Lockwood begins tearing through the wall with a crowbar, Lucy keeps her sword out, forcing the ghost to stay back. This particular ghost—a girl—disappeared into a wall, and they know the Source must be behind the wall. is pretty good -- well, better than most series out there -- there's really no substitute for the original material.