2025 Reading Challenge 13 The Screaming Staircase
For the record, I loved the Netflix series Lockwood & Co., and it was only after getting into it that I realised it was also a series of books. A deep shame is cast on Netflix for not renewing it.
This micro-review is challenging as it’s hard to separate the writing and characters on the page from the TV series. Someone on Bluesky highlighted that the TV series does a lot to flesh out the blank canvas of the characters. Certainly, there is some truth to this, but then, as a starting novel in a series, it is perhaps helpful to have that development stretch across the novels. Whereas the TV series doesn’t have that luxury.
The main element that struck me was the background, the premise of the book. Many decades ago, ghosts became real, attacking and killing the living. Only children and teenagers were able to see or interact with ghosts and so were employed in agencies to counteract this threat. As they became adults, this power deserted them, whereupon they took on management and administration roles in the ghost-hunting organisations.
The story concerns Lockwood, Lucy and George, part of Lockwood & Co, a teen-only ghost-hunting agency - normally, an adult oversees the youngsters. Lockwood has money problems, so he will go to great lengths to make a name for the agency. You quickly understand Lucy’s background, the horrors she has been through and why she’s ended up at Lockwood’s agency. But Lockwood and George are left enigmas, something for future stories to develop, but little hooks are dropped to suggest there are dark histories for both.
There are some excellent action scenes in the first investigation, which ends in disaster, plunging Lockwood into undertaking more and more desperate cases.
Whilst there is a fair amount of set-up, it’s interspersed with a series of fast-moving scenes, some wonderful details, the skull in a green, misty glass jar and dialogue, especially from George. Overall, this is a fairly hard-hitting Young Adult novel, with plenty of deaths and a grisly crime at the heart of the story. I’m looking forward to picking up a few more in the series and, of course, for Netflix to reverse their ridiculous decision to cancel the series.
I rated it 7.6 out of 10.
NB - The Netflix Series takes us through The Screaming Staircase, episodes 1-3 and then The Whispering Skull, episodes 4-8.
TTRPG Thoughts:
Paul Mitchener’s Liminal springs to mind, a very strong Urban Fantasy setting, with a ghost realm focus, rather than anything beyond that. In fact, only a few adjustments of Liminal would align perfectly with the books, with perhaps an expansion of talents and skills that outline the abilities of Lockwood (Death vision, Sword skills), George (Research) and Lucy (Spirit realm).
There are aspects of Tales from the Loop that focus on the main protagonists being children or teens. This adds some interesting character developments: managing growing into an adult, ultimately losing all abilities, so finite campaigns. Perhaps Things from the Flood is a better fit, given the deadliness of ghost hunting.
There is also a mission element, where cases can be broken down into research and planning before approaching the actual site of the haunting and then, afterwards downtime to recover and build up the ghost-hunting practice and base. Sounds like there is potential for a Forged in the Dark hack!