The Hollow Boy by Jonathan Stroud

Lockwood & Co. might be the smallest (some might say shambollic) Psychic Detection Agency in London. But its three agents - Lockwood, Lucy and George - are exceptional Talents. And they get results. When an outbreak of ghostly phenomena grows to terrifying levels in Chelsea, Scotland Yard is left baffled.

Even more baffling is that Lockwood & Co appear to have been excluded from the huge team of Agents investigating the Chelsea Outbreak. Surely this is the perfect chance for them to show once and for all that they're actually the best in town? Well, that's if they can put aside their personal differences for long enough to march into action with their rapiers, salt and iron . . .

Book 3 in Lockwood and Co series, I absolutely loved seeing the gang again. In this instalment, the Problem is getting worse and Chelsea is seriously haunted. So bad in fact that the agencies are grabbing anyone and everyone they can to assist in the ghost hunting. 

The balance has been upset by a new addition: Holly. The boys of course are utterly smitten by her and her amazing organisation skills but Lucy is annoyed by her. Petty and childish yes, but completely normal for a teenage girl and I loved seeing this side to Lucy. She's so professional and good at her job, you forget how young they all are. And then of course there's the skull. Rude, annoying, likes to throw insults around and only be helpful about half the time, the skull is an unwilling member of the team with Lucy acting as interpreter. 

There was also some pretty impressive character growth; with some unwanted insight from the skull, Lucy is now confused about her feelings for Lockwood, Lockwood is starting to open up about his past and his family, and George is... well George! They've all been together long enough to have that group dynamic that Lucy didn't want changed but Holly does make them better and it takes Lucy a while to get over that. In fact, it takes a life-and-death moment with a dangerous poltergeist to get the two girls to open up.

I love this series so much, the characters are funny, the plot intertwines everything neatly so we see both character development and action sequences, and the ghosts are awesome. I can't wait to see what happens next, there was something of a shocking ending and I need to know how things work out!

Published 24th September 2015 by RHCP Digital.