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The Whispering Skull

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By DeeDee
Cover image for The whispering skull
The Whispering Skull
(Lockwood & Co. #2)
by Jonathan Stroud
Disney Hyperion, 2014. Fiction, 435 p

Anthony Lockwood, Lucy Carlyle and George Cubbins are back on the job trying to neutralize the source for the ghost of the necromancer, Edmund Bickerstaff. When a powerful relic is stolen from the body, Lockwood and Company go head to head with their rivals from the Fitts agency to see who can recover it first. The relic and those who stole it turn out to be far more dangerous than they could have imagined.  Those who enjoyed the first in the series will not want to miss this second installment.  The reader learns more about the mysterious Lockwood, and the relationships between the three main characters become more complicated and interesting. There is plenty of humor and spooky adventure, though this one is perhaps not quite as intensely creepy as the first one  (which is not necessarily a bad thing).  A stinger ending will have readers counting the days until the release of the next installment.
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