The Creeping Shadow

The Creeping Shadow
(Lockwood and Co. #4)
by Jonathan Stroud
Disney/Hyperion, 2016. Fiction 445 p.
This is the fourth installment of the Lockwood & Co series. In this one Lucy has left the agency because of the premonition she received at the end of book 3. She is successful as an independent agent, but her life is empty and her only friend is The Skull. When Lockwood comes to her door begging her to come back and help them with "just one case" he doesn't have to twist her arm very hard. That case leads to another, and soon they are battling the biggest and scariest phenomenon they have ever faced.

This story does not disappoint Lockwood and Co fans. All the main characters develop in their relationships with each other, and readers get a few more hints at the ultimate cause of "The Problem." Stroud is a master at crafting both characters and plots, balancing intensity and humor so that readers are biting their nails one minute, and laughing out loud the next. I can hardly wait for the next one to come out (probably in the fall.) (445 p.)

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