The Screaming Staircase: Spooky and fun (but no Bartimaeus)

The Screaming Staircase by Jonathon Stroud

LOCKWOOD & CO. is Jonathan Stroud’s second four-part outing. It follows on from the success of his BARTIMAEUS sequence (which comes highly recommended here at FanLit). Stroud specialises in alternate versions of London for children. In BARTIMAEUS it was a London of djinn-conjuring wizards. This time London is troubled by deadly ghosts. The Screaming Staircase is a pacey, exciting introduction to Stroud’s new London, but it lacks the sense of magic and humour that made BARTIMAEUS such a winner.

The story’s narrator is Lucy Carlyle, a young girl from the north of England who makes her way to London, seeking employment at a ghost-hunting agency. London’s ghosts are extremely dangerous, able to kill with a single touch and to paralyse potential victims with “ghost-lock”. Because only children can see the ghosts, most agencies are run by adults with children doing the leg work. But Lockwood & Co. is different. Anthony Lockwood is head of the agency despite being young enough to see the ghosts. Handsome and charismatic, he runs the show with total confidence and a dramatically sweeping coat.

Having been turned down by everyone else, Lucy tries her luck at Lockwood’s. Her talent for hearing and sensing ghosts sees her taken on as the third member of the agency, alongside Lockwood and his irascible assistant George. The team has a shaky start and a dubious track record. A near-fatal encounter with the ghost of a young woman ends with Lucy burning a house down, plunging the agency into financial peril. To save the agency the threesome must solve an ancient murder mystery, tackle England’s most haunted house and, most importantly, rescue their reputation.

The Screaming Staircase has a compelling plot with a continuous sense of spine-tingling, eldritch tension. The hauntings are chilling and the reader experiences the delightful unease of never knowing when something deadly might pop up. Stroud never shies away from an unmitigated disaster and his characters do things they really shouldn’t (no one likes a teacher’s pet, after all). There is humour too, although not the laugh-out-loud variety that Stroud pulled off in Bartimaeus.

Stroud’s real forte lies in embellishments. The most enjoyable aspects of The Screaming Staircase are the anecdotes of historic hauntings and the insight the reader is given into the hierarchy of ghosts, which can range from a relatively harmless Shade to a dangerous Poltergeist. But while these sorts of details popped up all the time in BARTIMAEUS, they are less prevalent in The Screaming Staircase. As a result the story is less-enchanting; a certain magic is missing.

The characterisation is also considerably weaker. Lockwood is likeable but there is no one that comes close to rivaling the pithy humour of the mischievous djinn in BARTIMAEUS. A cheekier relationship between Lockwood and Lucy would have been appreciated. At times Lucy disobeys Lockwood’s orders, but her defiance feels petulant and her awe of Lockwood verges on embarrassing. There is also something uncomfortable in her derision of the fat, unhealthy George, who serves as an awkward contrast to Lockwood’s svelte sexiness.

The Screaming Staircase is a fun and spooky ghost story that will no doubt entrance its young audience. But for a magic-obsessed adult, BARTIMAEUS wins every time.