The Hollow Boy is the third book, published in 2015, in the Lockwood & Co. series of Young Adult novels written by Jonathan Stroud. Anyone who is looking for information on this novel or is interested in reading it is likely already familiar with the backstory told in the first two books in the series. This is a standalone novel that can, theoretically, be enjoyed on its own and out of order without having read the previous two entries. In actual practice, however, most potential readers who are going to engage with this book will likely have read those first two books. It may not be necessary to have done this, but there can be little argument that one's level of enjoyment will increase with the level of familiarity.
This circumstance is both the problem with and the genius of, a literary series. The genius is that by the time The Hollow Boy was published, it already had a huge built-in readership that ensured solid sales figures for the author. The problem is that someone has never heard of Lockwood &. Co. who, for instance, picks up a copy of this novel in a used bookstore and learns that it is part of a series is probably more likely to just put it back on the shelf, unbought and unread. Another problem in confronting the book on its own is that it was specifically written not for those for whom The Hollow Boy will be the only series entry they read, but for those who are following the serial nature of the books. And that is why there are passages like this that would otherwise be unnecessary:
"Hold it. I suppose I should stop before things start getting messy, and tell you exactly who I am. My name is Lucy Carlyle. I make my living destroying the risen spirits of the restless dead...There. Now we’re properly introduced."
The Lockwood books constitute a series of novels taking place in an alternative reality of England overrun by ghosts. The main characters work for the Department of Psychic Research and Control (DEPRAC). The girl who introduces herself with the words above that opens the second chapter, Lucy, has already informed readers that she carries a skull in a jar. This information is presented in the first chapter, almost as an aside. Readers coming to the book having read the first two installments will understand this reference immediately. Readers who start the series with this novel will almost certainly be left with many questions about that skull. They will be answered, of course, but the skull is an important character and it helps substantially to be already familiar with his prickly personality.
The Hollow Boy follows the adventures of these agents of DEPRAC as they investigate a place called the Lavender Lodge. There has been a sudden outbreak of ghosts in London's famous Chelsea district and the narrative twist of the book is that despite this outbreak actually building beyond containment and spreading outward, Lockwood has not been asked to assist. This translates into what seems a counterintuitive dramatic decision: the first part of the story revolves around the main characters—Lucy, Lockwood, and George Cubbins—not fighting ghosts. Or, for that matter, not doing much of anything.
All that begins to change with the decision to hire a new assistant. The entrance into this new character's series, the beautiful but enigmatic Holly Munro, kickstarts the narrative. The dynamic of an established trio is always subject to instability and transformation with its expansion into a quartet. This may be especially true when the new member is another girl. This situation instantly creates tension between Lucy and Holly. Eventually, of course, the team does get very actively involved in the Chelsea outbreak, but the emotional center of the novel is the impact on the team's dynamics. Eventually, the tension becomes stretched beyond the capacity to contain it and emotions become too difficult to control. That is not a good thing for any team, but especially one fighting spectral figures.
And, ultimately, this is why it is recommended that readers do not approach The Hollow Boy without having read what comes before. Perhaps surprisingly, considering the genre and the storyline, the real strength of this novel is not the interplay between humans and ghosts, but the relationship between humans. The real climax of the novel is not the expected victory in Chelsea. It is, instead, an unexpected decision back at the headquarters of Lockwood and Co.
