A review by whimsicallymeghan
Curiosity House: The Screaming Statue by Lauren Oliver, H. C. Chester

3.0

When a famous sculpture, Siegfried Eckleberger is murdered, Sam, Pippa, Max and Thomas are on the case. Eckleberger was like a grandfather to them and so they must avenge his death, but the more they investigate the more they realize it’s tied to a villain from their past, Nicholas Rattigan. The children must work double time to solve the case and save themselves. This was a fun adventure, mystery novel that had the reader engaged much more than the first novel. The same cast of characters are back and this time they have a new mystery to solve. The plot of this one felt extremely developed and well layered. The plot fed into the characters because the mystery was personal to them and that really made the stakes higher and the story more interesting. There was also a sub-plot that the characters also had a personal connection with that ended up feeding into the main plot and it was woven really well. The puzzles and riddles were clever, which the reader found captivating. This novel felt like there were less illustrations, but the ones we did get added to the story, giving the reader a good visual of all the characters. Speaking of, they felt more fleshed out in this novel, we finally got to see more from them and to understand them better. Their qualities stood out more and they felt more dimensional. It’s clear that there is growth and the reader is excited to read the third novel to see what they get into next. Overall, this was a thrilling and suspenseful story with a group of quirky characters.