Shadowhall Academy

This new scary series for children opens with a thrilling take on the classic haunted house story. It tells the tale of Lillian Jones’ first term at her new boarding school – Shadowhall Academy. It’s an eventful term. As well as the tedious lessons and unpalatable school dinners, Lillian encounters unexplained noises coming from the walls and fearful visions of ghostly, child-like spectres. Is her nervous mind playing tricks on her, or are the stories about Shadowhall’s ghostly alumni more than just rumour?

Shadowhall Academy is a thoroughly spooky setting, depicted on the front cover as an old, gothic mansion, shrouded in cloud in an isolated, countryside location. With a small cast (mostly just Lillian and a few new friends), and very little detail shared about characters’ lives beyond school, Shadowhall’s young residents seem very vulnerable and exposed. There is a chilling sense that something is lurking in the shadows, biding its time to pick off one of the girls at any moment.

Lillian is a kind and likeable girl who quickly endears herself to her new school mates. The first part of the story focuses on establishing their relationship, moving beyond gentle taunting and competing to sharing midnight feasts and looking out for one another. When the telling of a scary rumour about a young girl who died at the mansion a long time ago coincides with some strange knockings coming from the wall, Lillian and her new mates decide to investigate. They enlist the help of Mr Bullen – the school’s curious historian – who provides them with some information about Shadowhall’s eventful past, which makes the present’s ghostly goings on all the more worrying.

Though it takes a fair few chapters for the real scares to emerge, Shadowhall Academy is a genuinely frightening book for young readers, who should expect to be fully freaked-out! Hicks reveals details agonisingly slowly (almost too slowly, at times), and red herrings and wrong turns make the mystery all the more unnerving. Much is left unexplained until the very last possible moment and a sudden increase in pace and some juicy plot twists make for an irresistibly frightening third act.