A really spooky middle grade ghost story brought to you by the wonderful author of the Aveline Jones series, though this one has upped the spooky just a little bit.

Lilian has just started at Shadowhall Academy, a creaking pile in the countryside and Phil leans into the boarding school tropes and has fun with them, there’s the dodgy food, the cold dorms, the cliques, and the cross country runs. Though the run in this book does come with quite a bit of a difference…

Lilian joins up with Maz (Marian), Serena as dorm mates and another new girl, Angela also come in. This is when all the spookiness starts to happen, knocking on the walls at night is just the beginning which for me culminated in a feel of the liver man from the X-Files for a moment. Thankfully it didn’t go that dark

But the house and the grounds are full of the secrets and tragedies of the ancient family that owned the house before it became a school and these are still causing problems now.

Will the new friends be up for the challenges that are thrown their way and be strong enough to look out for each other? Who is the spooky apparition, is there more than one malevolent spirit? Is this all just a Scooby Doo mystery with nefarious humans behind it all?

Well you’ll have to read the book to find out, but it is so well worth a read!

Though this spooky story was wrapped up nicely there are still a lot of unanswered questions, why did the headteacher and librarian return to work in the school after being students at the school together so long ago, what other family secrets are lurking in Mr Bullens office, and what other secrets will Lilian, Maz, Serena, and Angela find?

Really looking forward to the continuation of this series, Shadowhall Academy: The Whispering Walls is released on the 1st of February 2024.

I received this from NetGalley for an honest review.