An abandoned fun house filled with puzzles and wrong turns, three supportive friends on a mission, and a promised treasure at the finish line!

Actual Rating: 2.75 stars
Pub Date: 2 April 2024
Reading Format: audio (post-publication date)

SYNOPSIS: Sarah Greene is a twelve-year-old math whiz with the weight of the world on her shoulders. After her father's diagnosis of chronic fatigue syndrome, the Greenes' financial situation worsens to the point where their house faces foreclosure. The only solace Sarah has comes from the Deltas, her friend group with West and Hannah. The three friends love escape rooms, the more challenging the better. And when Hannah shares the local legend of Hans, Stefan and Karl Stein who created the ultimate funhouse, an estate now abandoned and rumored to hide a treasure within its sixteen rooms, the Deltas decide to risk everything to save Sarah's family.

While the premise for this middle grade novel intrigued me, as did the author's name attached to this mystery, I was disappointed with the minimal character development and inconsistent emotional tone throughout the story. It is typical to expect an unsaid history when following a friend group well-established prior to the opening pages, but the number of inside jokes and backstories that cropped up later for convenience of dialogue or bouts of humor between dangerous moments seemed to jar the narrative flow. There are many important themes, and I applaud Currie's inclusion of them: chronic illness, financial stress, supportive friendships, and problem-solving after moments of failure. And it's true that Currie covers serious topics that certainly deserve a voice in middle grade and juvenile narratives, but the moments of despair, fear, and self-doubt would then oddly be paired with a light-hearted joke by West, Hannah, or Sarah. I also found the numerous times where Hannah was to blame for a mishap or added third-act conflict to be too convenient. Unfortunately this likely won't be a middle grade that will immediately come to mind when I am asked for recommendations. If I ever do find myself recommending this, it would be for younger juvenile readers as opposed to an upper middle grade audience.

Thank you NetGalley and Sourcebooks Kids for an E-ARC copy in exchange for this honest review!

I was a bit nervous to read this one, since I’m not into spooky books (even though Lindsay is a new student favorite!) but I loved this book! It was such a fun adventure!

Sarah, Hannah, and West like Escape Rooms. In fact, they LOVE them. They haven’t met a room they couldn’t beat. Until now?!
Sarah’s family is having some financial woes and may have to move away soon. Unless the 3 friends can find a way to earn big money fast, their trio will be broken. Local lore tells of an abandoned mansion that was designed to be the Ultimate Escape Room Challenge with the most amazing prize, but no one ever solved it. Could the prize still be waiting in the house for someone to claim it?!
Join this amazing trio in the escape adventure of their lives! This house is scary, dangerous, and the puzzles are super hard. Sinking floors, walls that move, mirror mazes, and passages to ? Sarah, Hannah, and West will have to rely on each other like never before, face their demons, and discover that friendship is worth risking it all. Will they find the treasure? You’ll have to read it to find out.

As always, another home run by Lindsay Currie. This book puts the "fun" in funhouse! A wonderful middle grade read!

Love escape rooms? Love to read? This is the perfect escape story to get you hooked! Follow along as Sarah, Hannah, and West make their way through the most amazing "house" ever. It;s an adventure that almost feels tailor made to their strengths.

A fun story of three middle school best friends, The Deltas. The Deltas love Escape Rooms and puzzles. Together bringing their strengths and appreciating their weaknesses. This is a great book for kids who like mysteries and puzzles. The confidence and friendship is displayed in such a positive way! The ending is fun. I could see The Deltas having more adventures!

'The Mystery of Locked Rooms' is a cleverly crafted whodunit that will engage fans of classic mystery novels. The story follows a young detective named Evelyn as she investigates a series of baffling crimes in which the victims are found dead inside locked rooms with no apparent means of entry or exit. With its clever puzzles and engaging prose, 'The Mystery of Locked Rooms' is a good read for anyone who loves a good old-fashioned mystery.

Fast-paced, full of action! Themes of friendship and perseverance. This book has gotten a lot of attention, which is why I read it.

Can't wait to share this book with my students! They are already HUGE Lindsay Currie fans, and I know they will LOVE this mystery. Fingers crossed for a sequel!

The Mystery of Locked Rooms is a fun action driven mystery adventure for middle grade readers by Lindsay Currie. Released 2nd April 2024 by Sourcebooks on their Young Readers imprint, it's 256 pages and is available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats. Paperback due out from the same publisher first quarter 2025. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout.

This is a diverting action filled middle grade adventure with elements of mystery. The three main characters are best friends, and this is very much a buddy caper. It's over the top outlandish and not to be taken seriously (it's chiefly a book for kids). There are good takeaways here, and the author manages to include them without being preachy at all. There are several good themes for classroom or group discussion such as friendship, loyalty, thinking problems through and finding creative solutions, family stress/money/health issues and how they affect kids, and continuing with challenges even when it's difficult.

The unabridged audiobook format has a run time of 5 hours 50 minutes and is capably read by Eleanor McCormick. She has a well modulated alto voice with a generic midwest (USA) type accent. She enunciates very clearly and delineates the characters well (it's a limited cast). Sound and production quality are high throughout the read.

Four stars. Readers should being a healthy suspension of disbelief to the read. It would be a good choice for public or school library acquisition, home use, classroom discussion, or book club selection (for youngsters).

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
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(2.5 / 5)

When her family is faced with foreclosure and moving to another state, Sarah and her friends West and Hannah decide to try to find the fabled treasure in a nearby abandoned funhouse built in the 1950s. They’ve solved lots of escape rooms together, so they know they have the best chance of making it past the riddles and puzzles to find the prize at the end.

I’ll get to the part of this review about the escape room side of this book in a bit, but I’ll start with talking about the plot and characterization. The plot was fairly basic—MC desperately needs money to save herself/her family, fabled treasure is available, she enlists her friends to help her get it. The ER elements aside, it plays out about like you’d expect. There’s even one character with a far-above-average memory, which I guess I don’t know how rare it is, but I have a feeling the statistics are something vastly lower than 1 in 4 people with that kind of memory, which is what a lot of MG books make it seem like. Throughout their experience in the funhouse, these kids are pushed to their limits and end up opening up to each other in ways that they haven’t in the past, and their conversations sound a lot more insightful and self-aware than kids would really be at this age (pre-teens, I think? I don’t remember if their ages are stated). Add to that the way the funhouse is just somehow magically set up to test each of their unique strengths and weaknesses, and I feel like it definitely could have been done better.

If this book had not been billed to be about escape rooms, I would have rated it higher. I’ll just say up front that if you’re thinking about reading this book because you enjoy escape rooms, maybe give it a pass. However, it is for younger readers, and most of them will have never played any escape rooms, or at least not enough to see the problems with that aspect of this book, so I doubt that would be much of an issue for them. I’ve only played about 30+ escape rooms, which is a low number amongst enthusiasts, but I have a difficult time believing that these 3 kids have played as many as they have at their age (and income level for one of them at least—escape rooms are expensive, and though it's mentioned that she got a subscription or something to a particular business for a birthday present, that one business couldn't include enough different rooms to account for the seemingly high number of rooms the book makes it seem like these kids have done). At the beginning of the book, they’re all excited because they beat a game with a very low escape rate, and then later it’s mentioned that it was their 3rd time attempting the room. In my experience, playing an ER multiple times is very uncommon. Plus, it’s mentioned later in the book that many ERs have multiple exits to the next room…also not something I’ve really seen or heard of much, if ever. Then the details within the funhouse, the way the escape room elements play out, just…don’t really make a lot of sense to me. The kids get excited over things they figure out that don’t actually mean anything or advance them, and riddles they find are somehow perfectly tailored to what they’ve done or the order in which they’ve done things, even though the puzzles are way too non-linear for that to be possible. In the end, this felt like every book or movie I’ve ever read/seen about a not-quite-mainstream fad (like when TV shows try to include MMORPGs) that is clearly written by people who do not have enough experience about the subject matter. I really can’t say if that’s the case with Currie or not, but it definitely fell short for me.

I was so excited to read this book. I figured that ERs have now been around long enough for them to be more correctly used, and this book certainly sounded like it would be a good one for that. It really wasn’t, at least to me. Between that and the drama in the plot, it just wasn’t as exciting as it seemed like it was meant to be. I didn’t hate it by any means, and it was a quick read. And as I said above, I am certain that pre-teens wouldn’t have any issue with the lack of escape room realness. That leaves the story and characters, which I still think were a bit weak, but it’s also entirely possible that they’ll resonate more with those of the age group this is meant for.

Thank you to the publisher for allowing me to read an advanced copy of this book. I love a good mystery story and this gave me the vibes of Mr. Lemoncello. In this book, Sarah desperately needs to figure out how to get money to stay in her house. Hannah tells Sarah about a fun house/escape room in an abandoned house that holds treasure. How hard could it be?!?!
Well…Sarah, Hannah and West get a little more than they bargained for. The twists and turns in this book will keep you reading!

Review: Do you like escape rooms? Or reading about people escaping escape rooms? Or puzzle books (think Lemencello or Vermeer or Liar’s Society)? Then this is the perfect book for you!

The suspense was palpable throughout the book. Each room the trio encountered was so tricky and because of a choice they make, it could truly be a life or death decision, which makes it hard to put the books down.

I am so impressed with Lindsay Currie’s creation of the puzzles and tricks throughout. They are all so unique and hard to figure out which makes the character’s journey the reader’s journey also.

Tools for Navigation: This book is going to be loved by middle graders who want to read The Inheritance Game or other books in that vein but aren’t ready yet. A perfect ladder before entering the YA realm of mysteries.

Oh! And Lindsay has made such a fun addition to her website all about The Deltas: https://www.lindsaycurrie.com/who-deltas (I’m also sure there will be an educators’ guide on there eventually).

Extension: This would be a great opportunity for students to make their own escape room!

Lindsay Currie shifts her focus here from middle grade horror to adventure/mystery/suspense in this incredible tale of friendship, taking risks, and solving problems. Escape rooms are a trending activity and in this story, the Deltas (Sarah, West, and Hannah) work together to save an old funhouse...and their families!

Highly recommend for a middle-grade character development mystery that students and their teachers will love.

4 Stars!

Lindsay Curie has delivered a fast paced middle grade adventure that will puzzle lovers will adore. A trio of young friends make up one of the best escape room teams around. When Sara's family is facing financial difficulties, the kids decide to look for the treasure that is supposed to be in an abandoned funhouse. Created several decades ago, but never opened, the house was rumored to have a treasure for anyone who could solve the escape room maze. Needless to say, because of the age, some of the areas are not up to today's safety standards. The kids must face physical dangers, but also face some truths about themselves in this great story. I received a digital review copy from the publisher, but I can honestly recommend this book for any youngster who loves adventures.

"The Mystery of Locked Rooms" was such an exciting and action-packed read. It follows 3 escape room loving best friends who team up to find treasure hidden in an abandoned 1950s funhouse that's filled with riddles, puzzles, and secret puzzles.

It was such a gripping read, I was at the edge of my seat following along, trying to see how the 3 main characters would solve and figure out the challenges and crack the codes.

This novel is perfect for middle graders that enjoy mysteries, puzzle solving, and escape rooms! I'd highly recommend this to teachers or parents looking for a middle grade mystery book to add into their home or classroom library.

Book Review: The Mystery of Locked Rooms by Lindsay Currie

Rating: 4 Stars

I recently had the pleasure of reading an advance copy of "The Mystery of Locked Rooms" by Lindsay Currie, and it was a captivating adventure from start to finish! The story follows twelve-year-old Sarah Greene and her two best friends, West and Hannah, as they embark on a thrilling quest to uncover a hidden treasure in an abandoned 1950s funhouse.

The premise of crackling codes, seeking treasure, and navigating through challenges in the funhouse is incredibly engaging. The trio's dynamic and unwavering support for each other added depth to the story, making it all the more heartwarming.

Currie's writing style is both descriptive and immersive, pulling readers into the mysterious world of the funhouse with its elaborate riddles and secret passages. The way the author weaves together the personal challenges of the characters with the overarching quest for treasure creates a perfect balance of tension and emotion. The puzzles and obstacles faced by Sarah, West, and Hannah had me eager to see how they would overcome each challenge and unlock the secrets of the funhouse.

And let's not forget about that stunning cover! It perfectly captures the essence of adventure and mystery that awaits within the pages of the book. I can already envision young readers being drawn in by its allure.

In conclusion, "The Mystery of Locked Rooms" is a must-read for fans of action-packed adventures and thrilling mysteries. Lindsay Currie has crafted a story that will keep readers of all ages entertained and engrossed from beginning to end. I highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a riveting and heart-pounding read.

⚠️This review was written based on personal opinions and experiences with the book. Individual preferences may vary⚠️

“The Mystery of Locked Rooms” is a fun novel about three friends who enjoy doing escape rooms. When our main character, Sarah, finds out that her family might have to move if her mom can’t come up with money before they foreclose their house, she and her friends try to come up with a way to find the money. When the opportunity to find a hidden treasure in an abandoned farmhouse pops up, they jump at the opportunity to do it. It is up to our three friends, Sarah, West, and Hannah, to get through the funhouse before the authorities, and their parents, find them.

This book is a very entertaining read for those who are fans of mystery and suspense. Though these genres tend to be a little dark, this book has a positive experience to it because it shows us about friendship and using our strengths as a way to solve our problems.

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review

I loved this MG mystery. Lindsay Currie did a great job of developing the characters as they go through the escape room of a lifetime. I cannot wait to add this to my classroom library.

In THE MYSTERY OF LOCKED ROOMS by Lindsay Currie, a trio of puzzle-loving escape room junkies who call themselves the Deltas put their skills to the test as they search for treasure hidden in a long-abandoned funhouse. Sarah, one of the Deltas, hopes that the treasure can be used to help solve the financial problems that her family is experiencing. This adds to the urgency felt throughout the book. As they encounter challenges, the Deltas continue to provide support for each other and demonstrate perseverance. Full of mystery and thrills, each character’s strengths shine at different points in the book as they conquer their fears while solving complex riddles in hopes of reaching the treasure. The escape room aspect adds a fun element to the mystery genre, and I think readers will find this enticing, especially those who liked Mr. Lemoncello’s Library or Team Chu and the Battle of Blackwood Arena.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an eARC to read and review.