This is a really well thought out book that is absolutely perfect for middle school readers. It has really good character building and teamwork that only grew stronger as the characters progressed through their journey. Loved it!

This was such a fun book to read. The Deltas are three friends who love doing escape rooms and the puzzles that come along with them. But things aren’t always as simple and happy as these three twelve year olds would like them to be. Sarah’s father has a chronic illness that keeps him in bed and now their house is in danger of foreclosure. The lure of a long-forgotten treasure in a never-opened funhouse is just what she needs to save her family and their house. The adventure that follows is a fun and exciting, emotional at times, and reminiscent of The Goonies and Willie Wonka. I love every minute of this story, feeling the joy and urgency of the characters, as well as their frustrations and successes.

The main character Sarah is so easy to relate too. She has her passion for escape rooms and maths but would do anything for her family and friends. An exciting story.

The Mystery of Locked Rooms was a such a fun middle grade mystery. Anyone who enjoys puzzles or escape rooms would love this one!

Sarah, West, and Hannah became fast friends with their love of math, riddles, and escape rooms. They have deemed themselves the Deltas. Things aren't going easy for any of them with their personal fears and insecurities, but things take a turn for the worse for Sarah. Her father is diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome, her mother is working 2 jobs but still can't pay the bills, and they are going to lose their house and have to move to Michigan with her grandparents. Then, they fall on the rumor of the Triplet Treasure hidden in a funhouse only a train ride away and this starts the Deltas on the biggest, hardest, most dangerous escape room they have ever done. Each character is unique, believable, and brings their own strengths and flaws to the team. The interpersonal relationships and their dialogue with each other ring true, especially when they are confession secrets, fears, and insecurities to their best friends. These interludes help break up the high intensity of the thriller and mystery aspects of the escape rooms without downplaying the danger they have placed themselves in. A thrilling ride with twist, turns, and red herrings that keep the characters guessing and the pages

Lindsay Currie did not disappoint with her newest adventure book! I’m so used to her spooky vibes and was a little nervous for this new direction…but it was fantastic! The Deltas were wonderfully lovable best friends who work together to solve their hardest escape room yet! This book has so much heart and reinforced why I love middle grade books!

I thoroughly enjoyed this unique middle grade mystery! Although the premise of breaking into an old abandoned funhouse may have been a bit far-fetched, if you’re willing to suspend that disbelief and just go along for the joy of figuring out the escape room puzzles, this is an exciting read. I appreciated the subplot of Sarah’s father having been diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome and the struggles her mom is experiencing. Sarah’s friends, Hannah and West, have their own issues which are believable and add to the escape room tension. Highly recommend!

The Mystery of Locked Rooms, is about a group of three kids that love to do escape rooms. They learn about a fun house that was built in the 50s, but wind up never being opened, however they read this fun house has a treasure inside and despite a few attempts by others, no one has been able to finish it without being caught by the police for trespassing.. One of the kids is dealing with a sick dad at home and an over worked mother. So these friends work together to attempt the fun house and try to win the treasure. The friends must take on many challenges and face fears in order to try and beat this fun house.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, I read it with my third grader and it kept him engaged from cover to cover. 5 star read for sure!

This middle grades book is so fun. It has the perfect mix of humor, heart, and tension. The funhouse escape rooms sounded genuinely fun and unique, and I loved watching the group of friends work together to make their escape and get through the house. Super sweet and totally fun.

Thanks to Netgalley and Sourcebooks Kids for the advance Kindle copy of this 4.2.24 release. All opinions are my own.
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⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 for this fun mystery with a lot of heart. Sarah and her best friends are tight as can be, and have a penchant for conquering escape rooms. When things at home take a turn and Sarah feels desperate to help her family come into money, she and her friends turn to a rumored treasure hidden within an abandoned funhouse for the escape room of a lifetime. Hand to readers in grades 5-7.

Thank you NetGalley for an advanced copy of this eBook. The Mystery of Locked Rooms is a great, fun middle grade mystery that will appeal to a variety of readers! This is a heartwarming story of friendship, with some fun escape room adventure thrown in there. Lots of twists and turns in this and readers will be rooting for our main characters all along the way! I can't wait to share this adventure with my students.

Lindsay Currie is one of my favorite authors and I was so excited when I got to read this one early! She didn’t disappoint and I loved this book!

We follow three friends who love escape rooms. When Sarah’s family is having money trouble, they decide to try and find the treasure that is supposedly hidden in a funhouse built in the 1950s. They have to use their escape room knowledge and skills to find the treasure.

I loved this book! It was full of friendship, puzzles, and adventure. It reminds me a lot of the Goonies and Indians Jones with a bit of Willy Wonka. The puzzles were all thought out well and kept me interested. This book had a bit of whimsical magic to it with the different puzzles. I loved the characters and everything they were going through. It seemed like real kid stuff that readers will connect to. This book also showed great team work and relationships.

I will definitely be recommending this one to everyone! Thank you so much to netgalley and sourcebooks for the arc of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Sarah and her besties West and Hannah are an incredible escape room team, the Deltas. But on the same day they successfully complete Lasers and Lava (only the seventh team to have ever done so), a foreclosure notice arrives at Sarah's house. Her family may have to move in with her grandparents - in Michigan! If the friends don't do something drastic, they will not be going to the same school anymore or visiting Escape City in the afternoons to try out new challenges. They come up with the plan to find a treasure hidden in a funhouse that never opened to the public. Others have tried over the years, but they don't have the amazing skills this team has. West has a phenomenal memory and is great at riddles and ciphers, Hannah studies ballet for years and has great dexterity and balance, and Sarah excels in math and probabilities. Together they enter the abandoned funhouse determined to save Sarah's home.

This book is so much fun, but also deals with tough issues. Sarah's family is trying to cope with her father's illness. Their situation echoes that of many who seem to be doing fine, but are just a crisis away from financial trouble. West has learned to keep his head down to avoid trouble with bullies and trolls who are jealous of his memory skills. Hannah is working through her own insecurities about giving up ballet after studying and practicing for years. Their adventure inside the funhouse highlights all their skills while also showing that they are better together. The history of the funhouse itself takes readers back to the Great Depression and how children were split up when they were orphaned because no one could afford to take in more than one more mouth to feed. The three brothers who designed and built the funhouse are like another version of the Deltas - better together.

Readers won't just have an engrossing story and learn a little history, they will also have the fun of trying to work out how the team should tackle each challenge. Is there a pattern to look for? A riddle to solve? A physical task to accomplish? By the time the story ends readers will be doing an Internet search to find the nearest escape room in their town.

I have loved all of Lindsay Currie's books so far and this one is no different! VERY different than her ghost stories, but I loved the escape room aspect of it and how much the characters grew as the story went on.

Like puzzles, mind games, and riddles? This book is for you. I have never been to an escape room, but this has certainly added to my list of things to do after reading this book. Kids will love the puzzles each room presents. The mystery of novel is intriguing and will capture young readers imaginations and hook them in to reading this quick paced adventure. I found the puzzles were a bit too fast paced for me, but today's youth will love the speed and timing Currie brings to each page. I especially enjoyed the Goonies style problem and resolution. If you've never watched the movie The Goonies I highly recommend you view it to heighten your enjoyment of Currie's tale. Mystery fans will not want to put this down. The characters were flawed and believable as good characters should be. I would have liked to have gotten to know them on a deeper level, but most will be happy with the character development. I will definitely be adding this to my school library. This is perfect for fans of Escape From Mr. Lemoncello's Library by Chris Grabenstein.

I received an electronic ARC from SOURCEBOOKS Kids through NetGalley.
An intriguing premise - three friends work together to solve escape room puzzles. Sarah, West and Hannah have been friends since Sarah moved to their area. The three balance each other and bring their strengths to puzzle solving. When circumstances may cause Sarah to move away, they decide to tackle an old mystery and find the hidden treasure in the Funhouse. This puzzle filled house has been abandoned for decades. They based their puzzles on "three" so each room involves a triad of some sort. I appreciate that Currie did not gloss over the dangerous parts of solving escape rooms. The friends take risks to find their way through the rooms and be the first to find the treasure and solve the mysteries. Each is willing to be vulnerable and share concerns they feel about themselves. This helps build empathy for them as up to that point, they were rather one dimensional.
A fun read for puzzle solvers. They'll work to solve these along with the characters and pick up tips for their own adventures in escape rooms.

This is a wonderful story of friendship, the importance of working together, mystery and suspense. The favorite activity of Sarah and her best friends West and Hannah is escape rooms. Sarah's father becomes ill and life starts to get more difficult for her family. When Hannah mentions a rumored treasure in an old fun house they decide to try to find it to help Sarah's family. Relying on their escape room experience the three start out on their quest to find the treasure. Each one has their best abilities and it will require working together as a team to progress through the house.

This book was engaging and drew me into the challenges. The characters are very likeable and relatable in their own struggles and secrets. I can see this being a very popular book in our school libraries.

Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me access to this title.

This book was so much fun! As a huge fan of escape rooms myself, I had such a blast escaping through the fun house with Sarah, West, and Hannah, the members of Team Delta and best friends.

Sarah's family has been having a hard time. Her father is terminally ill, her brother is trying to get excited about attending a college he doesn't actually want to go to, and her mother is trying hard to keep the family together. When Sarah comes home one day and discovers a foreclosure notice on her front door, her best friends convince her to try to find the rumored treasure hidden deep inside an old fun house from the 1950s. Sarah and her friends are great at escape rooms and if anybody can find treasure, they can. Together, they embark on the adventure of a lifetime and realize what true friendship really means.

I loved this book. Once I started it, I had to finish it in the same sitting because I had so much fun solving puzzles and working through this crazy house with these friends. I loved how they did research before they got there, and that their parents actually got concerned about where they were. It felt realistic, and Sarah's life as she knew it was at stake. The friendship here was so sweet, and I fell in love with all of the characters. They knew each other's strengths and weaknesses and encouraged each other all along the way. It was so lovely.

This book will be great for fans of mystery novels, adventure, and friendship stories. This is a great book for reluctant readers and younger readers that are reading at an older level.

First of all, thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance copy of The Mystery of Locked Rooms. Since reading Scritch Scratch, I've been a fan of Lindsay Currie's. Her thrills are tame enough for the middle grade set, while also being scary enough to make me nervous if I'm home alone. When I saw her latest listed on NetGalley, I knew I had to give it a try even though the cover was much brighter than her usual fare.

I was not disappointed. As a lover of mysteries and escape rooms myself, I am always fascinated when an author lays out a plan for a room that makes me feel like I'm there. Though I would never categorize the Deltas as the central characters in a horror story, I thoroughly enjoyed their growth as they encountered tense situations. As a story of friendship, this works well. As an escape room story, it shines. As middle-grade fun, it hits every mark, including the ending that's tied with a bow.

Overall, I really did feel like I was reading a modern-day Goonies set in a funhouse. As an adult, I had some questions about the ending, but the target audience won't ask those questions. I can't wait for my son to read it and to share it with our elementary librarian.

To start I’d like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for access to this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Now, onto the review!

This book hit me in a sensitive place. Our main character Sarah and her two friends love escape rooms. They have a team name: the Deltas, and they’ve just beat a difficult room and won a shirt. It’s what Sarah loves to do. She moved here, no friends, found these two, West and Hannah and they’ve been inseparable.

Which is good for Sarah because her father is disabled by CFS. Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. And at 12 she’s having a hard time with it. She wants her dad to hang out with her and her mom. Wants him to play games, go outside. Be able to get out of bed. She doesn’t want her mom to have to work so hard. To be stressed and worried.

As someone who had disabled parents growing up, that hit me hard. That sensitive place will never not be too sensitive it seems.

I think the writing was done fairly well. Sarah’s concerns for her father and mother felt real. I remember having those thoughts. That upset. It’s a hard thing to go through.

Made even harder when Sarah comes home, hype of her win with her friends, and learns the house is being foreclosed on. It’s just too expensive and her mom can’t make the bills meet.

This broke my heart. Remember that sensitive thing? Yeah, this book got me bad. Going through a foreclosure is never easy. Add in a disabled parent and the fear of losing everything, your home, your friends, and it’s painful.

Now, there is no diversity in this book. Which is upsetting because I loved the characters. Each of them had their own faults and those faults played a big part in the story. They caused issues as the kids are trying to pursue their goals.

It was nice seeing all three of them grow. So many side characters get left behind when it comes to growth but not these two!

And what is their goal? To find the treasure hidden in an abandoned fun house. It’s Sarah’s plan to save her family’s home.

This book was really good. I think a lot of kids will enjoy it. I really loved it and it healed a little part of me I think. I appreciated it.

So I give it a 4 out of 5 stars.