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.

Lindsay Currie’s “The Mystery of Locked Rooms” is her latest middle grade novel. It follows three friends, Hannah, Sarah, and West, known as The Deltas, as they navigate their way through the mother of all escape rooms, a very large unfinished structure built by triplet siblings in the 1950s that is rumored to have hidden treasure available to whomever is smart and brave enough to endure the challenges of what they saw as their funhouse.

Sarah, Hannah, and West are three best friends who love escape rooms. They’re also extremely good at solving them. They stumble upon an unfinished funhouse that they simply must try, even though there are “No Trespassing” signs all around and 2 other people who attempted to get inside were arrested trying to do so. But that doesn’t deter The Deltas. They are determined to get through this funhouse and find the hidden treasure that Sarah desperately needs to save her family from foreclosure and a possible move away from her friends.
If you like escape rooms, then this novel is for you. The Deltas love, support, and encourage each other, which is what true friendships are. They work together as they attempt to solve each new challenge that they incur as they work through each room, determined to save their friend’s future. This book has a lot of positivity that all young teenagers can learn from set in a backdrop of adventure and mystery as each one confronts and conquers fears they have while also learning about the power of friendship. The ending is satisfying as well.

However, you don’t have to have any knowledge of escape rooms to enjoy this fast-paced novel. The chapters flow together very well, and although geared toward middle grade readers, adults reading will have a hard time putting this one down. Each chapter seems to end on its own little cliffhanger, begging the reader to continue until the end. Parents reading with their kids can challenge them to guess what the next move the Deltas can do to improve their odds before embarking on reading the next chapter, sparking great conversation, which is what a good book should do.

So do yourself a favor and pick this one up, either to read for yourself or to read with your children. You won’t be disappointed, and you might even want to tackle that real escape room your kids have been bugging you to try once you get to the end of the book.

This page-turning Escape Room adventure features three 7th graders who are whizzes at figuring out clues to get them out of the town’s Escape Room game locations. But this time, there’s more at stake than just getting out before the buzzer; this time there’s a treasure that could save one of their families from losing their home. Whether or not you’re a champion riddle solver or just love a good “can they do it” book, this one should be on your list.

Beware of wrong choices; for those you shall pay. Be wise and choose carefully; strategy saves the day.


The Mystery of Locked Rooms by Lindsay Currie

Release Date: April 2, 2024


QUICK SUMMARY
Sarah Greene and her friends have a knack for Escape Rooms in town. But her struggling parents receive a foreclose notice leaving Sarah with the very real possibility of leaving her friends when he family will be forced to live with her grandparents until they're back on their feet.

Feeling helpless, Sarahs friend mentions a treasure rumoured to be in the walls of an abandoned fun house that was never opened.

Sarah and her friends decide this is the only way to save Sarahs family from being forced to move. The quickly realize they're in the toughest Escape Room ever.

FINAL THOUGHTS
Thank you @NetGalley & SOURCEBOOKS Kids for this copy of #TheMysteryOfLockedRooms by @LindsayCurrie.
This book is now in my top three faves by Lindsay, it was so much fun even though I felt my age with some of the comments from these kids.... SOMEONE NAMED INDIANA JONES?!

This book is filled with puzzles and mysteries and some tough topics done in a way young people can understand. I love the friendships of these three kids, they're real and they're so relatable to kids that age.

I also just found out today, there will be a book two to this series so even better!

This story is perfect for those students who are fans of Escape From Mr. Lemoncello’s Library or even just escape rooms in general. Engaging story about three seventh grade friends who are obsessed with solving escape rooms and use those skills to try to solve their most challenging one yet and claim the treasure. Sarah, Hannah, and West each bring a special talent to their group which helps them excel at solving riddles. When Sarah’s house is threatened to be foreclosed on, and they hear of a fun house/escape room that offers a prize, they decide this is their chance to use their skills and save her home.
This would be perfect for third through eighth grade. The characters are well developed, likable and relatable and the story itself is filled with puzzles, mysteries and adventure. I can’t wait to add this to our school library!

The Deltas, 3 friends in 6th grade, have just beaten one of the hardest local escape rooms. Due to difficult times in Sarah’s family’s life, her family needs money. The Deltas turn to a fun house that has been rumored to contain treasure - but it’s been abandoned for decades.

I loved the relationship between the Deltas - how they cared for and supported each other through sharing a deeper aspect of each of their stories. They had such kindness and grace for each other.

I would definitely read this one aloud to a class or recommend it to my students.

#TheMysteryofLockedRooms #NetGalley

Meet the Deltas: three seventh grade self-proclaimed "math nerds" who love puzzles and escape rooms. When Sarah learns one day that her family might lose their house to foreclosure (her dad has CFS and her mom works two jobs) and have to move to Michigan to live with her grandparents, she is desperate. Her fellow Deltas, Hannah and West, decide they need to do something. When they hear about a possible treasure waiting to be claimed in an abandoned 1950s funhouse, they decide to put their prodigious escape room skills to good use. Determined to find the treasure so they can stay together, the three friends sneak into the abandoned building, despite the No Trespassing sign. But, this house isn't your run-of-the-mill escape room and there's not just one room to get through. To top it off, none of their phones have service so they can't check in with their parents. When they go the wrong way and one of them gets trapped, will they be able to figure things out, or will they be trapped forever, leaving their families to wonder what happened.

Filled with puzzles and mysteries and adventure, this is an awesome middle grade book! If you enjoy escape rooms or riddles or puzzles, you will enjoy this book. I also appreciated the characters being realistic and the friendships playing out in realistic ways. The ultimate ending was a bit of a surprise, too! 4 enthusiastic stars!

Disclaimer: I received a free electronic copy of this book from the publisher through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Fun! Fun! Fun!

I will read everything Lindsay Currie creates… known for her spooky novels… don’t let this one fool you it is an adventure that still evokes a sense of that eerie and some what unsettling feeling that I think her readers will appreciate.

Following three friends… AKA The Deltas… escape room enthusiasts, make a plan to tackle the legend of a local abandoned/never opened funhouse… rumored to have a treasure for whoever completes it. With great reasons… they NEED that treasure. It was a grand adventure… with claustrophobic moments, twists and turns, puzzles and mind bending riddles this is a quick read I’m sure many will enjoy! The comps of Willy Wonka and The Goonies are spot on!

Can’t wait to hear what the kids think!

Thank you Sourcebooks Young Readers
Releases 3/2

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The Mystery of Locked Rooms is a fun romp! Three friends: Sarah, Hannah, and West spend their free time trying to beat every escape room in town. When Sarah's house goes up for foreclosure the friends come up with a plan to save Sarah's house and family. A rundown fun house at the edge of town had been built years ago by triplets who wanted to create the most complicated and spectacular funhouse ever. Additionally, rumor has it that whoever is able to complete the funhouse will receive a treasure. The characters are well developed and likable. The solutions to the rooms and riddles--very imaginative. There are occasional moments of unbelievability, but overall Currie provides readers with an entertaining read.

One Sentence Summary: Three friends solve the ultimate escape room to stay together.

Reminds Me Of: The Westing Game meets 39 Clues series

Three Reasons You Should Read This:
1) Fun middle grade book set in a "escape room" style house that's been abandoned for years
2) There are lots of clues for you to try to solve as you go
3) A good mix of emotional moments, realistic struggles, and adventure

One Thing You Should Know Before You Pick This Up:
This MG novel deals with some serious topics including a family that is struggling in more way than one. Please reading the warnings if you have sensitivities.

Content Warnings:
Anxiety, Grief, Hardship, Eviction/Losing Home, Chronic Illness (CFS), Financial Strain, Struggles with self confidence, Neurodivergence, Facing Fears

Favorite Quote:
Fortune favors the bold.