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A review by alexampersand
The Ghost Next Door by R.L. Stine
5.0
Woah, I didn't have particularly high hopes for this book, the back of it sounded like quite a generic ghost plot. But then... it turned out to be my favourite Goosebumps story so far?! For a number of reasons!
Number one - IT WAS ACTUALLY LEGITIMATELY SCARY. A dark hooded figure that's whispering your name? And when she turns around it disappears? CHILLING.
Number two - the story developed and moved on, and didn't fall into the Goosebumps rut of "this weird thing happens but nobody believes me, and then it happens again, and then on the third time it happens I manage to defeat it!" This book actually features DEVELOPMENT! Which is aided by...
Number three - there are actually LAYERS OF PLOT. To start with, there's just Hannah thinking Danny is a ghost, vs. Danny and his friends terrorising Mr Chesney. And watching some boys kick a mailbox wasn't exactly my idea of a great plot, but it at least added something to the story other than 100 straight pages of "HM DANNY MUST BE A GHOST!!" But then, after the twist-reveal comes into play earlier than I was expecting, the ending of the book introduces yet MORE layers!
In conclusion, this is the first book in the Goosebumps series that didn't particularly feel like a children's book. There was minimal goofiness (either in the dialogue or the narrative descriptions), the premise was not at all childish, and it took a REALLY dark turn in the last few chapters. The final chapter veered SLIGHTLY more into goofiness, but I'll allow that given that the final conflict was pretty damn dark.
I'm now veeeeery anxious to watch the TV show, because I can't imagine how the limited CGI budget is going to cope well with the shadowy figure, and I have a feeling the dark tone is going to severely lightened...
Number one - IT WAS ACTUALLY LEGITIMATELY SCARY. A dark hooded figure that's whispering your name? And when she turns around it disappears? CHILLING.
Number two - the story developed and moved on, and didn't fall into the Goosebumps rut of "this weird thing happens but nobody believes me, and then it happens again, and then on the third time it happens I manage to defeat it!" This book actually features DEVELOPMENT! Which is aided by...
Number three - there are actually LAYERS OF PLOT. To start with, there's just Hannah thinking Danny is a ghost, vs. Danny and his friends terrorising Mr Chesney. And watching some boys kick a mailbox wasn't exactly my idea of a great plot, but it at least added something to the story other than 100 straight pages of "HM DANNY MUST BE A GHOST!!" But then, after the twist-reveal comes into play earlier than I was expecting, the ending of the book introduces yet MORE layers!
In conclusion, this is the first book in the Goosebumps series that didn't particularly feel like a children's book. There was minimal goofiness (either in the dialogue or the narrative descriptions), the premise was not at all childish, and it took a REALLY dark turn in the last few chapters. The final chapter veered SLIGHTLY more into goofiness, but I'll allow that given that the final conflict was pretty damn dark.
I'm now veeeeery anxious to watch the TV show, because I can't imagine how the limited CGI budget is going to cope well with the shadowy figure, and I have a feeling the dark tone is going to severely lightened...