The Stinal Countdown: Goosebumps #10: The Ghost Next Door

Ten books in. Double digit territory. And another case, similar to Let's Get Invisible! where the series could have ended here. But, of course, we don't live in that world. So, I remember finding this book just okay on my last read, so will my opinion change? Let's see through The Ghost Next Door.

THE GHOST NEXT DOOR

RELEASE MONTH: August, 1993

FRONT TAGLINE: There's a strange new kid on the block...

COVER STORY

While this cover is far from scary, I think it's still a really clever piece of art for one reason. By only showing the feet of our characters, including the ghostly legs of one, the book leaves the mystery of who the ghost is up in the air for the reader until the reveal later on. This cover however does really show off a lot of the things that Tim Jacobus would implement in a lot of his artwork though. Chuck Taylor sneakers, which will be more prevalent as we go on. Warped angles, giving a sort of fish eye look to the world at times. Checkerboard patterns for floors (or ceilings at times). And of course, really nice shrubbery. Not the most memorable cover ever, but does what it needs to.

"HOW COME I'VE NEVER SEEN YOU BEFORE?"

Hannah's neighborhood has been a little-weird. Ever since that new boy moved in next door.

But when did he move in? Wasn't the house empty when Hannah went to sleep the night before? Why does it still look so deserted? 

She's not getting answers from her new neighbor. He just keeps disappearing in the oddest ways. And he's so pale...

Is Hannah being haunted by...

The ghost next door?

STORY

We open our book with our protagonist Hannah Fairchild dreaming about fire. About her room being ablaze and her doom seeming inevitable. Thankfully it's a dream. An ominous one, but we'll get to that later. She talks to her mom for a while and deals with her two annoying brothers Bill and Herb. Hannah's summer's been pretty boring, what with her friends all out of town or at camp. She heads out anyway to look around, only to almost be hit by another kid on his bike. Both Hannah and the boy, Danny Andserson, claim the other just appeared in front of them like an RKO. Out of nowhere. They're also both confused about each other's residences. Danny's surprised that Hannah lives next door to him, while Hannah's shocked that Danny lives next door to her, especially since she can't think of seeing him or his mother move in. She turns from Danny for a moment, but when she turns back around, he's vanished into thin air.

Hannah's also not happy that her friend Janey isn't writing to her from camp. Hannah writes Janey. Mostly about how her summer's been death so far. She mentions that since she hasn't been camping for real this summer, she made a campfire behind the garage the other night. Other than that, she's still super bored and hopes for some sort of communication. Hannah goes out for another walk and tries to talk to someone, only to get ignored. Before Stine can make the twist even more obvious, Hannah turns her attention to Danny and a pair of boys dealing with the grumpy postmaster, Mr. Chesney, who is throwing stones at the dog of one of the boys because the dog was in his yard. Hannah mentions that Mr. Chesney hates kids and mentions that one Halloween she and her friends were going to spray paint his windows before he threatened to shoot them with his shotgun. Oh gee, I wonder why he hates kids so much?

Hannah begins to make her leave, noting that Danny looked very pale, almost ghostly. Almost ghostly next doorly. Suddenly, she sees a strange shadowy figure behind her, calling her name. In panic, she runs home, managing to avoid it. She doesn't mention this shadowy figure to her family, but is more focused on Danny. The next day, she runs into Danny again who is playing with a ball. She asks if he's going to her middle school and to her grade. He says he is, but mentions some kids that Hannah's confused about. When she mentions her friends, he's also confused. A whole lot of confusion going on. Danny gets his ball caught on the roof and goes up to get it. However, he slips and falls right on his head. Well, if Danny isn't our ghost next door, he's certainly trying to be. However, he gets up like nothing is wrong, furthering Hannah's paranoia. 

Since Hannah is now starting to assume that Danny must be a ghost, she begins to spy on him, of course. However, her attempts are pretty awful. After one of her spying attempts, she sees the shadowy figure once more calling to her. But before it gets her, Danny appears once more, stopping this for now. Hannah writes to Janey again, angry about no reply, and has a nightmare where Danny confronts her about her learning his secret. Hannah begins to suspect that maybe Danny isn't the only ghost, that his whole family are ghosts. She goes over to Danny's house and knocks on the door. She can see Danny's mom inside, but she doesn't answer. 

After trying to tell her parents about this, only to be ignored because Goosebumps parents, she heads by the local ice cream parlor, only to get knocked down by the owner who is trying to chase after three boys. These boys being Danny and the two boys from earlier, Fred Drake and Alan Miller. The three had stolen ice cream from the owner. Hannah follows the trio and sees them stop by Mr. Chesney's. Fred and Alan dare Danny to steal Mr. Chesney's mailbox. Hannah tries to stop them, but gets confronted by the shadowy figure for a brief moment. She snaps back as Danny is ready to snatch the mailbox, only for Chesney to catch them. The kids manage to escape, but Chesney promises that next time he'll have shotgun at the ready. Danny is still a bit shook, but when Fred and Alan say they'll definitely be getting revenge on Chesney, he's in as well.

Hannah confronts Danny, asking why his mother couldn't hear her, to which Danny tells her that it's because she's deaf. Danny leaves again and Hannah is about to leave, when she sees the shadowy figure once more telling her to stay away. She later has a nightmare about the shadowy figure, who reveals his face under his hood to be the same face as Danny. The next day, she confronts Danny again and kicks around his ball for a bit. Danny ends up falling on the ground, so Hannah tries to pick him up. However, he hands go right through him. Panicked, Hannah accuses him of being a ghost. When he tries to pull her hand away, his hand goes right through her. Danny panics and runs off. Seeing his horrified reaction, it finally all clicks for Hannah. Danny isn't the ghost. She is!

Before Hannah can get her bearings on this revelation, she hears two women talking about her house. About how the house has been vacant for five years. About how there was a fire in the house one night that killed the entire family. About how the kids started a campfire, but didn't fully put it out, and it spread through the house. It all finally clicks for Hannah. The nightmares about the fire, the reason Janey wasn't responding to her letters, the reason she didn't recognize the kids. She's been dead for five years. Although how she's been in this sort of stasis loop for half a decade isn't very well explained. And sure enough, when she enters her house, her whole family is gone. The house is empty and different due to being rebuilt. She runs into Danny again, but Danny freaks out and runs off. However, Hannah realizes where he's going. To Mr. Chesney's. 

Sure enough, the boys sneak into Mr. Chesney's house. However, in the midst of everything, a fire breaks out. Fred and Alan manage to escape, but Danny's still trapped inside. Hannah goes in to rescue him, but is once again confronted by the shadowy figure, who lifts his hood and reveals, just like in Hannah's nightmare, to have Danny's face. He reveals that he's Danny's ghost and when Danny dies, he'll be born. And no, it's not really explained what that means exactly. Almost like Stine wrote a villain for a book that really didn't need one or something. Regardless of this, Hannah manages to find Danny, passed out among the blaze. She grabs him and manages to drag him out of the house in time. Hannah suddenly realizes why she was left on earth, and it was to save Danny's life. And sure enough, she sees her family, ready to take her to the afterlife. 

CONCLUSION

The Ghost Next Door is frustrating, mainly because I do think it's ultimately a good book, but is extremely flawed. I like the concept around it, Hannah's a likable protagonist, and her trying to get any answer about what's going on until the ultimate twist is compelling enough. And when we do get the reveal, it's a pretty devastating one. That Hannah's been dead for five years, but stuck in this weird time limbo until now where she needed to save Danny. But the problem with this is there are a lot of flaws. How can Hannah manipulate objects or ride a bike? Wouldn't anyone notice a bike riding on its own with no corporeal being sitting on it? I mean, Patrick Swayze had to learn that stuff in Ghost. Next up, how can Hannah feel pain, or even be knocked down by people if she's a ghost, but goes through Danny at one point? 

And then there's the shadow Danny stuff which makes no real sense, nor does Stine ever elaborate on it to a decent degree. Is it Danny's actual shadow who gets to live if the real Danny dies? Is this how a ghost is born in general? It just says that he'll be born and Danny will be in the shadow realm like this is frigging Yu-Gi-Oh. I think if the shadowy figure served as more of a grim reaper, simply wanting to let Danny die, or is after Hannah's wayward soul, then you'd have a better conflict. But Jovial Bob preferred to go with a villain for a book that really did not need a villain in the first place.

The Ghost Next Door almost works. I like the story, the conflict for the most part, while no imagery feels really scary, the implications, particularly with the death of the Fairchild family do leave that sense of dread. Other things that work include the twist being placed mid-book, with no need for a gotcha twist at the end, and how we end on a happy, yet still quite melancholy, note. If Stine had structured things better, and had better motivations for the villain, then I'd be able to say this one won me over. Sadly, with how messy this book gets, I think it dropped in points for me. I guess it never stood a ghost of a chance.

STORY: GGG

SCARES: GGG.5

TWIST: GGGG

ENJOYMENT: GG.5

OVERALL: 3 Gs