NNtG: Ghosts of Fear Street #14: Body Switchers From Outer Space

Another day, another visit to Shadyside. We've covered a few of the mainline Fear Street books, so it's high time for another visit to the kid-friendly corner. Aliens are our subject this time. This can bode to a decent book, though maybe not. We can only find out for ourselves with Body Switchers From Outer Space.

COVER STORY

I like this cover. Granted, it doesn't quite sell the body switching concept, but if you want a book about aliens, then the cover is at least promising on that. I like the design of the alien, the concept like drinking using its hand and the weird shape of its body. Not to mention a decent enough shocked kid face. I also like the diner aesthetic, neat enough place to present something freaky. Overall, another decent Ghosts cover.

STORY

Our protagonist is Will Kennedy, but to others he's best known as "Will the Spill". Why? Because he's a total klutz that easily trips over his own two feet. It's why he hates spaghetti day at school because he's due to trip and fall eventually, such is the case of the beginning of our book. Things are seemingly normal for Will until he gets a call from Chad Miller, coolest kid in school. Oh my god, we're getting the virgin/chad memes 25 years before it was a thing. Regardless, it seems odd that Chad has taken up a sudden interest in ol' Will the Spill, but what's odder is Chad asking if Will hates his regular life. Will does, given his lot in life and Chad suggests they switch bodies. 

How, exactly? Well, Chad says his dad is a scientist that just so happens to have a way to switch bodies. He says his dad's used it on animals and it's worked, and definitely with humans too, so what would be the harm? Just switch bodies for an hour or so. Will's skeptical, not just because of the claims but because people tend to pick on him. He mentions his dad is an animator for a cartoon called Judo-Jabbing Adolescent Mutated Coyotes. Given this book's from the 90s, that story checks out. So, Will likes to get revenge on his bullies by drawing mean pictures of them. Well, at least he doesn't have a death note, I guess.

They head to Chad's house and sure enough, the place is filled with strange and incredible machines, including two pods that will be used to switch bodies. Will also notices a strange yellow machine with black patches, to which Chad says to avoid for now. They go inside and sure enough, the body swap works, Chad in Will's body and vice versa. Chad says that it's important that they get back within an hour or else they'll be stuck forever. So, they walk around in each other's body for a bit, they switch back. Though Will's not too happy about being back to his klutzy self.

We get some of Will's home life, his nine year old sister Pepper who likes to bug him over his klutzy self, and his dad who interestingly bases much of his Mutated Coyotes cartoon on his own kids, with a character named Rocket Riley, a clumsy rabbit that ruins things for the coyotes, or Paprika, who is presented as snoopy, but still better than the character Will's based on. So, you know, real good for the old self esteem. Will asks Chad to switch again, and after saving Will from almost letting himself be hit by an arrant basketball, Chad agrees. The two switch again and Chad says that they have to switch by by 7:30 Sunday night. But it doesn't matter much to Will as he's just happy to be back in Chad's body.

After Chad leaves, Will gets caught by another boy who looks exactly like Chad. He calls Will "Chad-One" and leads him into the house to greet Chad's mother, who looks a lot like a Donna Reed-esque housewife. Chad's dad also arrives, looking an awful lot like a Ward Cleaver parody. So, like Will walked into an episode of "Hi Honey I'm Home". But, Will has to play it cool and pretend to be Chad lest revealing what happened. Not be "sus" as the kids call it. The family, mom, dad and Chad-Two ask Will about his school day and then start to eat weird alien creatures in yellow goo. It grosses out Will who runs off before actually having to eat them.

Will heads to Chad's room, but the upstairs area is like a strange spongy pink surface and Chad's room a tiny closet. Not wanting to eat the creatures, Will runs off and heads to his house where he deals with Pepper trying to extort him into talking to "Will". Chad shows up and keeps with the charade. Will wants to switch back, but Chad says that a deal is a deal and he's not switching until 7:30 Sunday. Will returns to Chad's home. Chad's family isn't happy with him just wandering off. They mention that they're not too fond of Chad befriending humans. Will finally clues in that Chad and his family are aliens. Aliens that just so happen to eat humans.

Will continues to try to keep up appearances, though he's not too good at it. Like trying to sleep upside down like Chad-Two. Thankfully there's at least the excuse of hanging around humans long enough to ensure that he isn't fully revealed. Chad-Two suggests a procedure called "mind tailoring" which is essentially a full-on memory wipe. The next day, Will ends up eating a strange cereal of alien starfish. He head to the store to get real snacks, but it makes him sicker. As if the alien body can't handle actual earth food. Sure enough, Chad-Two catches him eating the snacks and drags him back home. 

The next day, Chad-Two wakes Will up as they're to test a device called the Shink. It's the yellow/black device from earlier. And as the name suggests, it's a shrink machine, which Chad-Two tests on some rats. Shrinking them down and petrifying them. Will quickly realizes that this is how they eat humans. Shrink them down and eat them whole. Boy, the vore community will love this one. And then we learn that Chad-Two really likes Slinkies, the coils that go down stairs. I mean, it's cool until eventually the coils break because it's cheap plastic, but sure. Will tries to sneak out at night, but gets caught. 

Sunday finally arrives and Will calls Chad about the switch. But, surprise! Chad's decided he's not going back into his old body. Will grabs a gun that can levitate objects and is going to leave, but ends up dragged into his family's spaceship just as they plan to leave Earth forever. But Will manages to escape, claiming he's off to get the Slinkies. He heads home and manages to get Pepper to realize that he's the real Will. He then slips some alien food into Chad's food to hopefully make him sick. And sure enough, it seems to make Chad really sick so Will takes him back to his house.

They run into Chad-Two and explain what's going on. Chad-One never wanted to leave Earth. He likes this earth. These people. He actually does want to be caught in the tangle of their lives. So, they ultimately go through with the body swap and Will's back to normal. However, with Will and Pepper knowing everything, they aren't just going to be able to leave so easily. They try to escape, but Chad-Two fires a net gun called a Merister at them. He takes them to his parents to shink them, but Will manages to get the device in time and shrink the aliens down. 

TWIST ENDING

Will and Pepper take the shrunken machinery and the aliens and head home with everything. Will keeps all of the alien devices on his shelf while Pepper keeps the alien family as if they're her own personal dolls. But it turns out that since Pepper got hit by the shink, she can also be easily shrunk, which Will keeps a note of, should she ever fall out of line.

CONCLUSION

We have a more notable ghostwriter this time in Nina Kiriki Hoffman. Winner of the Bram Stoker award for The Thread That Bines the Bones, along with a slew of award nominations for books and short stories. She also does a few other books for this series later in the run. And this book was fine. It doesn't go into any real unique avenues with this type of body swap story, but thankfully works given the absurdity of the aliens and their many strange foods and machines. We get some stuff, but I do wish we got more, with the shink getting the lion's share at the end. 

It's pretty obvious that this book feels an awful lot like Why I'm Afraid of Bees, right down to our klutzy protagonist that is a constant loser who wishes to change his life, but ends up regretting it, as well as the cool kid who seems to really want to not change back at the end. I think the adventure and overall plot is stronger in Bees, but this still works well enough. Again, thanks to the bizarre alien stuff. Will's a decent protagonist. You do ultimately feel a little bad for him given his lot in life, so you do want at least a decent happy ending for him. The alien family are a great set of villains and basing their looks on classic Sitcom characters is rather brilliant. The description of their living arrangements and strange foods are detailed and freaky. And the Slinky bit is a fun addition. Scares are minimal, more just the gross out stuff, and the twist is okay. I guess a bit better than licking flowers.

So, another win for Ghosts of Fear Street. I wouldn't say it's a top tier book for me, but it flowed well, never really felt like it stalled. A brisk 100+ pages with some fun alien stuff and a creepy enough scenario. Can't complain whatsoever. More than enough to recommend. Body Switchers From Outer Space gets an A-.