The Stinal Countdown: Goosebumps Series 2000 #19: Return to Ghost Camp

Ghost Camp is one of my favorite Goosebumps books ever. Easily in the upper echelon regardless of some issues with the book. It just works so well, mixing two things Goosebumps usually does well. Camp books and ghost stories. So there's a sequel in Series 2000... that's not really a sequel. At least not in the direct sense. So going into this one concerned. It's time to Return to Ghost Camp.

COVER STORY

I love the original Ghost Camp's cover more, mainly because it mixes horror with humor a bit better, but damn is this cover just great. Very atmospheric with the shot of the camp inside the large forest with tons and tons of Tim Jacobus trees. I just realized with this in terms of timeline being the last Series 2000 book that I haven't read before, this is perhaps my final time getting to love them Jacobus trees. The lighting of the fire and the shadows emitting an orange glow is haunting and beautiful. And then there's the weird skeleton ghost thing. Both disturbing and beautiful with how wispy it is, while having a monster mouth to it. While I love the original cover more, this one is still Tim at his very best.

STORY

Dustin Minium's not doing so well. He's going to prison! Well, actually it's a sleepaway camp, but to him it may as well be prison. As he gets mocked by his younger brother Logan, he looks at his Hulk Hogan poster and will miss it in four weeks. Like, I know this is 1999 and all, but come on, Stine. That would be a Goldberg or Stone Cold Steve Austin poster. God I wish R.L. Smark was a thing. But Dustin really likes Hulk Hogan, hoping to get the 24 inch pythons, brother. Hopefully he doesn't want Hogan's racism, but that's another kettle of fish. Dustin is headed to Camp Night Moo-I mean Camp SPIRIT Moo-it's Camp Full Moon because Stine's not that creative.

The bus arrives and as Dustin heads inside, suddenly the driver grabs him and covers him in fleas. But that was all just a nightmare. His mother tells him that maybe this experience will help him finally be brave. Like Hulk Hogan. Though hopefully less racist. The actual bus trip is flea-free. Dustin meets a kid named Ari Davis and the two get along. Ari's a jokester too, and has great knock knock jokes like "Fire Engine" "Fire Engine Who?" "Fire Engine one and get ready to blast off!" or "Ari" "Ari who?" "Ari there yet?" A real Rupert Pupkin. He also dabbles in the jokes of a practical nature, like when he took the hinges off the art supply closet door and when the art teacher pulled the knob it fell on him. Hahahahahahahaaaa the teacher got injured. 

Ari has a great idea for a larf. How about he and Dustin trade places? Their backpacks have their names on it, so they can switch backpacks and pretend to be each other to trick the counselors. I mean, nobody had a door fall on them, so it's at least a step up. We arrive at Camp Full Moon where we meet the head of the camp, Uncle Lou. Again I ask, was the Uncle thing normal? It's in damn near every one of these camp books. He fits the description of most of them being a large, heavyset man with a balding head and a mustache. He assigns the new campers, the... ahem... "New Mooners" to their bunks. Ari gets the Cherokee Cabin, which is run down and broken, since he decided to call himself Dustin. Meanwhile Dustin, as Ari, gets the Apache cabin, which is far better. 

As Dustin settles in, the other kids in the bunk, Noah, Jason and Ben, all seem really happy to have "Ari" in their bunk. He gets the best bunk bed, and the other kids give him a bunch of junk food. He's confused, but not ready to admit that he's not Ari. They then mention that, since he's Ari, he knows what he's got to do. He never gets an answer to that as the boys take him to the camp fire and give him more food. Unfortunately that attracts a bunch of bees, so Dustin ends up running. He encounters Ari who wants to switch back. But now that Dustin is all "life of Riley", he asks Ari to hold out for at least a couple more days. After Ari leaves, Dustin returns to the campfire, only to find a boy there who smiles at him, then takes two bees on his plate and eats them. I don't think that's how you get your vitamin B.

The others head to the campfire as Uncle Lou begins the story of "The Snatcher". Sadly, not Hideo Kojima game for Sega CD, but rather a story that takes place at the newly built Camp Spirit Moon twenty five years ago. While this is happening, Dustin notices some glowing eyes in the woods, but tries to focus on Uncle Lou's story about a boy named Johnny Grant. On the night of a full moon, the lake began to glow and foxes were spotted in the camp. Johnny went to the edge of the camp, but was grabbed by the Snatcher. A monster that disguises itself as a fox. It snatches Johnny, who was never seen again. Every year one kid is snatched away by the Snatcher and never returns, which, like, that would be grounds for closing the damn camp, right? 

Suddenly, something grabs Dustin. It's Jason, Ben and Noah who again tell Dustin that he's the one. But Dustin is still confused and runs off, only to be attacked by foxes. Noah finds him and is confused as to if Dustin/Ari really knows what he's supposed to do. You see, he's the one. As in he was the one chosen to be snatched by the Snatcher. Every year the Snatcher needs a victim, and this year Ari Davis was the chosen sacrifice. Dustin tells the boys the truth that he's not Ari, but they don't believe him because... well, given they told him the whole ordeal, they'd think he'd chicken out of it, so less willful ignorance, more "yeah right pal." So he's still screwed. But hey, Ari was so willing to switch back earlier, he'll be willing to do it tomorrow, right?

But now Ari's not so willing to change back, even showing Uncle Leo Dustin's ID. It's enough to convince Uncle Leo, so now Dustin's double boned. They go kayaking and hear what sounds like something being attacked by foxes. Later, during a baseball game the baseman gets cracked in the head with a baseball bat but doesn't flinch at all. Dustin tries calling home, but Ari shows up and just rips the phone cord clean off. Okay then. The two kids fight, but the counselors break it up and say that "Ari's" time is coming. That's when Dustin remembers that Logan will be coming to Camp Full Moon on Monday and he'll definitely vouch for him. At the next campfire, one of the kids stuff marshmallows in his mouth and spews them on another kid. We really were a weirder time before social media.

After a camper puts his hand in the fire to reach for a marshmallow, that's enough for Dustin who books it out of there as fast as he can. However, he runs into a girl named Laura Carter from the girls camp that Dustin didn't even know existed because this smells like a trap, but we're not there yet. But she too knows of the snatcher story and is trying to escape. She tells Dustin that if they make it to the other side of the river they'll be safe. But, because this book needs padding-I mean, Logan's showing up, he has to postpone until the next night. Dustin then sees a fox and scares it off with a rock, which probably wasn't wise. The next day comes and Logan is calling Ari "Dustin". So really he could have just left the other night.

After another scare where Dustin sees the other campers go underwater for a really long time, he finds Logan who tells him that Ari's threatened him into not referring to Dustin as his brother. Dustin heads off again, but before he leaves one of the campers shoots a literal crossbow at another camper's head and they just laugh it off before the campers turn their crossbows at Dustin. Well that escalated! Also, it's the night of the full moon, but Dustin is more focused on finding Laura and heading to the other side of the river. He meets up with Laura and the two start to head to the river. However, one of the counselors, Noah, grabs at Dustin, but says that he's not the Snatcher. He's a ghost. All of the older campers are ghosts. Victims of the Snatcher. The only way their spirits can be free is if "Ari" crosses the river. But that's not all, it's Laura who's the real snatcher, who will try to kill "Ari" before he can cross.

Dustin makes a run for the river with Laura chasing him. She turns into the Snatcher, a sort of fox/human hybrid and attacks him. He tries to tickle her, but it doesn't work. He then tries to swim, but there are hands in the water ready to pull him down. Noah suggests using a branch that crosses over the river but Dustin slips and is about to fall into the water below, but Noah manages to help him get across in time. Dustin makes it to the other side of the river. He thinks the Snatcher grabs his leg, but it's just a vine. Noah thanks him before disappearing into the ether. 

TWIST ENDING

Dustin celebrates his success. Proving he was brave all along and freeing the spirits of Camp Full Moon. Only now he can't get back across the river. Wow, that's... that's really how we're ending this one, huh?

CONCLUSION

There's a word that keeps spinning in my head about Return to Ghost Camp, and that word is "lacking". There just feels like something missing in this book. Something super pivotal to make any of this book feel like it matters. A lot of cool elements and ideas but nothing to make you remember any of it in the end. There's cool ideas like the Snatcher, but its impact is super rushed at the end. There's the stuff with the campers not reacting to pain and messing with Dustin's head, but it was done better in the other Ghost Camp. Though at least it makes some sense I guess. They want "Ari" to run from the camp and to try to cross the river. They can't tell him point blank for the most part, but they also have to screw with his head to get him to do it. That's fine. There just feels like less of the impact that it had with the original book. With the exception of that crossbow scene.

Dustin is a decent protagonist. His need to be brave feels like it could have been used more for the story itself. Ari really only exists for the whole mistaken identity plot and that's it. Honestly after the whole Logan incident he doesn't matter to the story. They instead put more focus on Noah who is hardly a character until the end. Though, if they wanted to tie it to the story, why not make Noah Johnny instead? Have the first victim of the Snatcher be the one who helps Dustin escape. The other ghosts exist as does Logan in the end and even his involvement in the plot feels like just another excuse to pad the story with more reasons to believe that Dustin is Ari. There is a sense less of wheels spinning and more trying to slowly get out of a mud pit. 

What I like is the idea of the Snatcher. A foxlike ghost who captures and kills a kid each year in her own ritual. I just wish we had more time to do something with that cool monster before she just stops mattering after Dustin starts to cross the river. A good story should have a strong enough hook to make you want to be invested and not feel like you've wasted your time. Sadly, I just don't think this book had a strong enough hook. And when I leave a book feeling like "meh", that's not a good sign at all. I don't hate the book, I don't really like the book. It is the most milquetoast book in all of Series 2000. What an honor, huh? Return to Ghost Camp gets a C+.