A Case of the Bumps: Go Jump in a Lake!

I think if there's a book I've often undersold, it's probably The Curse of Camp Cold Lake. It's a decent book, almost all the camp books in Goosebumps have been at least okay to amazing. The only real straggler to me being Return to Ghost Camp, which was a lie by the way. But I've always had less fun with this book over most of the others, and I think it's why I've always ranked it so low. But I do think there is value to this one, aside from it's admittedly badass cover, which I maintain might be Tim's scariest cover. The eyelashes though kind of hurt it but imagine if the cover went eyeless? A-tier childhood trauma generator. But some of the book's concept might be up there for one of Stine's most interesting books, which fits going into the latter end of Goosebumps which, save for a few stragglers, is rife with some of the best latter end stories. So let's dive on into this book one more time and see what works and why I do think it does ultimately not work for me like other camp books do. 

#1. THE PLOT

Sarah Maas and her brother Aaron head to Camp Cold Lake for the summer. Sarah isn't having a swell time before she arrives, but when she does, things get worse. A misunderstanding with her bunkmates lead her to become their enemy and it seems that no matter what she does, things get worse. Even her attempt at revenge backfires. In one last ditch effort to garner sympathy, Sarah pretends to drown in Cold Lake, only to seemingly actually drown and find herself is a strange deserted campground and a ghost girl named Della who wants to be Sarah's buddy. Sarah recovers from drowning, but she constantly runs into Della, who keeps trying to kill Sarah, as the only way to be buddies forever is to horribly murder her so they can be ghost girlfriends... ghoulfriends? Della eventually corners Sarah with a poisonous snake, ready to finish her off, when one of Sarah's bunkmates, Brianna, shows up and manages to defeat Della. Turns out that Brianna was killed by Della the year prior but didn't want to be Della's buddy. But now that Sarah's here and there's a convenient poison snake, now Sarah can be Brianna's buddy.

#2. CRAPPY CAMPERS

So, this book's biggest problem for me is its cast of characters. Namely Sarah's bunkmates and, in a way, Sarah herself. The inciting incident to all of this breaks down to Sarah unintentionally mocking Meg, a heavyset girl, to which she refers to her as looking bowling ball-like. You know, granted, that does seem like grounds to be pissed, but given the stuff they try to do to her, was it THAT bad? Ditto when she accidentally reveals that her other bunkmate, Jan, has an inhaler, which again is a fuckup, but not one in the way they treat her throughout the book. It does make Sarah somewhat sympathetic, until we get a few scenes where her brother Aaron tries to talk with her, only for her to constantly treat him like shit for no good reason. Yes, a lot of it is down to her frustrations with her bunkmates and just her frustration at being at Camp Cold Lake at all, but those scenes honestly pissed me off, and might be the motivating factor in me not liking this one as much. I get that's a case of me accounting likability as an important trait to a character when you can very much have a more downer character as the lead, but those very rarely land in Goosebumps unless you're like, I dunno, Ricky Beamer maybe.

With the other two girls, it's more a case of giving Sarah more grief than she deserves, but with Brianna at least, it makes sense. Because she's dead and is trying to kill Sarah and keep her as her buddy at the camp forever. To get to Sarah before Della does. Which I wish the book had more of a chance to do stuff with. Maybe with other campers who may have also died in the camp. If the swerve was more that all of Sarah's bunkmates died because of Della, it would at least make more sense for their motivations in essentially bullying her to be either to send her running from the camp to save her from Della or seeing if she'll last long enough and take all of this crap so that she'll eventually let her guard down long enough to be killed and join the crew. Or, maybe have Sarah eventually earn Meg and Jan's trust and, I dunno, not have this feel so mean spirited. Which, I know, is more me wanting happier resolutions in horror works, but I mean, it would have been something. Though, when I think of that, I mean, this is just like 11 books after Ghost Camp, but when has Stine known to not be redundant? Also add in the scene with the boy campers wolf whistling the one counselor girl that Stine REALLY tries to sexy up in this book for children (which was amended in the rereleases, but, like) And it sticks out badly.

#3. DROWN AND OUT

Sarah's big plan, of course, doesn't help things when she tries to drown herself to garner sympathy from the girls. Though, you know, in a darker book, it would be sold as more of an actual suicide attempt and not what is telegraphed as her really stupid plan. Which doesn't even work by the way as it just makes the girls think she's acting out for attention because, as previously stated, the campers, especially her bunkmates, suck. But, while I give this book a lot of guff, it does lead to some of the best horror in the story with Sarah actually drowning. Her confidence fading as she realizes she made a mistake, the description of her underwater, being unable to breathe, panicking over drowning, and having to return to the surface. It's some actually good horror. Granted, it's like a page, not even a chapter end stinger at that, and she does manage to get out quick, but for a Goosebumps book it's probably some of the best actual peril we get from a character, especially so late-game in the original series. 

And then there's the ghostly version of Camp Cold Lake that we get when Sarah emerges. It being in the dead of winter, everyone gone, and all that remains is Della. The girl who wants Sarah as her buddy. I do wish the book made sense of this scene better, like what's going on here. We get from Della that Sarah is dead. So this would probably mean that this is Sarah's soul being in this sort of limbo between life and death. Devoid of the living, but still feels real. It would explain why only Della can be seen there, given she is dead and all. And Sarah is still very much drowning. Had she not been saved, this would have been where her soul would have wound up. And, like I said with the drowning, it's good horror. Perfect creepy atmosphere. The kind that feels scary to read and to imagine someone experiencing. Which is really rare for a lot of Goosebumps. I don't know what it says of me that I feel the best part of a book is a child drowning, but I swear you're definitely reading too much into that. Much like I read too much into these books so I guess we're even.

#4. DELLA AIN'T SO SWELL-A

So, Della just exists after Sarah is saved, and throughout the rest of the book, continues to haunt Sarah and get her killed. Including in another really good piece of horror, trying to run her over with a motorboat. Although the book seems to set up that to have Sarah as a buddy she can't just be drowned or killed, but rather bitten by a snake like Della was. So, does snake poison equal friendship-starved ghosts? What the book does really well is build Della up as a threat. One who will do everything in her power to send Sarah running into the woods to be snake food. In turn it makes this book feel a little close to that of Ghost Camp in that with that book the campers were constantly trying to scare Harry and Alex to possess them and run from the camp, only with dead friends instead of possession. Goosebumps doesn't have a lot of really strong villains. Some memorable ones and some that do feel like genuine threats, but none that feel as persistent as Della. 

Which makes her defeat being so easy kind of annoying. Another problem I have with the book. Brianna just shows up and tells Della that she won't be her buddy and Della just... falls out of a tree and vanishes. I mean, she almost ran Sarah over with a motorboat and THAT'S all it takes to defeat Della? It, again speaks to my biggest problems with this book. In that, for every great idea or decent scare, there's just this sense that Stine didn't know how to really build to a great conclusion. So we get one that feels super rushed and not as satisfying. Something I feel that the other camp books from the original 62 didn't have much of an issue with. I could definitely feel a tinge of development hell with this one and a sense of not even fully getting a solid outline out of it, either of which could explain such an easy villain defeat. 

#5. FRIENDS WITHOUT BENEFITS

I like the idea of the ghosts' need for a buddy. It makes sense. These are ghost children after all, and seemingly unable to fully leave the camp of their own free will. At least with Della and Brianna. It's not entirely certain if other ghosts can leave. And the twist of Brianna being as bad as Della does work, given we do get a scene earlier with her trying to get Sarah bitten by a snake. That being said, I do wish we built to this twist better. It goes back to my problem with the bunkmates treating Sarah so horribly for, again, very simple mistakes. I think if Brianna had become Sarah's friend throughout the book, someone she could trust and wasn't as bad as Meg and Jan, that the twist would have hit so much better. Because I think Brianna being awful to Sarah to then pull the buddy trick is fine, but if we spent the book with Sarah and Brianna becoming better friends and trusting each other, only to end with Sarah now facing the ghost of a girl she trusted, now trying to kill her, or at least convince her to die and be her buddy, it would be a darker and more interesting ending. Would Sarah try to escape, or maybe choose death as her fate? Also, I mean, two dead children at this camp and a potential third. Kind of hard to justify the place being open, honestly. 

#6. FINAL THOUGHTS

Stine has gone on record saying he feels this is one of his scarier books. And I can definitely see that in the book we got. It takes a while to build to that scariness, but when it does, we get some of his better horror attempts. Multiple near-death experiences and a persistent villain. There's a lot to really find interesting here. But that first half feels annoying with every character being in the wrong, even Sarah. For what are, again, really dumb reasons to treat her so horribly. And even when we do get to the horror, it's resolved easily and its final twist is good, but if the story was structured better with Brianna's character, it could have been amazing. Instead it's just "oh, one of the girls who bullied Sarah wants to be her buddy forever now. Sure." And Della gets some great moments only for her defeat to feel too easy, too much like Stine trapped himself in a corner and couldn't build to a satisfying defeat. So screw it, she just disappears. 

It also just lacks much of the mystery that make the camp books so much fun to read with. You get what's going on quick and there's never too many nuances to make it feel like there's never a chance for a fun mystery to start. Again, I wish we got more with Brianna to make for a great mystery. But it still works for the horror we do get out of it, and I think it at least feels like the first book in what would lead to what I consider the ultra quick renaissance of quality that would come a few books later. So props to that. Overall, it's not the worst book ever, not the best one either (to me, your mileage may vary), but I think it's one that's still a decent enough example that Stine usually does get the camp book right... sometimes. I'm looking at you Return to Ghost Camp, you lying liar.