Goosebumps hits double digits with this entry, also marking the first ghost story in the Goosebumps series. In this review, I’ll see if I can pick up some tips to find out if my neighbors are actually ghosts next door.

Synopsis:

Hannah’s house is on fire and the fire is spreading to her. It was just a nightmare; Hannah Fairchild is so happy to be alive, she’s more joyful than usual.

Hannah heads downstairs for breakfast and sees her younger twin brothers, Bill and Herb. Her parents must be really into gardening, or they may just have named Herb after a favorite substance.

The twins are often annoying and nuisances to Hannah, but they’re barely in the book, so that’s good. The twins are throwing a ball indoors, which they throw onto the stove. Cool, I really like melted ball as a topping on my food.

Hannah heads outside, she’s enjoying the nice weather when she’s hit by a bicycle. The boy gets off the bike and apologizes. His name is Danny Anderson, and he lives next door.

Both Danny and Hannah are confused by this, since they have both lived in their homes for a while and have never met. Before they can talk more, Hannah has to go inside for twin management.

Later, Hannah goes to get her mail, but there’s no mail. Hannah is annoyed she doesn’t have mail, so she writes a letter to her friend Janey at camp.

Hannah is outside again and sees Mrs. Quiltey. Despite saying hello to the woman, she is ignored. Hannah heads into town to mail her letter.

Hannah is next to the post office when she hears screaming. She runs into an alley to find what’s going on, only to discover Danny and two other boys harassing the postman or maybe vice versa.

The boys, Alan and Fred claim Mr. Chesney hurt their dog, while he claims the dog knocked him over and the kids are trespassing. Hannah watches as the boys leave.

Hannah thinks about how nobody likes Mr. Chesney.

Now in the shade, Hannah sees a shadowy figure, made out of shadows, oh no! Shadows have evolved. The shadow whispers her name, she runs away.

At dinner, Hannah tells her parents about the new neighbor, her parents don’t care.

Some time passes, Hannah sees Danny again. Hannah starts to think Danny is a phantom, maybe Danny Phantom.

Hannah watches as Danny climbs a ladder to get a ball off the roof. On top of the roof, Danny falls off it. However, Danny may have superhuman powers as he is able to flip midair and walk away unharmed. Okay.

Hannah can’t stick around after the theatrics, since she has to go watch the twins.

After dinner, Hannah thinks Danny might be a ghost. Which is kind of plausible if you don’t think about it, this will become clearer as the book goes on. Hannah goes over to Danny’s house to make sure, this goes nowhere.

The next day, Hannah follows Danny to town. The town is described as pretty small, since everything is within walking distance. However, somehow Hannah loses sight of Danny. She decides to go home and sees moving shadows.

A shadow comes after Hannah, it has red eyes, so is it a shadow, or just a really dark figure? Danny shows up. Hannah tells Danny about the shadow, but he doesn’t believe her.

Later, there isn’t any mail, so Hannah writes a letter. As she goes to mail the letter, Danny stops her and says he’s a ghost and she can’t mail the letter. This is a dream, and I feel like R. L. Stine owes me 30 seconds.

Hannah goes to see Danny and knocks on his door. She sees Mrs. Anderson inside with her back to her. Mrs. Anderson doesn’t hear her, so Hannah leaves thinking Mrs. Anderson is a ghost. Hannah also thinks, Mrs. Anderson isn’t real she can’t hurt you, which wouldn’t be my first assumption.

Hannah tells her parents, but they don’t believe her.

Hannah clears her mind by going to get ice cream. The town is deserted, pretty small then. Hannah goes down Elm Street to the parlor, I hope she doesn’t have a nightmare on the street.

Hannah watches as Danny and the two other boys run out of the parlor. Turns out they just robbed the shop. This has to be the dumbest thing ever, this is an easy way to end up with a juvenile record, especially in a small town where everyone knows each other. As Hannah watches, she gets knocked over by the owner, who seems not to care or notice.

At this point it’s pretty clear that Hannah is a ghost, even in this abridged synopsis that doesn’t include every detail. It’s even more obvious in the book.

Hannah catches up with the boys and watches them. At this point she’s just stalking Danny. Alan and Fred have Danny steal Mr. Chesney’s mailbox next, since they’re now outside of his house.

Hannah tries to stop them, but she’s stopped by a shadow. While the boys try to steal Mr. Chesney’s mailbox, he shows up. He tells the boys next time he’ll have his shotgun. I’m sorry to say, but attempted theft isn’t quite on the level of threatening death or violence.

Once Danny is alone, Hannah confronts Danny about his friends and mom. Danny doesn’t see a problem with his friends and explains to Hannah his mom is deaf.

Afterwards, Hannah is about to go inside when the shadow shows up. The shadow tells her to stay away from Danny. Hannah tells her parents, who for some reason believe her, which they haven’t before, so that makes sense. Her parents don’t find anything, but consider calling the police, why?

Hannah enters her room and is jump scared by her sweater. Hannah still thinks Danny is a ghost.

The next day, Hannah asks Danny if he’s a ghost, he says no, like obviously he’s not a ghost. Danny says he’s going back to Chesney’s house at night with Alan and Fred.

Danny falls over while playing with a ball. Hannah goes to help him up, but her hand goes through his hand. I guess there aren’t any rules to ghosts in this book.

Hannah finally realizes she’s the ghost. Danny runs away.

We then get an exposition dump from Mrs. Quilty. She explains the house burnt to the ground from a campfire in the backyard. Everyone in the family died in the fire. Now the house has been rebuilt. This happened five years ago.

Hannah runs into her house to find her family. None of them are there. She goes to bed and wakes up at night.

She decides to go out and find Danny. Hannah finds him and the other boys stealing Mr. Chesney’s mailbox. This isn’t enough of a crime for the boys as they break into Mr. Chesney’s house.

Inside the house the boys set it on fire. Okay, so these guys are real geniuses, first they commit crimes in a small town where they are clearly the culprits, next they break into a house and set it on fire, while inside said burning home, genius.

Alan and Fred escape from the house, but Danny is trapped inside. Hannah goes to save him, but is stopped by the shadow.

The shadow reveals he’s the shadow ghost of Danny. Huh? This doesn’t make a lot of sense, but fine, this must be another Let’s Get Invisible type of deal.

Anyways it’s further explained that the shadow wants to trade places with Danny when he dies. Hannah breaks free and runs into the house.

Hannah forgets she’s a ghost for a second and can’t cross the fire, but then she can. She’s able to reach Danny and get him to safety. His evil shadow disappears.

Danny is fine after seeing paramedics. However, he probably won’t be fine for long, since it’s pretty clear he was involved in burning down Mr. Chesney’s house and will likely end up in juvenile detention.

Danny says Hannah saved him; his mom is confused. Hannah watches as she disappears and is no longer a ghost. The book ends.

Review:

This book is quite similar to the Night Visions episode My So-Called Life. Although the characters and story are different, the concept is very similar as well as some of the structure and events. As for the actual review, The Ghost Next Door is pretty good.

I’ll start out with my issues for this Goosebumps entry. The word/phrase “huh-uh” is used a ton in this book, kind of a minor note, but kind of odd everyone seems to say this. Danny as a character is paper thin, he doesn’t have much going on or much character depth, actually the only character with any depth or personality is Hannah, at least other Goosebumps books fleshed out more of their characters or added more traits and personality to their characters so far.

There are a few sections that don’t make any sense, but no continuity errors in this entry. Also, the rules for ghosts in this book don’t really make sense, and what was Hannah and her family doing for five years during the gap, or why was there a five year gap?

The pros for this book are numerous. First, the story is solid, well-paced, and it’s a cool concept. There’s plenty of interesting moments and the book goes by pretty fast, since it’s an enjoyable read. Also, the shadow as the villain was pretty cool. I think there are more positives than negatives for this book.

I’ll bet the TV tie-in doesn’t have the kids setting Chesney’s house on fire or stealing. If it does, that would be pretty wild.

Overall, I’ll give Goosebumps the Ghost Next Door a 7/10. This isn’t my favorite entry, but it’s also far from the weakest so far.

Twist ending:

The shadow is evil shadow ghost Danny.

Memorable line:

“My middle name is Daredevil.” I think Danny made that up, also doing a flip does not save you from falling off a building.

Memorable moment, cliffhanger, etc.

My sweater is a shadow. Aaaaaaah!

Bad parenting:

No parents were present throughout most of this book or were really involved in any way. Do ghost parents count as bad parenting?

Random References:

Daredevil, Coke, Day-Glo, Gameboy, Chutes and Ladders, General Hospital, and Nike. Just read it.

Tropes in book:

Character is 12, sibling pair, various jump scares, nobody believes a character’s crazy story, crazy cliffhangers, chicken, (possible) animal abuse, and twist ending.

TV tie-in:

As to be expected, a lot was changed from book to episode. The biggest changes are the structure, characters, events, and just about everything.

Hannah’s family isn’t in this book, other characters have been cut, and Chesney is actually a pretty innocent and nice guy. The structure is changed with the events being in either a different order or not included, such as the theft or mailbox stealing being removed. The shadow is even different and helps Hannah learn to be a ghost. Also, the house is still burnt down in the episode, and the new house Danny moves into isn’t that great either.

I can’t say there were too many improvements over the book, maybe Danny being a bit more fleshed out and sympathetic. I was surprised they kept Chesney’s house burning down, but they changed it from the book quite a bit.

Is this adaptation better than the book? No, it has most of the same issues and it does meander a bit with the double episode.

Goosebumps tie-in episode rating: 6/10. It’s okay.

Memorable episode line:

“Hannaaah” *Rocking chair rocking intensifies*. I knew that chair was up to no good.

Famous cast:

Neil Crone, Salvatore Antonio. Both of these actors have had a ton of roles and are relatively recognizable. Neil Crone has been in pretty much everything, with close to 200 TV and film roles.

Come back soon for more Goosebumps fun and reviews.

To read the last Goosebumps review: https://goosebumpsblogger.com/goosebumps-8-welcome-to-camp-nightmare/