The Ghost Next Door by R. L. Stine

Book Review of The Ghost Next Door (Goosebumps Book 10) by R. L. Stine

Ghost Next Door by R. L. Stine is the 10^th book from the Goosebumps series. Instead of going to a camp like her best friend Janey did, Hannah spends the vacation with her family. While hanging out in their yard one day, Hannah meets a boy named Danny Anderson. Danny introduces himself as her next door neighbour. He lives in a house that Hannah previously thought was empty. She doesn’t remember having seen anyone move in. This makes her suspicious. She wants to talk about it to her parents, but they hardly show any interest. Hannah regularly writes to Janey, but doesn’t hear back from her. This bothers her. But there’s nothing she can do about it. Her parents couldn’t afford to send her to a camp. So when most of her friends are away, she’s left behind. Meanwhile, she keeps her watch on Danny, who tells her that he goes to Maple Avenue Middle school, the same that Hannah herself goes. How come she has never seen him around then? She asks him about his friends. He names some, but she can’t recognise any of them. She tells him about her friends, and Danny doesn’t recognise them either. This strikes her as singularly odd. Had he been around for a while, like he claims he did, wouldn’t Hannah see him at least once? One day, Danny falls from a ladder. It all happens in Hannah’s presence, but strangely she doesn’t hear the sound of his falling on the ground. Hannah, now has a doubt that Danny isn’t real. Everything about this boy, Danny, living next door is very, very odd and Hannah wants to know if he is telling the truth. Eventually she learns what she wanted to know about him, and also a lot about herself. 

Ghost Next Door by R. L. Stine kept me glued to its pages. Hannah was having frequent nightmares. Only during the last few chapters I realised they were not just nightmares, but highly suggestive narratives from a violent past. I have to admit the final twist in the plot completely caught me unawares. What a strange way for a story to end! It doesn’t scare you half to death or anything. But it certainly fills you with uneasy anticipations. Though the end of Ghost Next Door by R. L. Stine was splendid, I believe a more abrupt ending would do more justice to the story. While reading the last few pages, I had the feeling that the story ran an extra few miles beyond what could be a dramatic end.

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