The Ghost Next Door

Plot summary: Hannah is having the most boring summer ever until someone new moves in next door. Actually, even then it stays pretty boring. She starts to suspect her new neighbour is a ghost and keeps finding herself getting chased by a shadowy figure. Eventually though it turns out that Hannah herself is the ghost and what follows is five chapters of her trying to come to terms with her and her family's death. Also, she saves her neighbour's life and it turns out the shadow was his future ghost waiting to take his place.

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Damn, this book is like an emotional gut punch. I can't say until I've read them all but this has to be the darkest Goosebumps book. The fact that the last few chapters just deal with Hannah's emotions about her own death (albeit in Goosebumps level of depth) only makes it all the sadder. Though I have to say, that cover pretty much spoils the ending entirely. I guess they had to make it look interesting somehow but why not use the shadowy figure? Speaking of which, that really raises more questions than it answers. If the evil shadow was her neighbour's ghost waiting to take his place, then was ghost Hannah once a shadowy figure herself? Is she not the real Hannah? Either way, I still really enjoyed this one. That could be because I just watched the movie before reading it and...feels.

Most inane conversation: They may be ghosts but that's no excuse for Hannah's family having multiple conversations about pulp forevermore.

Future supermodel: Hannah didn't die in a jam-stained yellow top and ratty blue shorts but her sense of style sure did when she put them on!

Mr. Blase and Terrible family alert: Hannah frantically tells her parents that neighbour Danny is a ghost and her dad merely tells her they're trying to watch the TV.

Editor, what editor?: All the two bully guys do is high-five. Maybe they're also stuck in a ghostly time loop.

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