The Thing in the Closet

Spooksville #17

by Christopher Pike

There is a horrible thing in the closet. Now there is a reason to be afraid to go to bed. Now there is a reason to lock the closet door. Now there is a reason not to turn out the light.

Genres: Horror, Fantasy, Middle Grade, Young Adult, Childrens

115 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 1997

About the author

Christopher Pike is the pseudonym of Kevin McFadden. He is a bestselling author of young adult and children's fiction who specializes in the thriller genre.

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.

McFadden was born in New York but grew up in California where he stills lives in today. A college drop-out, he did factory work, painted houses and programmed computers before becoming a recognized author. Initially unsuccessful when he set out to write science fiction and adult mystery, it was not until his work caught the attention of an editor who suggested he write a teen thriller that he became a hit. The result was Slumber Party (1985), a book about a group of teenagers who run into bizarre and violent events during a ski weekend. After that he wrote Weekend and Chain Letter. All three books went on to become bestsellers.

Reviews

[Erin *Proud Book Hoarder* · Rating 3 out of 5]

K, this book is way below my age group and reading level. It's written for junior high I guess? But I always liked these silly stories when growing up, grabbed a few of these at the librarys big year book sale, and LOVE Christopher Pike. The man can write for any age. I adore his older stuff, especially Whisper of the Death, one of the more haunting stories ever written. This took little time to read, of course, and Pike always writes well so I dug his writing style again as expected, even if it's "younged down." The story was actually creative too and the characters likeable. I'm not just saying that, they were.

Example:

They hiked for seemingly forever. Over the next few hours the green glow overhead dimmed more and then the sky eventually turned black. Without Watch's flashlight they would have been stuck in one spot. Now they just hoped the batteries held out, even though Watch said he had changed them not long ago.

"But I did put cheap batteries in," Watch admitted.

"There should be a rule against buying cheap batteries in Spooksville," Sally said. "We are always ending up in dark and dangerous places.

Anyway, the cover is atrocious instead of cheesily stimulating this time, but the story isn't as cheesy as expected. It's a typical adventure type tale with some horror tossed in. A guilty pleasure of mine for this kind of stuff. Think I'll ever grow out of? Kind of hope not.

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm starting to notice a trend among these books, but they're fun and quick reads just the same. I was surprised to see Tira return in this book as I wasn't expecting her to have a part in the series after Invasion of the No-Ones. Overall: short, sweet, and entertaining.

[Carrie (brightbeautifulthings) · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a fun take on the monster in the closet, and I enjoy the way Pike spins out the magical theory (by way of Watch, of course). There’s some nice tension-building at the beginning that calls up common childhood fears. The monster itself is a little amorphous; perhaps by design, I never had a very good picture of it in my head. I wasn’t terribly invested in the politics of yet another dimension either, but I do like the effort to continue building out these worlds.

As always, I enjoyed the main cast. Watch has long been my favorite, and it’s fun to watch him puzzle things out. However, Sally is a little overbearing here. Mostly all she does is complain and shoot down ideas, and she doesn’t seem that invested in saving Cindy. Pike also re-introduces Tira, a character from a previous book that I admittedly forgot all about, only to sideline her rather quickly. It seems strange to be widening the core four with the additions of Bryce and Tira only to largely leave them out of most of the storylines, but perhaps Pike is setting things up for future books.

I review regularly at brightbeautifulthings.tumblr.com.

[Sumaiyah · Rating 1 out of 5]

বাজে, বাজে আর বাজে

[Florence Mullot · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fort heureusement les tomes de Spooksville se suivent mais ne se ressemblent pas. le tome seize m'avait laissée très dubitative, avec une sensation de retour en arrière concernant l'évolution des personnages, mais ici le monstre de l'armoire a su se montrer bien plus convainquant et surtout intéressant.

Avec une ville comme Spooksville, on se serait attendu à ce que nos jeunes héros affrontent la Peur avec un grand « p » depuis longtemps. Mais il n'en a rien été et c'est donc le monstre de l'armoire qui s'en charge. Un sujet plutôt innovant en soit et que je trouve très pertinent pour un jeune public. Car dans ce tome dix-sept, c'est Cindy qui en se focalisant sur une peur infondée va créer la nouvelle mésaventure de la saga.

Nous avons tous eu à un moment donné eu peur du noir, du dessous de notre lit, d'un placard sombre… des peurs absurdes mais bien réelles pourtant. Christopher Pike ne se moque d'ailleurs pas de la peur de Cindy et de son armoire, non, il montre que cela est « normal » et que le plus important et d'arriver à surmonter sa peur, d'en rire et d'essayer de passer à autre chose. J'ai trouvé qu'il y avait un très bon message derrière le monstre de l'armoire et c'est agréable de ne pas sentir cette sorte de moquerie qui ressort parfois dans Spooksville.

Nos héros vont aussi devoir combattre les monstres créés par ces peurs et se retrouvent dans un monde des rêves où ils vont faire de nouvelles rencontres. J'adore le fait que Cindy soit très ouverte d'esprit et se lient d'amitié assez facilement. Sally a une approche plus agressive et méfiante mais c'est surtout parce qu'elle s'attend toujours au pire. Un équilibre qui fait sourire et qui accentue les différences entre les deux enfants. On voit aussi que les adultes ont aussi peur. Bien entendu ce sont des peurs différentes, plus concrètes mais toujours présentes. Et nous devons aussi apprendre à les surpasser sans emprunter des raccourcis mal avisés.

Une bonne morale donc pour le monstre de l'armoire et cela fait plaisir. Il y a encore une fois pas mal d'action, de l'humour et des frissons. Un bon équilibre qui je l'espère se poursuivra.

[Rizwan · Rating 3 out of 5]

So this was the next book I found in the Spooksville series, and its much better than the last one.
So 3.5 stars I guess?
Can't bring myself to give a 4, because even for the fact that this is a children's book there are several glaring flaws
a) Sometimes it seems rushed, no details, short sentences in some parts of the story
b) The lack of world-building - yes its a new dimension so can we atleast know a little more about me
c) Everything always works out easily in the end - Watch seems to be a sort of deus ex machina.

Still glad I was right about the last book being below par, and not just my nostalgic memories overriding my sense of judgement.

The trio follow Cindy into a parallel or more like a sub-dimension where they make a tyrannical elf king rethink his rule, solve their horror problem, end a civil war all without a scratch.

[আহসানুল শোভন · Rating 2 out of 5]

এবার নেলির ক্লজিট থেকে বেরিয়ে আসতে শুরু করেছে সবুজ আলো। প্রথম রাতে তেমন কিছু না হলেও পরদিন নেলি ঘটনাটা অ্যাডাম, ওয়াচ, স্যালি আর স্যান্ডিকে জানিয়ে রাখলো। পরের রাতে উধাও হয়ে গেলো নেলি। অ্যাডাম আর তার বন্ধুরা খুঁজতে শুরু করলো নেলিকে।

[Sam C · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first Spooksville book I ever read and owned. I don't remember what exactly the story was about, but I have fondness reserved for this title.

[Krisko Isackson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Jesus fucking Christ dude, ever heard of contractions?

[Nusrat Mahmood · Rating 1 out of 5]

A poorer version of STRANGER THINGS.