Say My Name! Say My Name!

Goosebumps House of Shivers #4

by R.L. Stine

Goosebumps now on Disney+!

Something fishy is going on!

What happens when a talking fish, a runaway dog, and a herd of hog-like creatures descend on the woods behind Cody Brachman’s house? An abosolute nightmare! His friend Sam wanted to stay inside and play video games all day, but Cody insisted they go wading in the creek. What starts as a fun morning in the water quickly turns into the scariest day the two friends have ever experienced. If Cody can’t figure out why everything is going wrong, he’s worried he won’t live to swim another day!

Genres: Horror, Middle Grade, Chapter Books, Fantasy, Childrens, Novels

160 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 4, 2025

About the author

Robert Lawrence Stine known as R. L. Stine and Jovial Bob Stine, is an American novelist and writer, well known for targeting younger audiences. Stine, who is often called the Stephen King of children's literature, is the author of dozens of popular horror fiction novellas, including the books in the Goosebumps, Rotten School, Mostly Ghostly, The Nightmare Room and Fear Street series.

R. L. Stine began his writing career when he was nine years old, and today he has achieved the position of the bestselling children's author in history. In the early 1990s, Stine was catapulted to fame when he wrote the unprecedented, bestselling Goosebumps® series, which sold more than 250 million copies and became a worldwide multimedia phenomenon. His other major series, Fear Street, has over 80 million copies sold.

Stine has received numerous awards of recognition, including several Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards and Disney Adventures Kids' Choice Awards, and he has been selected by kids as one of their favorite authors in the NEA's Read Across America program. He lives in New York, NY.

http://us.macmillan.com/itsthefirstda...

Reviews

[Michael Burke · Rating 3 out of 5]

7-year-old Nolan liked it but was confused at times and not all that happy with the ending. He loves the Goosebumps series... but he's enjoyed others more.

[Austin Smith · Rating 1 out of 5]

R.L. Stine has truly hit an all time low with this entry. How this even passed editing and made it into publication is completely baffling.
Utterly nonsensical, plotless, zero character development, zero horror, absolutely no effective comedy/humor, the list goes on.

Mr. Stine is (was?) my favorite author of all time, but he's not without his fair share of duds like any other author, and I'm always brutally honest and have bashed some of his GB books in the past, such as Be Careful What You Wish For, Attack of the Jack, Haunting with the Stars, and perhaps most notably, the Dr. Maniac books.
All of those, in comparison to this House of Shivers entry, aren't looking too bad now.

Stine, I don't know what you were thinking or what you were on with this one, but this wasn't it boss. At all. Absolutely zero redeemable qualities - nothing positive to say here.

Sorry to say, as House of Shivers has been mostly solid up to this point. I don't recommend reading this abomination of a book (is it?? Is this a real book, even???) unless you are the most die hard GB fan that needs to collect/read them all, such as myself.

1⭐

[Shadyside Library · Rating 1 out of 5]

I am not one to bash books, so I will keep this short and sweet. It just didn’t make any sense. :(

[Alejandro Joseph · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is THE worst book I have ever read in my entire life. From beginning to end, this book stresses everything I can conceivably hate in a Goosebumps book, or any book for that matter. The characters a bland and Sam feels like a talking brick wall, the “horror” elements are just flat attempts at spooky monsters, and the structure of the plot gives me a headache. The dialogue is inhuman sounding, the random shit happening every chapter makes the book feel like an eternity to get through, and the plot is complete trash, having the worst idea for a story I’ve ever read. The ending is shit, the inclusion of the title is shit, the entire book has no entertainment value, and it’s just an absolute waste of time that leaves you confused and will likely burn you out on reading. 0.5/10, Planet of the Lawn Gnomes meets Haunted House Game—and it’s fucking horrible.

[Rachael Robinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve heard a lot of negativity with this book, but I actually enjoyed it, I thought it was light and fun, was it the best goosebumps book there is no? But it still wasn’t bad, each to there own but I really enjoyed it

[Elliot Wheeler · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think one of the best modern era Goosebumps books I've read!!!

[J. Peter W. · Rating 5 out of 5]

A bizarre look at what an A.I. invented game, programmed by a twelve year old would be like.

[Brandon · Rating 2 out of 5]

I just finished another book in the House Of Shivers book series.This one is called Say My Name Say My Name.I've heard this is one of the worst books Stine has written and I'm excited to see if I agree or not.The story begins with Cody and Sam two friends.Sam Just invinted this game thing he is excited about.Cody wants sam to go fishing with him near this lake beside his house.His parents warn him about this place up the stream.The two boys go and end up swimming when this fish gets caught by Cody and when he lifts the fish,it actually speaks and it says Say My Name.Say My Name.We go to part two and this kinda tells us why this isn't that much of a big deal.Basically,this ventriloquist guy comes to the kids' school,and teaches the kids how to do ventriquisim.The kids think each other is doing it,so they aren't to worried.The two boys end up seeing two other kids from their school down the stream.They are building a cabin for some sort of project.The group of kids end up seeing this random Hog like thing with alot of hair and Cody's dog,Ollie ends up fighting it off,but gets bit on the ear.Ollie ends up running away and the two group of kids split up to find him.Cody and Sam decide to go Cody's to change clothes.When they get there,this old lady answers the door and claims this is her house.The two boys barge in and the lady threatens to call her son,she states he's a professional cage fighter.Yes really.When the guy catches up to them,he says say my name.Say my name.This is the most intresting that this book ever gets.Back with the other two kids ,they run into a bunch of the hog creatures.This little piglet runs up to them and they lift it up the hogs retreat.When the kids look at their hands they are now hooves.All of this was ok.I didn't hate it.What I didn't like was the reveal of what's going on.I was just not into this.I feel like if you like these type of books,you may like it.For me though,I didn't like it.I was so ready to be done with this,in fact the best chapter of this book is the error chapters.I give Say My Name.Say My Name.A two out of five stars.

[Clover · Rating 2 out of 5]

2/5
Dream sequence-esque but C- for effort.

This was not it. It started off... interesting(?) but quickly became a convoluted mess. Cody is a jerk who is disrespectful to his father and calls him weak and timid. He's arrogant and overall, not a good friend. Thankfully the self righteous attitude stops a few chapters in. The secondary characters (other than Sam's family) make no sense and there's zero attachment to them, they're simply cardboard cutouts and filler for "scary" scenes.

The ending, although similar to a dream sequence, was interesting. It was an interesting plot and I enjoyed the stylistic choices made, but the story is already a raging dumpster fire long before that, so it's not salvageable. I'm not sure what went wrong here. Stine has said he sometimes gets a title first and makes a story around it. Maybe that is why this was such a mess?

Small nitpick, but if Sam "does all the programming" himself, but then uses AI to help him program it... he doesn't do all of it himself. Another faux pas from Stine was to say Minecraft has levels—you don't start a new level, you start a new world. It's small details, but getting them wrong can make readers cringe and it hurts your credibility. Does RL Stine care about his credibility? No. He's iconic. But it did show he might be a bit more out of touch with his intended readers than before (might just be the 69 year age gap).

I wouldn't recommend this one. I do enjoy this series and am happy he is still writing, but this book was a flop.

[Pulp_Fiction_Books · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've seen a lot of negativity towards this since it's been released and that coupled with the fact it was pitched as a talking fish story I was apprehensive going in but I found this to be a fun and very unique tale. The plot and structure of the book lend itself to feeling like a fever dream and served to keep a feeling of disoriention throughout. I had a handful of negatives too unfortunately. There are moments where Stine seems to contradict himself or that he just seems to forget about altogether and never ties up. He also deals with technology in here and anytime he writes scenes regarding such topics they read so cringy and obvious that they're the words of an 80 year old man. Also the reveal of what's happening was extremely obvious from very early on. That said there's a twist that leads to the ending regarding the title of the book and I really liked how it completely subverted my expectations. Overall this was another solid entry in the 'House Of Shivers' series, although all four entries so far have been adventure style tales rather than horror and I hope that gets addressed in the upcoming titles.

[Tor Domay · Rating 3 out of 5]

It doesn't deserve as much hate as it's getting. Though the structure and delivery is a bit weak, the concept is unique, and though the twist was predictable right from chapter two, to me it's impressive that such a terrifying concept was able to be crafted for a kids book.

[Owen · Rating 1 out of 5]

Horrible plotting for a book lol 😆

[Aquilestoe Arands · Rating 3 out of 5]

pleasantly surprised by this book. Was confused a little at the end, but overall a solid Goosebumps book.

[Aiden Chambers · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was god awful. There were many plot holes and everyone was so horrifically stupid. I did like the ending, however.

[Wolverinefactor · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s silly and fun. The twist is pretty obvious but it doesn’t take away from anything

Probably a 3.5

[Doctorjoecool · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one was pretty good, though I predicted a plot twist when I was first reading the beginning of Chapter 2 in the preview at the end of the previous book. And I was right.
Still, this book was fun. It builds up to it well, and I do like the different ways R. L. Stine is experimenting with how these books are told. That's cool. Plus, there's one part toward the end that is just REALLY cleverly done.
Though, as with the rest of this particular new series, each chapter has a chapter title, and many of them spoil their chapters, with some being named after the ENDING of the chapter.
Also, weirdly, the "sneak peek" at the end was for House of Shivers #1 and not the next book. Strange.
Still, I thought this book was good fun.

[Emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Goosebumps: House of Shivers, Book 4: Say My Name! Say My Name! has an average Goodreads rating of 3.09 stars out of 5. That's one of the lowest averages for any Goosebumps books. Granted, almost all of them have averages less than 4 stars. But I don't know why this particular one has such poor ratings. I thought it was rather good, hence why I rated it 4 stars. Also, I can't be only person who is unable to mention the title of this book without singing it to the tune of the song "Say My Name," by Destiny's Child, right?

[A Menagerie of Books · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was very different. I liked it. not as much as his monster stories but still great.

[Thomas · Rating 2 out of 5]

It’s finally time for a new Goosebumps. So I’ve been on the down low with the series lately, I’m not terribly interested in it these days in a big way. I’m mostly doing stuff with it when I can find the time, hence why it took me a bit to get to it. I’m just interested in better things as of now.

But I had to keep up with these, they’re decent fun as a break from bigger stuff. House of Shivers has been solid so far. The first two were good in a more basic but Goblin Monday offered a refreshing twist and some solid dark moments. Night of the Living was just straight up good, feeling ambitious and having the emotion that tends to be missing from this series.

But we all know Stine is a jokester so we were due for a goofy one and boy we get that here. The setup is that Cody Brachman is headed out to swim in a nearby river with his friend Sam. He’s a genius who has been making a video game with AI (typical) but Cody ignores that to do the swimming thing.

Cody discovers a fish that says “Say my name! Say My Name!” and from there they find themselves a nightmare world of weird stuff. Alright, this falls squarely in the classic Goosebumps genre known as “Eh I don’;t know, I’m making it up as I go, throw some random shit in there, kids will buy it regardless who cares”

Poparena explained it better than I can. But it’s the books where it’s less of a story, and more just a bunch of stuff happening that ends up being odd. These can feel inspired with tons odd imagery but also tend to be thoughtless, with little thought put into the narrative. Scariest Book Ever felt like a better version of this, with more put into the flow of it all.

This isn’t that. It’s mostly nothing but random stuff, like hog creatures. However, it is clear from the start what is going on and we do find out. It adds a certain logic but the idea is just a springboard for Stine to throw in random stuff with no rhyme or reason. Now, it does make sense in universe why it’s weird and random, but that can only take it so far.

However, it is fun. It is rarely boring, with tons of action and decent tension especially as we see the nature of what is going on. There is one very dull filler chapter early on that adds nothing and only pads the word count. There is some experimentation with a POV change but it adds nothing.

Still, it stays fun and gets started early on. However, my rating is brought down by the ending, which just kind of sucks. There is one thing done with the chapters that is amazing, but the twist is blah. I’ll just say it renders the whole thing pointless and gives Stine an excuse to not explain anything or give off any ending. It reminds me of Be Afraid Be Very Afraid, although not quite that insulting. But it's close.

It’s a shame as it was fine before that. Even has a few solid ideas in there. Look, I’ll look a more creative book that is always on, over a boring book like Go Eat Worms where nothing happens. Or something more fully insulting to its readers like the Monster Blood sequels, Revenge R Us. Hell, Shocker on Shock Street was a worse throw some random shit in there book.

I usually don’t get mad at this type of book, as they are usually not that annoying. The exception is the 2nd Dr Maniac, now that sucked the big one. The others, even the bad ones, are just kind of weird. This is the weakest book in a minute, but it was more fun than Slappy Birthday or Slime Doesn’t Pay, if that means anything. I’ve seen some hate and it very silly, so many of the ones of this genre as worse, honestly.

It gets a high Average. Fun but rendered meaningless by the ending, and how the ideas don’t build to anything. There is promise once we see what it's about but it drops the balls. Not terrible, but more of a throwaway book, yet another to add to the pile. It’s only recommended if you need a lighter read but it wouldn't be my first or even 4th choice for one of these to read, there’s been better ones as of late. But you can do with worse.

Still, we were due for one like this, and I’m sure we’ll be back on track with the next one. It’s clear Stine’s main intention for Goosebumps is to be goofy and fun, so it was nice to get back to that after some darker ones. If nothing else, it’s the most pure Stine out of this series so far, so sure. Every series needs that “random shit” one, honestly.

Don’t do it again though, and please make the next one good. Fun fact, editor Susan Laurie hyped this one up in her Goosebumps Crew appearance, says a lot about the quality control going on up there.

Also the cover is great but has nothing to do with anything. Typical. This also wins the award for most title drops ever, geez.

Sorry for lack of reads, I’ve been busy with real life stuff and other projects. Next week I’ll get back to the ripoff round and I have a blog review of Prom Queen from Fear Street so we’ll get back on track soon.

See ya soon.

[Justin Tate · Rating 3 out of 5]

No, R.L. Stine hasn't resorted to writing Destiny's Child fan fiction. Say My Name! Say My Name! is his latest Goosebumps book which he warned fans may be his "strangest" one yet. Stranger than an evil kitchen sponge? Wilder than Attack of the Jack (2017) which was surely the zaniest book up to now? Let's see!

What we're dealing with here is a group of kids who go for a swim and end up in the center of a sprawling supernatural mystery. Soon they'll be questioning their entire identity and thrown into an existential crisis.

Based on encounters with talking fish, pig monsters and other mysterious occurrences, the kids conclude an AI-powered video game they created has infiltrated real life. If they can't stop the game, they may be doomed to face these monsters forever -- or until they run out of lives!

But surely that's too outrageous to be true, right? What other explanation is there? And why do the talking fish and horses keep whispering "Say my name! Say my name!"???

Unanswered questions sustain the story even as Stine really goes off the rails to meet his word count. There's a random ventriloquist dummy flashback scene. Not Slappy related, but included for the purpose of suggesting one of the kids can "throw" their voice. There's a random point of view switch around the middle offering no real benefit. Explanation for the titular catchphrase proves a major letdown. And even with all that filler, this is probably one of the shortest Goosebumps ever written by word count. Not that I think it needs to be any longer.

In its defense, the "House of Shivers" books are written for today's kids, not '90s kids. The latest generation seems to like having everything and the kitchen sink thrown at them. Or at least that's how it feels when I watch modern cartoons. Scattered plots and random surprises aren't seen as faults. They eat it up. I don't think kid horror is as "in" as it was in the '90s either. Zany and nonsensical is the craze.

So, while part of me worries Stine's mental faculties are slipping, the other part suspects he's just giving the kids what they want. Most reviews seem to be very polarizing thus far, either in love or infuriated. I'm more middle of the road. I definitely didn't love it, but didn't hate it either. A few times it was funny and gave me a hoot. If this is what today's kids are into, power to them. And if it's just a real stinker all around, I'm sure Stine will redeem himself with the next one.

[House of Goosebumps · Rating 1 out of 5]

1.5/10

This is the worst book in the entire goosebumps franchise.

The book starts out pretty solid except for the fact stine doesn’t even introduce or describe the main characters (weird but whatever). I actually liked the first 15 pages, the rainy creek atmosphere was cool and nostalgic for me. But then stine forgets to take his meds and the whole book spirals downwards.

Almost every event that takes place after the first 15 pages makes zero sense whatsoever and is never explained. Then halfway through the book, it turns out that everything was just a dream (how original).

I was somewhat eager to read the ending but it turns out this book doesn’t even have an ending, stine literally just reuses what he did in Escape From Shudder Mansion. This leaves 90% of the questions in the first 130 pages of the book unanswered. I’ve never been more infuriated after finishing a book before.

However, the book did have some positives, as mentioned previously: I loved the atmosphere, it brought back some good memories. And I also sort of liked how crazy it was, but I would rather a coherent story than whatever this was. If I’m being honest I did have some fun reading this one, but I just can’t look past all of this books flaws.

I really don’t recommend reading this one.

[Arshdeep Singh · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I started this book I was not expecting what was coming my way. When I reached around 60% of the book I thought this is not the one Goosebumps book which I would read again in my life. But as always Stine amazed me. when I read around 80 to 90% of the book I thought now I know why that happened to our characters. The second last chapter was a total surprise for me. I just can't wait for Book 5 in this series which is called "The Last Sleepover". And last but not the least the reason why I deducted one star from this book is because somewhere in between the book, the pace was kind of slow and was kind of boring to me but all though if you are constantly reading in that one sitting then you won't feel that. But I read this book in 3 days so I felt something off.

[Paige Ray · Rating 2 out of 5]

oooof. This one was a miss for me. The story was messy and the plot was really far fetched.

Say My Name! Say My Name! follows Cody. Cody loves to swim in the creek near his house. His friend Sam develops his own video games. One day the two are together, Cody insists to go to the creek to swim but Sam wants Cody to play his new game. Once the boys are in the creek they begin to notice strange creatures and.. they can talk. yep. lol. This book is the perfect example between reality and fiction. It felt like a fever dream.

It's still not the worst that I've read. I do love the cover of this one. I hope the next story is a hit for me!

[Austin Krumin · Rating 2 out of 5]

2 stars is pretty generous for this book. The book was pretty much pointless and there is no clear answer at the end of the book. Answer to anything that happened. I love R.L. Stine and his goosebumps books but this one has gotta be the worst one I’ve read. Just pointless, confusing, mess of a plot book. Very boring read. I’m surprised this one was so bad because the other books in the House of Shivers series honestly have been really good. Sorry Stine. This one was not good.

[Joey Gaudino · Rating 2 out of 5]

143 pages

Thought the fish creature on the cover would make an appearance. I like the stuck in a video game idea though. The way Cody talks to his father, yikes. But guess that's tweens nowadays. No respect.

[Eugene Darko · Rating 1 out of 5]

awful ending

Awful terrible disappointing ending! This book was okay beginning and middle but the end was atrocious! I hope there is a second book to really give this a better ending.

[Irisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting, but confusing

I find this one confusing until the end and feeling sad for them. Even if it's a game or not.

[Stephanie Dickinson · Rating 3 out of 5]

don't think it's as bad as some say. wouldn't be a first choice though for a re read

[Brandon L · Rating 3 out of 5]

R L Stine said this is his weirdest book ever. Definitely up there. I liked it.

[Elliot Ross · Rating 4 out of 5]

You generally know what you’re gonna get withA Goosebumps book. I thought this one was fun enough but left something to be desired near the end.